"FOR IN THE IMAGE OF G-D HE MADE MAN"

ALL ARE CREATED IN G-D'S IMAGE

"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of G-d He made man." (Bereishis 9:6)

Chazal offer several interpretations for this verse and they derive many halachos from it.a According to the pshat, however, the Torah is informing us that whoever spills the blood of his fellow human being will be subject to the death penalty at the hands of man, in the form of the Beis Din. Although the previous pasuk: "But of man, of every man for that of his brother I will demand the soul of man," implies that Hashem Himself demands that the murderer pay for the victim's blood with his life, Beis Din may not rely on this and is commanded to punish the murderer.

Who is this man created in the image of Hashem? I believe there are three possible people the pasuk could be referring to. Firstly, it could be the murder victim. Like any other human being, he was created in G-d's image. By his action, the murderer has killed an image of Hashem, and has thus detracted from Hashem's image. Just as destroying an image of a human king is viewed as an act of treason against the king's sovereignty and is punishable by death, so too murdering a human being is the destruction of the likeness of The King of kings, so to speak, and is a rebellion against the Kingdom of Heaven, which incurs the death-penalty.

This explanation presents a difficulty. One of the foundations of our faith is that no person can possibly harm another of his own volition. Only the Creator has the power to do so. If the murderer succeeds in killing his victim, it signifies that there was a Heavenly decree that the victim must die. In a similar vein, our Sages have an innovative understanding of this pasuk: "If you build a new house, you shall make a fence for your roof, so that you will not place blood in your house if a fallen one falls from it." Chazal are teaching here: "The victim deserved to fall from the time of the six days of creation, for indeed he has not yet fallen and Scripture calls him 'a fallen one'" If someone fell, it would not be because the owner of the house had failed to place a fence around the roof, but rather because that person was destined to fall. Had it not been from this roof, he would have fallen from somewhere else. Despite this, from our perspective we must ensure that it is not our roof he falls from. We are therefore commanded to take the necessary precautions and construct a fence. If it is so decreed, Hashem will find another roof for him to fall from.

THE PRAYER OF THE ROBBER

A robber was once asked what he prays for on Yom Kippur. He answered: "I pray that if it is decreed that someone be the victim of a robbery, may it come about through me and not through someone else." This is clearly not how we should act - we should pray that we not be responsible for any calamity that befalls someone else. Not only must we pray for this but we must take action as well, by constructing a protective fence around our roof. The fact remains, however, that we do not have the power to harm another. If someone is harmed it is only because it was ordained by Heaven. Yosef told his brothers: "It was not you who sent me here, but Hashem." You threw me into the pit and sold me into slavery, because it was Hashem's will. If you had not done it, someone else would have.

GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Obviously we can make such statements only when we are wronged. If someone does something good for us, we should not say to them, "You were not responsible for this good deed; it was ordained by Heaven." This is how some commentators explain Lavan and Besuel's words when they attributed the shidduch between Yitzchak and Rivka to Hashem: "The matter stemmed from Hashem." They feared that Eliezer the shadchan would demand a hefty fee, so they conveniently gave Hashem all the credit, thus absolving themselves of any obligation to pay Eliezer. Good things do come from Hashem, but we must give credit to the person who was instrumental in facilitating them. We learn that Moshe Rabenu was grateful even to the river and the sand that had protected him. Moshe told Yisro's daughters that it was not he who rescued them from the shepherds, but the Egyptian whom he had killed. After killing the Egyptian, he was forced to flee from Egypt to Midian and thus was present at the well, so the Egyptian was ultimately responsible for their rescue. The evil Egyptian had no intention of saving Yisro's daughters and surely did not even know who they were. Nevertheless, Moshe told them that they must recognize the source of their rescue To sum up, we must acknowledge that good comes from Hashem, yet at the same time we must also give credit to His human 'instruments'. When it comes to bad things, however, we should not hold the perpetrator responsible, but rather attribute it all to a Heavenly decree. If this is correct, what right do we have to punish the murderer, if the victim was destined to die anyway?

We need to understand the verse differently. My father z"l suggested that the 'man' referred to in the pasuk is not the victim but the judge. From where does a human being have the authority to judge his fellow man in such a harsh manner? Because "in the image of G-d, He made man" - man was created in the image of G-d and was thus given G-d's ability to judge. The Torah uses the expression tzelem Elokim while, as we know, the name Elokim connotes the Attribute of Justice.

THE MURDERER HAS KILLED HIMSELF

With all due respect to my father z"l, perhaps we can offer an additional interpretation of the pasuk. "For in the image of G-d, He made man" refers to the murderer himself! When man murders, he destroys his own G-dly image and it is for this that he is punished. In what way does a murderer destroy his G-dly image? The Tomer Devora teaches us that man is tzelem Elokim in body as well as in mind. One who is similar only in body mocks this image. Man's task in this world, is to 'shape' himself as closely as possible after His Creator. In other words, we are required to emulate the A-lmighty by our actions as much as possible.

When the Jewish people were crossing Yam Suf, they declared: -"This is my G-d and I will beautify Him." In a sicha for Parshas Bereishis we cited a Baraisa which interprets this verse as, "Beautify yourself before Him in fulfillment of Commandments." The Baraisa cites examples of how one beautifies oneself before Hashem: "Make before Him a beautiful sukkah, a beautiful lulav, and a beautiful shofar, beautiful tzitzis and a beautiful Torah scroll." Onkelos in fact interprets the pasuk to mean, "This is my G-d and I will build Him a Sanctuary." He analyzes the word 'anvehu' as coming from the same root as 'naveh' - 'a dwelling place'.

Hashem's Sanctuary has to be beautiful. Our souls too must be beautiful, in keeping with the interpretation of this pasuk offered by Abba Shaul: 'Ve-anvehu' - 'hevei domei lo' - 'Be like Him.' According to this explanation, 've-anvehu' comes from 'ani vehu' - 'me and Him.' How can one emulate Hashem? "Just as G-d is gracious and compassionate, you should also be gracious and compassionate." Material things can be made beautiful by adding gold and silver, while a person can develop a beautiful soul by acting in the image of Hashem. Just as the physical Mishkan must be a place which houses the physical Torah, our soul too must be a place which houses the spiritual Torah.

In Moreh Nevuchim, we learn that only four people reached the level of complete devotion to Hashem - Moshe Rabenu and our three forefathers. Their thoughts were constantly with Hashem, whether they were involved in mitzvos or whether they were involved in caring for their flocks. While it is highly unlikely that we could reach such a level of perfection, each of us on our own level must become as close as we can to Hashem, by emulating His attributes, and by cleaving to talmidei chachamim. The murderer did the opposite of this; he totally destroyed his G-dly image and for this he is punished.

We mentioned earlier the concept of giving credit where credit is due. If someone does something good even without intention, he is rewarded for it. How much more so, then, when a person intends to do good. Reward is commensurate with the effort invested:

The Torah relates at the end of Parshas Noach:

"He (Noach) drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. And Shem and Yefes took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and they walked backwards, and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness."

Rashi comments that the description of Shem and Yefes taking the garment is described by the singular vayikach rather than the plural vayikchu - "This teaches us about Shem that he exerted effort in the fulfillment of the commandment more than did Yefes." They acted together, yet in the Heavens it was clear that Shem put "more of his heart" into the act. As reward for their action, Shem merited the mitzvah of tzitzis, for the fulfillment of which he and his descendants were granted a share in the World to Come, while Yefes was rewarded with burial rights for his descendants who were killed in the war of Gog uMagog. What a vast difference extra effort makes!

EXERTING EFFORT

The same idea applies to learning Torah. Chazal cite the pasuk, "Then you will return and see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves Hashem and one who does not serve Him." They expound: "He that serves Hashem and He that does not serve Him are both perfectly righteous; but he who reviewed what he learned one hundred times cannot be compared to him who reviewed what he learned one hundred and one times." Relative to one who has reviewed his learning one hundred and one times, one who has reviewed it "only" one hundred times is not considered a servant of Hashem because he did not exert sufficient effort in his Torah study.

The pasuk states "And it was this matter that he (Yeravam ben Nevat) raised a hand against the king: Shlomo had built up the Millo and closed up the breach of the City of David his father." Chazal elaborate on Yeravam's rebuke of Shlomo: "Your father David made breaches in the wall so that Israel might come up to Yerushalayim for the festivals and enter the city with ease. You, on the other hand, closed up the breaches in order to levy a toll for Pharaoh's daughter." Chazal add: "Why did Yeravam merit kingship? Because he rebuked Shlomo HaMelech. Why was he subsequently punished? Because he rebuked in public." It was one and the same action which merited him the kingship and lost it for him. Hashem's judgment is so precise that a person is judged for the positive and negative aspects of every act.

The concluding pasuk of the book of Koheles is: "For G-d will judge every deed - even everything hidden - whether good or evil." They said in the academy of R' Yannai, "This refers to one who gives charity to a poor person in public, as in the incident that occurred with R' Yannai. He saw a certain man who gave a small coin to a poor person in public. R' Yannai said to him, "It would have been better if you had not given him the charity than what you have done now; for you have given him charity in public and embarrassed him." We see that a person can be judged negatively even when doing a good deed.

Another Gemara relates, "Two patients were confined to a sick bed with the identical illness, or similarly, two suspects came before a tribunal with the identical case against them. This patient recovered and was able to leave his bed whereas that patient was not able to leave his bed. This suspect was spared from capital punishment, whereas that one was not spared. Why did this one merit leaving his sick bed, while that one did not merit leaving his? Why was this suspect spared from capital punishment, while the other one was not spared? This one prayed for relief and was answered, while that one prayed and was not answered. Why was this one answered and that one not answered? Because this one prayed a complete prayer, so he was answered, but that one did not pray a complete prayer, so he was not answered." If a person puts more of his heart into his prayers it can greatly affect Hashem's response.

The Gemara teaches us, "The non-essentials of a mitzvah prevent disaster, for the wave-offering is non-essential (Rashi: - One can achieve atonement without it), and wards off the bad spirits." Nevertheless, one must first be concerned with the details of the mitzvah itself before worrying about the non-essentials. Being precise in details of mitzvos is of primary importance. There is no value to non-essentials or even placing one's heart in a mitzvah without strict observance of its details. Eating less than a kezayis of matzah on Pesach serves no purpose.

There is a discussion as to whether beautifying a mitzvah (noi mitzvah, which we discussed above) is viewed as one of the details of a mitzvah. If we consider noi mitzvah as part of the mitzvah, then one who has performed a mitzvah without hiddur has not fulfilled the mitzvah. However, the Rav (HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach) zt"l, ruled that although a person who has not beautified the mitzvah has not fulfilled the commandment "Ve-anvehu" - "I will beautify Him," he has fulfilled the mitzvah itself.

From the Mesilas Yesharim, it appears that beautifying a mitzvah is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to fear Hashem. Based on this, we can conclude that if a person does not take care to purchase a beautiful lulav, he will have the mitzvah of lulav, but not of fearing Hashem.

Our task in this world is to fulfill both interpretations of zeh keli ve-anvehu . We must put as much effort as we can into beautifying our mitzvos, and we must also try as much as is humanly possible to emulate Hashem and to be the best tzelem Elokim we possibly can.

It is a great honor and pleasure to write some words of chizuk to the past and present talmidim of the holy Yeshiva under the leadership of Morenu HaGaon HaRav Aharon Bina Shlit"a - kulam ahuvim kulam berurim.

One of the four areas Chazal list as requiring chizuk is the area of tefilla. Prior to my most recent visit to the United States I asked HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky Shlt"a if a person wishes to really strengthen his avodat Hashem, where should he begin? Rav Chaim answered that he should begin by strengthening and improving his tefilla. In this week's parsha and frightening and awesome example of the power of tefilla. I would like to share with you the following insights which I heard from my father Shlit"a (I will add some of my own words for clarity).

It is quite clear that Hashem's decree to bring the great flood to the world was probably the greatest example of Divine wrath. The entire world including animals (excepting the fish in the sea - see Rashi) was destroyed. The world has never before known such Divine anger and it will never be repeated - for Hashem promised that He will never again bring another such flood into the world.

It seems that the Divine wrath was so great that the merit of the great tzaddikim - Noach and his family (it appears that at this point in time Cham was also a great tzaddik) - was not sufficient to save the world - "for the earth was filled with chamas" (Bereishit 6:13).

Interestingly, we find in this week's haftarah the pasuk: "ki mei Noach zot li" "for like the waters of Noach this shall be to Me" (Yeshayahu 54:9). Chazal ask why the flood waters are referred to as "the waters of Noach" and explain that they are referred to as his waters because he should have prayed on behalf of his generation and did not. It appears that praying on their behalf would have prevented the flood from taking place. What a frightening thought! Even during time of unimaginable Divine anger when no merit was able to save them, nonetheless there is one suggestion - tefilla. Noach's not following this advice rendered his being blamed for the flood and the flood being referred to as his waters.

In the Hassidic writings we find that Moshe was aware of this and therefore prayed on behalf of the Jewish people following the chet haegel. Moshe used the expression: "im ayin mecheni na misifrech asher katavta" "if not, erase me now from Your book that You have written" (Shmot 32:32). The word mecheni is comprised of the same letters as the words "mei Noach" - the waters of Noach. Moshe did not wish for the punishment for this grave sin to be called after Moshe the way the floodwaters were named for Noach. Unlike Noach, he therefore prayed on behalf of the people.

I would like to share with you an additional thought I heard from my father Shlit"a regarding the impact of prayer. When Noach exited the ark he constructed an altar and brought olah-offerings. Following Noach's offerings, Hashem swore that He would never again bring such a flood upon the world. Whenever Hashem feels that the world deserves to be wiped out with a flood, a rainbow will appear as a sign. Thousands of rainbows over thousands of years have appeared in the sky since the time of Noach. What prevented all these floods? Noach's offerings - the nachat ruach which a korban brings to Hashem. Although we do bring offerings today, prayer, avodah shebalev, service of the heart, corresponds to these offerings. In effect it was Noach's prayers which had an impact for many generations later preventing all future floods.

We have just shown on the one hand the opportunity lost for not praying even during times of tremendous Divine wrath, on the other hand we have shown the great power of tefilla and the impact it has for many generations.

Following the description of the flood, the Torah records an act which puts Noach to shame. When the waters had subsided, Noach and his sons emerged from the Ark where Noach planted a vineyard which miraculously produced grapes on the same day (see Midrash Rabba). Noach drank wine made from the grapes of the vineyard, became intoxicated, and exposed himself in the tent. Canaan, the son of Cham ran to tell his father who entered and stared disrespectfully at his father's nakedness. Cham continued to view this in a light and disrespectful manner as he ran outside and mockingly described what he saw to his brothers Shem and Yefet. Shem and Yefet, trying to protect their father's dignity, grabbed a garment and walked in backwards in order to avoid seeing their father's nakedness, and proceeded to cover him.

When Naoch awoke from his stupor and realized what took place, he cursed Canaan: "cursed is Canaan, a slave he will be to his brothers." The blessing he bestowed upon Shem and Yefet included "may Canaan be a slave to you". Yefet was blessed with great beauty and dwelling among the tents of Shem, while Shem was blessed that his descendants inherit the land (see Rashi 9:26).

The Chafetz Chaim (Mitzvot asei 2) writes that the lesson we can learn from this is that a person must be as concerned with another's shame as he is of his own. Shem and Yefet covered their father's nakedness and were greatly blessed. Cham brought further shame to Noach and was therefore cursed.

The story is told of R' Akiva Eiger who was hosting a Seder in which one of his guests knocked over a cup of wine. Before anyone else was able to notice, R' Akiva Eiger shook the table in order to save the guest from embarrassment.