<Intellectual Judaism: “In the Image and Likeness of God” as a Call for Actions now>
This most crucial declaration of the Torah is the key to understanding the difference between the pagan human identity and the Torah’s human identity that the Jews had understood first and delivered to the others. Sadly, this declaration is neglected by too many although it is the key to understanding why Israel and America currently in the state of cold civil wars and what to do.
That is not a physical image of what we call God we are talking about (a bearded man in the Heavens, the Cosmos, the Black hole …) – we are talking about His spiritual image that is well defined in the Torah. This image is of Unique Creator with own unique criteria of what is GOOD and should be strengthen, and what is BAD and should be suppressed.
The pagans believed that the gods as the most powerful beings can do everything, and therefore the way to get what you want is to bribe the gods to have them deliver.
The Torah declared something completely different – you cannot get what you want by bribing God – you must act “in His Image and Likeness” as a unique creative individual guided by the unique individual understanding of what is GOOD and BAD – and this unique understanding of what is GOOD and BAD must be rooted in the Ten-Commandments tailored to the unique individual life circumstances.
The nowadays social/political civil wars in Israel and America are conducted mostly between those who live by the identity of “In the Image and Likeness of God” that is by the identity of the personal liberties and those who live by the near-pagan identity that is by the identity of bribing a government-god (in the political terminology, the bribing means helping to elect to the position of the almighty power) which would take care of its human possessions.
Those of us who live by the identity of “In the Image and Likeness of God” (our near-pagan adversaries call the people of this identity the conservatives, right wingers, white supremacists, racists, bigots, etc.) the best action – to avoid an escalation of the civil wars – would be for the local authorities to take the governing power from the federal/national government on all issues that are touching the identity of the local communities.
In Israel for example, Bnei Brak would be a city with the Jewish identity of the Orthodox Judaism while Tel-Aviv will live by the Jewish secular identity. Neither Bnei Brak nor Tel-Aviv will be trying to change the identity of other localities by the force of the national government, and both will not interfere in the work of the national government in the foreign affairs.
In America for example, Texas will be a state with the identity of personal liberties while California will be a state of a near-Communist identity. Those Texans who love the government care may move to California, and the Californians with the love for personal liberties may move to Texas. Both Texas and California would not interfere in the actions of the federal government related to the foreign affairs.
The ancients of our ancients understood the universe was about God. They understood that creation was about God. The Torah is about creation and the evolution of creation. God created the heaven and the earth in six days, then rested on the seventh day. The seventh day is not about not working, it is about God and creation. On the seventh day God sat back to watch what He had created live out its life. The Sabbath is the evolution of creation. The Torah is about creation and the evolution of creation. It is not about man. Man is selfish, self centered, self righteous, and self absorbed. The earth evolves. The Torah tells of the evolution of the earth as well.