The Creation of Man

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.”

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נעשה אדם. עַנְוְתָנוּתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה לָמַדְנוּ מִכָּאן, לְפִי שֶׁאָדָם הוּא בִּדְמוּת הַמַּלְאָכִים וְיִתְקַנְּאוּ בוֹ, לְפִיכָךְ נִמְלַךְ בָּהֶם...

WE WILL MAKE MAN — The meekness of the Holy One, blessed be He, they (the Rabbis) learned from here: because the man is in the likeness of the angels and they might envy him, therefore He took counsel with them...

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עוד ירצה באומרו נעשה בלשון רבים כי מדותיו של הקב"ה רבים הם י"ג מדות רחמים ושם אלהים שהוא מדת הדין הסכימו יחד לברוא אדם.

It's stating "let us make" in the plural form also wants [to teach] that the attributes of God are many; the thirteen attributes of mercy and the name, Elohim, which is the attribute of judgment, agreed together to create man.

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והפשט הנכון במלת "נַעֲשֶׂה" הוא מפני שכבר הראית לדעת (לעיל פסוק א) כי האלהים בָּרָא יש מאין ביום הראשון לבדו ואחר כך מן היסודות ההם הנבראים יצר ועשה וכאשר נתן במים כח השרוץ לשרוץ נפש חיה והיה המאמר בהם "יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם" (פסוק כ) והיה המאמר בבהמה "תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ" (פסוק כד) אמר באדם "נַעֲשֶׂה" כלומר אני והארץ הנזכרת נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם שתוציא הארץ הגוף מיסודיה כאשר עשתה בבהמה ובחיה

And the correct simple meaning of the word, 'let us make,' is that which you have already been shown, to know (verse 1) that God created something from nothing on the first day alone, and afterwards, He formed and made [everything] from the fundamental elements. And when He gave power of swarming in the water to swarm living creatures, the proclamation was (verse 20), "let the waters swarm;" and the proclamation with the animals was (verse 24) "let the earth bring forth;" [and] with man He said, "let us make." That is to say, I and the earth - that was mentioned - let us make man: the earth will bring forth the body form the elements as it did with the beasts and the animals

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Hashem is addressing humanity. We, Hashem and ourselves, must create man together. He creates man with struggles and imperfections, but we must work together to create ourselves and work out the struggles that we have. We are partners in creation.

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