(26) And God said, “Let us make the human 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.” (27) And God created the human in God's image, in the image of God the human was created; male and female He created them.
(ג) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אַל תְּהִי בָז לְכָל אָדָם, וְאַל תְּהִי מַפְלִיג לְכָל דָּבָר, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ אָדָם שֶׁאֵין לוֹ שָׁעָה וְאֵין לְךָ דָבָר שֶׁאֵין לוֹ מָקוֹם:
(3) [Ben Azzai] used to say: do not despise any man, and do not discriminate against anything, for there is no man that has not his hour, and there is no thing that has not its place.
~ What does it mean to de created B'tzelem Elokim ?
~ How might the big idea that we are created B'tzelem Elokim influence your words and your actions?
~ When Abraham Joshua Heschel said "either God is father of all men, or of no man", what was he referring to?
(ד) הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר, אַל תִּפְרֹשׁ מִן הַצִּבּוּר, וְאַל תַּאֲמִין בְּעַצְמְךָ עַד יוֹם מוֹתְךָ, וְאַל תָּדִין אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ...
(4) Hillel said: do not separate yourself from the community,
do not trust in yourself until the day of your death,
do not judge not your fellow human being until you have reached their place...
תנו רבנן בזמן שישראל שרויין בצער ופירש אחד מהן באין שני מלאכי השרת שמלוין לו לאדם ומניחין לו ידיהן על ראשו ואומרים פלוני זה שפירש מן הצבור אל יראה בנחמת צבור תניא אידך בזמן שהצבור שרוי בצער אל יאמר אדם אלך לביתי ואוכל ואשתה ושלום עליך נפשי
The Sages taught: When the Jewish people is immersed in distress, and one of them separates himself from the community and does not share their suffering, the two ministering angels who accompany a person come and place their hands on his head and say: This person, so-and-so, who has separated himself/herself from the community, let him not see the consolation of the community. A similar idea is taught: When the community is immersed in suffering, a person may not say: I will go to my home and I will eat and drink, and peace be upon you, my soul.
~ What is a community? Who is part of a community? Who is not?
~ What communities do you belong to?
~ What do the texts say about the role of the bystander in a community?
~ How do your words or actions impact the quality of the community you are a part of?
(11) You shall rejoice before the LORD your God with your son and daughter, your male and female servants, the Levite in your communities, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your midst, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name. (12) Bear in mind that you were slaves in Egypt, and take care to obey these laws.
(17) Learn to do good, devote yourselves to justice; aid the wronged; uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow.
~ Why those groups needed to be defended?
~ What does the word justice mean?
~ What might motivate you to “do good”?
And there already was a time in which Rabbi Tarfon and the Elders were reclining in the loft of the house of Nit’za in Lod, when this question was asked of them: Is study greater or is action greater? Rabbi Tarfon answered and said: Action is greater. Rabbi Akiva answered and said: Study is greater. Everyone answered and said: Study is greater, but not as an independent value; rather, it is greater as study leads to action.
~ What are the three positions in this story?
~ With whom do you agree? Why?