Because of this understanding, the sages stress that the permission given to Man to exploit creation is conditional:
R . Simeon b. Elazar said: Have you ever seen a wild beast or a bird with a craft? Yet they are sustained without anxiety. Now, they were created only to serve me, while I was created to serve my Master: surely then I should make a living without anxiety! But I have acted evilly and destroyed my livelihood. [Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14]
Man’s exploitation of creation is conditional on his fulfilling his own purpose.
* * * * *
When we are loyal to the great vision of Man’s Divine image, when we speak the language of responsibility, right, freedom, commitment, loyalty, and morality – then a true spiritual alternative to the secularization and religious superficiality prevalent in our world emerges. It is at this point that Judaism is revealed to be a truly radical movement that struggles with foreign cultures and stakes out a path for itself, separated to a substantial degree from the rest of the world but also maintaining an extensive dialogue – influencing and being influenced and bearing an ideology for the rest of the world.
This ideology is the vision of In His Image. It is an ideology that does not violate Israel’s covenant with God but rather the opposite: it is loyal to the covenant as it is expressed in the Torah. This book therefore constitutes an intra-religious discussion. It will appeal to all those who wish to see in Judaism a radical alternative to the world’s culture, an alternative that stems from profound partnership and involvement in all cultural expressions of the bearers of God’s image.
This essay was adapted from the author’s latest book, “In His Image: The Image of God in Man” (Maggid, 2016), available at Judaica bookstores and online.
