TORAH 101: Created in the Image of God + 2026 TORCH Fundraiser

He called it a plea.

That was the first time that I heard that term a plea.

Is that the right term?

I don't know.

What do you think?

Here's what happened.

You see, we started our annual Torch fundraiser this week.

The website is givetorch.org.

The link you can find in the description every donation is doubled.

Every donation is matched.

We got a donation on givetorch.org from a podcast listener who had never given a donation

before.

He lives in Houston.

He lives in a different state.

In fact, he made a very nice donation, givetorch.org, and he wrote a very kind note with

his donation, thanking me for the podcasts, and he left his phone number.

So I gave him a call.

Now, what did I thank him?

He told me, oh, I was listening to your partnership podcast, and I was listening to the re-broadcast

of Parshis Viagra, and I heard your plea on the podcast.

You see, I recorded a 10-minute spiel about our fundraiser, and why we need it, and why it's

so indispensable, and why everyone to stop what you're doing right now and go support the

fundraiser, givetorch.org, every donation is doubled.

And I asked everyone to give generously support us so that we can continue, and he tells

me, I heard your plea.

So I decided to make a donation.

A plea isn't really a plea, maybe it's like a request, or a fancy word, a solicitation,

but I'm thinking about it, and I kind of like it.

I'm going to lean in.

It's a plea.

We're pleading because we really need your help.

Our organization torch does a lot of amazing things.

I don't need to persuade you.

You know about it.

You're a listener of our podcast.

You have a bit of a window into what we do, and you know how important it is, how impactful

it is, how indispensable it is, and how much what torch does is needed in the world.

We made a decision.

Maybe it was a foolish decision.

Maybe it was shortsighted.

Maybe it was reckless.

It was certainly risky.

We made a decision to do only one fundraiser a year.

And if the fundraiser succeeds, we'll be able to continue.

Otherwise, the organization is just not viable.

There's no other way to fund it.

We kind of pushed all of our chips into the table.

So I guess we're pleading.

It's a plea.

A plea for support, a plea for your friendship, a plea for a donation.

A plea for an investment invest in the great work of torch, givetorch.org.

You can find the link in the description.

Every donation is doubled.

If it's going to be a plea, we can make a plea deal or a plea bargain.

Here's the bargain.

You make a donation.

You support the great work of torch, givetorch.org.

You can find the link in the description.

Every donation is doubled.

Every donation is matched.

And I'll continue with the help of the Almighty to be fully invested in recording these amazing

podcasts and in doing as good a job as I can and as we can, the team to do the amazing

work of torch this year.

That's our plea deal.

That's our bargain where we're spreading Torah around the world, thousands, tens of thousands

of people are joined, what we're doing are being transformed by our content, are being

elevated, educated, given new vistas, thanks to what we do.

We're changing people's lives.

And that merit we share with all of our partners, with all of our supporters, with all the

people that go right now, givetorch.org and make a donation.

It's a pretty good deal.

It's a plea deal.

It's a plea bargain.

And I always think that this is, this is like the best investment that people make.

You go to givetorch.org, you find the link in the description, you make a donation, you

do generously and it's doubled amazing.

And then you move on with your life.

But what you're doing is you're mobilizing your friends, your partners at the torch center

in Houston, Texas, they're taking that investment and they're transforming it in

to tow around to vibrant or into learning into transformation.

You're fueling a torch that is attempting to illuminate the entire world.

I always have this picture of someone passing after a hundred plus years and they go to

heaven and they have their merits being weighed against their misdeeds, there's this heavenly

accounting and reckoning and they notice 5,000, 50,000 hours of towers that I didn't do

that.

Oh, maybe you didn't do it yourself, but you invested.

You went to givetorch.org and you made a generous donation.

You supported the great work of the rabbis at the torch center and they spread the Torah

to the whole world.

You fuel the torch and all these people listened and learned and grew.

And developed and advanced and you get the merit.

That's the plea deal.

That's the plea barred in.

What do you say?

Is this persuasive?

Can we count on you?

Will you do it?

Givetorch.org or are you clicking next, next, step, step, step, step, when will this

fundraising pitch be over?

I spoke to one of my friends today and he told me, said, Rabbi, you have to make a threat.

You have to say, what's going to happen if we don't have a successful fundraiser got

for bid?

In the past, I used to say, well, if it doesn't work out, we'll have to find a different career.

Nobody deal.

You could sell insurance or cabinets.

One of my friends said you could work as a paralegal in my law firm.

You don't need to have accreditation.

You could probably pull it off.

But I don't want to say this, this year.

I'll tell you why.

I feel like I'm too far into this.

I'm in this too deep and I made calls during the fundraiser more than any other time in

the year.

I'm a millennial.

We like texting, what's happening over calls.

But I'm making calls and I'm speaking to people.

People make donations.

I try to call them up or text them at least to thank every donor.

And I've spoken to people today.

And it's inspiring for me to hear what people are saying about how these podcasts and

the various other work that torch does, how it changes their lives.

So I'm in a bit of a, I can't make a threat and say, oh, I'll, I'll bolt, I'll high tail

out of there.

I'll just switch, I'll learn how to code, learn how to code.

And I guess that's an absolute term.

I'll learn how to weld.

I don't know if I can make a viable threat.

If I can't make a threat, I can still make a plea.

We need your support.

Torch needs your support.

We need your friendship.

We need your investment.

What does that mean for you?

That means that you take your phone and hit pause on the podcast and you find the link

for the fundraiser.

Give Torch.org.

You make a donation and then you know that you are a partner in the great work of torch.

You're a friend, you're an investor.

And all the work that torch does in the upcoming year, it all accrues to your merit.

Help us support us, invest in us.

I didn't learn how to fundraise in rabbi school.

It was in part of the curriculum.

The rabbis are all fundraising today because we realize that the only way that this great

organization can continue, there's only one way.

It's only if we fundraise and if we have an excellent fundraiser, give Torch.org.

Every donation is doubled, every donation is matched.

And if we find a way to persuade you to stop what you're doing and to go make a donation,

then we'll be able to succeed in doing something which is indispensable for our mission.

It's an inherent part of our mission.

It's not like a separate standalone thing.

Part of what we accepted when we took on this position, this occupation, this mission part

of it is fundraising.

So if you're excited to go teach tolerance, study tolerance, do the podcast.

Why are you excited?

Because that's your mission.

Guess what buddy?

I'm talking to myself now, I'm not calling you buddy.

You are my buddy of course, but guess what rabbi of Torch?

You have to be excited and passionate and driven in doing the fundraiser as well.

It's part of the mission.

Will you help us?

It's a plea.

Will you support us?

Do we have a deal?

Are you willing to go to give Torch.org?

You can find the link in the description and make a donation and give generously every

donation is doubled.

If you need some persuading, you can email me rabbiwobie at jimma.com.

If you need some help making a donation or you want to send a check or you want to give

us Bitcoin or you want to do something else, you want to do it?

You want to do it monthly, you want to do it all at once?

Send me an email, rabbiwobie at jimma.com.

Let's do this once the fundraiser is over.

You're not going to hear about the fundraising till February or March of 2027, wouldn't that

be nice?

So let's get this done.

Give Torch.

That award, every donation is doubled.

Themodest is rabbiwobie at jimma.com.

In our efforts to gain literacy and knowledge in the fundamental principles and teachings

of Torah, of Judaism, we've covered a lot of ground.

We spent a lot of time studying the 13 principles of faith.

I think it was 77 different episodes on the 13 principles of faith and we spent some

time studying other sources as well and we just finished rhomboms, magisterial introduction

to his commentary to Mishnah, which covers many fundamental aspects of Torah, of written

Torah, of oral Torah, of prophecy and so on.

We went through the six orders of Mishnah, we covered a lot.

Today I want to embark on our next book, our next objective.

One of the most significant Torah works of the last 250 years, one of the most significant

philosophical works of Torah in history, a book authored by Rabbi Khaym of Velajin, that

was the name of the city in which he was the rabbi.

He's one of the most significant sages of the last quarter millennium.

He was the primary disciple of the GONAVILA and he founded the famous Velajin Yashiva, arguably

the most important Jewish institution in 1700 years, since the great academies in Babylonia

were founded in the second century.

There wasn't quite an institution that had as big of an impact as the Velajin Yashiva had

founded by Rabbi Khaym of Velajin, the primary disciple of the GONAVILA.

This was the first modern Yashiva and it's known as the mother of all Yashivos and he also

wrote a book, maybe his most famous book, called Nefesh Khaym, the soul of life.

This is a magnificent, magisterial work on Torah philosophy and it's a complete, cogent

and logical and coherent framework of our philosophy and it's very unique in how it's

written in that it's very lofty, it's very esoteric, it's deeply steeped in the Kabbalistic

literature but it's also written away that lay people can understand, it's understandable

to ordinary people like us.

It's comprised of four sections, four gates, the first gate is about men, the second is

about prayer, the third is about God and the fourth is about Torah, specifically Torah

study.

Now, if you've ever had the great privilege of spending some time in a Yashiva, you will

hear many, many times citations, quotes, maybe even study the fourth section because what

he does in that section is he presents to the reader a deep appreciation of what power

Torah study has and of course these Yashiva students who are doing that all day, it completely

revolutionizes their understanding of what Torah is and the power, the immense power of

Torah study.

So this book was written by Rabbi Haim of allusion but it was published posthumously by his son

and there's some fascinating and even frightening insights from the introduction of the book written

by his son.

So he gives a little bit of a biographical sketch, he writes about his father's prodigious diligence

in Torah study and his saintly humility and he writes that his father had a motto that

he said again and again, a person is not created for himself, a person is created to help others

in any way that he can but he writes how his father, on his deathbed, instructed him to

publish this book nafajrhaim very quickly after his death.

It was in manuscript form and he said publish it the way it is, don't change anything, publish

it and he writes that this was like a surprise because his father had an enormous voluminous

prolific literary output and he wrote very deep and novel insights in the tell mode

and amazing halachic response and even though much of it was lost in a fire, there are still

tons of extant writings, a very profound depth and as far the Torah specifically, these

manuscripts that make up this book, this is what I want you to publish.

He didn't demand that he publish anything else besides for this book and he quotes what

his father told him on his deathbed verbatim.

He writes, my son, you know that I didn't merit to study, even though I didn't study which

is of course he was the greatest Torah sage of his era or one of the greatest Torah sage

of his era but he wrote in his humility, I didn't really merit to study but I was allowed

by having to teach others and to create a continuation of Torah study.

He's probably referencing the great Yashiva that he found it and even though I did not

merit to have true fear of God, obviously this is a ridiculous hyperbole but again it's

a reflection of his humility and his son himself says like if he had no fear of God what

could we possibly say about ourselves but as far as continues, maybe in heaven after

I pass I will gain merit that these manuscripts will be accepted and will succeed in instilling

fear of heaven and emphasis on Torah and pure service of God in the hearts of those who

seek the ways of Hashem and the sun writes is like it's surprising to us because these

writings are as advanced as other writings and this is the one that he specifically was

very keen on having published posthumously and the sun writes this is the steery part that

he was a bit tardy in fulfilling his father's wishes.

It took him a few years after his father passed until he published the nefashahim and

he writes that I was punished for it.

I was punished twice for it and he tells a very tragic story, two stories about his two

of his children that passed, very young and he attributes it because he was derelict

in fulfilling his father's deathbed wishes, okay that's a side point.

But this book is a phenomenal work and authoritative work, a comprehensive and complete philosophical

picture of Torah and I want to embark on its study, we'll start from the first section,

the first gate, the first chapter, the chapters are very small which is nice and they all

build upon each other and I think that they provide for us a deep understanding of the

bit picture of Torah and Mitzvahs so let's begin.

He starts with a verse in Genesis chapter 1, God created man, Bitsalmo in his image,

Bitsalem Elohim in the image of God he created him, man was created in the image of God.

What does that mean?

What does it mean?

The image of God, man is created in the image of God, what does that mean?

So he tells us that the depth of the essence of the matter of the image, this is the deepest

subject, these are matters that stand at the zenith of the world.

The majority of the secrets of the Zohar are based on this, are based on this concept

of Selim Elohim, man is created in the image of God, all the secrets are here but we're

going to try to understand it in a way that it was explained by the great commentators.

We have a verse in Genesis chapter 1, God created man in God's image, what does that

mean?

What does it mean that man is created in the image of God, God has an image, man is made

Bitsalem Elohim in our image, in our form, God has a form, God has an image, obviously

not.

And equals the verse in Isaiah says explicitly, there is no form or image to God.

So what does it mean?

Man is created in the image of God, just simply how do you interpret these words?

How do you define these words?

So he tells us that the commentators say the word image and form in this context, it means

that there's some sort of conceptual similarity on some level in some dimension, man is obviously

not in the image of God because God has no form, has no image, obviously.

The word image of God in this context means that there's some sort of similarity on some

level between man and God.

And he substantiates this point, there's a verse in Psalms chapter 102.

The Psalmist says, I am like a bird of the desert, that's what the Psalmist said, I'm

like a bird, a pelican of the desert.

Now if a person says I am like a bird, that doesn't mean that they have wings or a beep,

it doesn't look like a bird, obviously, he doesn't have the shape of the bird, he doesn't

have the image of the bird, but he says I'm like a bird.

I'm like a butterfly, what does it mean I'm like a butterfly, a human's not a butterfly,

a human's not a bird.

So what this means is, the Psalmist is saying that in my life, I'm suffering, I'm in

exile, I have to travel from place to place, I don't have a home, I don't have a base,

I'm like this bird, this pelican of the desert, who doesn't have a stable home, that's

what the Psalmist is saying, I am like this, the term like, it's comparing to things.

This is like that, that doesn't necessarily mean this looks like that, this has the same

shape or form like that, it means that there's some sort of similarity.

So a person could say I'm like a bird, I'm unsettled.

One is like God, the sum sort of similarity which a man and God, and the creation of man

is in the image of God, there's some sort of overlap, there's some commonality, there's

some conceptual similarity between man and God.

What indeed is that similarity?

This is chapter one, very short, just a few paragraphs, and it's getting us into a very

interesting exploration.

The strip tells us, the Torah tells us Genesis chapter one, man was created in the image

of God.

What does that mean?

Obviously God has no image or form, but it means that there's some sort of similarity,

well, what's the similarity?

Okay, chapter two.

In English, we translate the word God.

There's ten different names of God that can be translated as God.

As we know, there are many different names of God.

The most common names in the Torah, or what's known as the shame Havaya, the four letter

ineffable name of God, there's a fancy word for it in English.

The tetragramaton, yud and anahe, and then above and anahe, we don't pronounce that of

course.

That is the name of Havaya, shame Havaya, the name Havaya.

This word, this name is, by definition, the description of God that is completely unique

to him.

There's no similarity between any other thing and this four letter ineffable name of God.

And that's why, in fact, that name, those letters, are exclusively for God.

Nothing can compare to it.

He is completely beyond when it says that name.

Now, the second most common name of God is Elohim.

When it says that man is in the image of God, which name of God is he using?

Again, there's ten different names of God in the Torah, Shaqai, Svartros, and so on.

Yudh Kevavke, the Havaya, Elohim.

It doesn't say that man is in the image of God, the four letter ineffable name of God,

the tetragramaton, rather the name Elohim, but Selam Elohim in the image of Elohim.

Why does he use that name in particular?

Again, if there's ten names for God in the Torah, each name connotes something else.

There's one name, of course, that has no similarity to anything besides for God.

That's the name Havaya, four letter name, ineffable, we can't say it.

Tetragramaton, well, there's no similarity between God when that name is used and anything

else.

And therefore, it does not say in the image of the tetragramaton, Havaya, rather it says

in the image of Elohim.

Whatever similarity exists between man and God, we're going to find direction and understanding

of what that similarity is in the name Elohim.

What is the name Elohim, Knott?

So the word Elohim means powers, God is all-powerful, almighty, omnipotent.

There's only one power, all power, coalesces in Him alone.

No other power has any real power.

No other entity has any real existence.

There's nothing independent of Him.

There's only one power, God, almighty.

The four letter name of God, Yotivovke, tetragramaton, that refers to God existing in a

way that's completely non-comparable to anything else.

There's no comparison to that.

Elohim means powers, and specifically the source, the root of all powers.

There are other powers, right?

You could do something, you have power to do something, you could write something, you

could build something, you could see about something, an angel can do something, a wind

could do something, water could do something.

There's wind power, solar power, nuclear power, kinetic power, brain power, lots of powers.

But God is the master of all powers, all power ultimately comes from Him.

What does it mean that God has all the powers?

Now we'll tell you just as an aside, and he's going to mention this later.

The word Elohim is not exclusively assigned to God.

For example, a foreign God is also called Elohim in the Torah.

And by the way, we say Elohim when we're referring to God, because we don't want to say God's

name in vain, but if this word is applied to an idol, we could say Elohim because it's

not holy.

A judge is called Elohim because a judge has power, judicial power.

So a judge can be called a power.

Angels are called Elohim, they also have power.

They don't have ultimate power because their power is only in so far as God gives them power,

but they do have power.

When we say God is Elohim, it means that he is the source of all power.

He is the ultimate source of power.

Now he has a little bit of a tangent over here, a side point.

Very ancient, but this, this alone is worth ruminating upon.

There are two differences between our power and God's power.

We have power.

We could create something.

I'm holding in my hand a pen.

Some human made this, right?

Look at it, it has a function, it has a use, it's made.

I could use it for writing.

There was some power of creativity, of engineering, of manufacturing that created this.

So humans are also creative.

God creates, we create, but there's two crucial differences between our ability to create

our powers and God's creative powers.

God's power is different than our powers.

So for example, if a man builds a house of wood, the man cannot create, cannot spawn,

cannot be yet the wood itself.

You can't create wood, you could take wood, existing wood and cut it down to size and

shape it and form it and fashion it into something else into a table, into a house.

But you cannot spawn wood, you could only refashion and repurpose existing wood.

Number one, number two, what happens when you create your table?

I'm sitting in the Torch Center right now and there's a table right in front of me.

This was built by someone who built it, we don't even know who built it, probably made

in China someplace or Vietnam.

But the connection between the builder of this table and the table is over, it's gone,

it's severed.

They forgot about this table, they're doing other things.

When you build something, so you take existing material and you reshape and refashion it

and form it into a way that's useful, you organize it how you want it.

And then once you finish, you're done, you move on.

And that seems still indoors, like this table still works even though the person who built

it in the sweatshop in Vietnam, wherever it was made, has long moved on from this table.

There is no connection anymore between the builder of this table and the table today.

And if the builder decides they don't want this table to exist, sorry, it still exists.

And they demand, I hear by relinquishing, I want to undo, I want to demolish that table,

it doesn't matter, it's separated from them.

The endurance, the continuation, the perpetuation of what they built is no longer connected

to them.

They go on vacation, the table still stands.

The connection is only at the time of building.

Once they build, the connection is removed.

God is different in these two ways.

When God creates, when He builds, He does it something out of nothing.

Yash Mayayan, ex-Nihilo, all the worlds, all creation, all created existence was spawned

by God out of non-existence.

There was non-creation and then there became creation by the will, by the word of God.

There was no light and then God brought light, there was no energy, there was no matter,

there was no mass, there was nothing, besides for God Himself, and God begot that out of

nothing.

We cannot do that, we can only create out of existing material.

We can make something out of something else, we cannot make something out of nothing, God's

creation is something out of nothing, number one.

Number two, it was not just a one-time thing, it was not just limited to Genesis.

The builder of the table has moved on, their connection is severed between them and their

creation.

It doesn't work like that with God.

From Genesis, every day, every moment, the existence, the structure, the continuity of

all created things is completely and totally reliant on the fact that the Almighty, blessed

He bestows life, vitality, continuity on those things every second, every moment.

The connection between God, the ultimate power, the ultimate creator and His creations

does not grow away.

If the Almighty would remove the constant flow of vitality, of creative flow, from God to

the creations that God created, if that would stop her even one second, they would cease

to exist.

There is no independent existence of God's created things, which return to nothingness.

The builder of the table moves on, and the creation endures.

God's creation is not like that, He is continuously creating and recreating, bestowing life and

vitality and continuity into His creations at all times, every day, every second, every

moment, continuously.

And this is that there is canonized in the prayers, hamehadeesh bituvo, who renews in

his goodness, bechol yom, and every day, tummit at all times, masay, bereshit, the act

of Genesis.

God renews in his goodness every day, every moment, continuously, at all times, every second,

Genesis, re-creation, re-creation, continuously.

And He quotes proof, not just from the prayers, but from scripture.

The verse says, le-o-se-o-rim-gidolim, God makes, not God made, God makes great lights

meaning the constellations.

God continuously makes, the connection is not just one undone in Genesis, it is ongoing.

When the Torah uses the word elo-kim for God, it means that He has all the power, all

the strength, of all the details, of everything that was created, in all the worlds, in all

the dimensions, in all the universes.

All of it, God is the source of their power.

He bestows upon them continuity, vitality, life, light, existence, every second, every

moment.

They are completely reliant on Him, and He could change them.

He could reorient them as He wishes.

Mass created an image of God, there is some sort of similarity between man and God.

And which name of God is being used, the name elo-kim, but tell Him elo-kim.

And the definition of elo-kim is that He is the source of all things.

He is the all-powerful one, all power is from Him.

All existence is only done because of Him, continuously bestowing existence and life,

and vitality to it.

And again, the word elo-kim, again we say elo-kim when it's not referring to God, it's applied

to many other things, angels are called elo-kim.

A foreign God is called elo-him, judges in this world are called elo-him.

And by the way, he tells us, when the verse talks about the prophecy of Avimella, of

Leibin, of Billum, it's not actually a reference to God Almighty, it's some angel, some elo-him,

some power, some angel that oversees nations and people that spoke to them, it wasn't

God Almighty.

It's called elo-k, elo-him, the God of God's, God uppercase-ji, of God's lowercase-ji,

there are other forces, there are other powers.

But God is the ultimate power, all other powers are only existing in so far and so long

as God wants to give them said power.

Deathroh said, I know I've discovered that God Almighty is greater than all the other

elo-hims, all the other gods, there are other powers, sure.

But they are only extensions, so to speak, of God's power, they only have power, so

long and so far as God bestows upon them, that power.

The word elo-him means power.

When we use it to strive God, it's a reference to all the power, all the might, everything

sources its power only from Him.

There are other things that are also elo-him, they also have power, but it's not from themselves,

it's only what God designated them to have, it's only what God determined that they should

have.

So yes, you could call a foreign God, an idol, you could call it elo-him, because it

may have some power, but it's not source from within as it were, it's a force that

gets its power ultimately from God.

And that's why the prophet tells us Hashem, elo-him, emes, emet, God, elo-him is true.

There are other powers, but they're not true powers, they're not real powers.

He is the only true power, the only true source of power, all other powers only get the

power from Him.

Chapter 2 has concluded.

Chapter 1 there's a concept, there's a verse, man has created the image of elo-him, what

does that mean?

What kind of similarity can possibly just be man and God?

No, there is some similarity on some level.

Okay, Chapter 2, it's elo-him specifically.

In the term elo-him, we can note God has all the power.

And in that dimension, in that word and that name, there's a similarity found in man.

What's that, Chapter 3?

When it says that man is in the image of elo-him, it means that there's some similarity

between man and this name of God that connotes his total power over all other powers.

As it were, God created man and made man a master over other powers.

There's a similarity, he's in the image of elo-him.

There's some sort of conceptual similarity, man and elo-him and God.

There are myriads upon myriads of forces of worlds, endless worlds, endless universes that

got created.

And what determines the state of those created worlds?

Man is in the image of elo-him.

There's some power that God assigned to man.

That man should have the ability to determine the fate of other things.

Man's actions, man's words, man's thoughts, these are the three dimensions of what we

could do.

Think, we could speak, we could do, we could act.

More actions, good and bad, have enormous ramifications and determine the fate of many,

many, many other things.

That's what it means, the man who created the image of elo-him in some dimension, on

some form, man is similar to elo-him.

The man has a good deed, a good action, a good thought.

He causes many worlds, lofty worlds, to have life, to have vitality, to have strength,

to have continuity, to increase in holiness, to increase in light.

Besides the verse in Isaiah, chapter 51, God told man, I want you to plan.

Grant the heavens, establish the earth, what does it mean that man is planting the heavens?

God is telling man, you are in the image of elo-him.

I am giving you the power, the ability to create and to provide continuity and to provide

vitality to many dimensions and spheres and realms and worlds in heaven.

Humans are builders, the whole Bana'ikh, Limud Ashem, all of your sons are those who study

the Word of Ashem.

Amitazas don't say sons, Bana'ikh, rather Bona'ikh, not sons, but builders.

Man is a builder, a builder of what, a builder of worlds.

We have the ability to build, we have the ability to destroy.

We can decide the fate, determine the fate of myriads of supernal worlds.

In the opposite, of course, is also true, if a person has thoughts, deeds, actions that

are not good, that are harmful, then God bestowed upon man, he is in the image of elo-him.

He is the ability to destroy, to weaken, to damage myriads of forces, myriads of worlds,

myriads of supernal, holy worlds.

We can cause the destruction, the darkening, the shrinking of their light, of their holiness.

And when we diminish the holiness, we increase, we augment the opposite of holiness.

We could, God forbid, diminish the purity, and increase and augment the impurity.

This is what it means when it says that God created man in his image, in the image of elo-him.

Just as Almighty God, He is the master of all powers of the world.

All powers can exist only because God wishes them to exist.

And bestows a continuous flow of vitality so that they continue to exist.

He runs them, He oversees them every second, He determines their state.

So too, chapter 1 of Genesis, let us make men bid moussainou in our form, bids salmainou

in our image, God created man in God's image, in the image of elo-him.

One was created with tremendous cosmic power.

He is the ability to open or close, myriads and myriads of forces of worlds based upon his

behavior.

In all matters, at all times, at every second, at every moment.

We are the masters of this power, almost as if we oversee all these worlds, all these universes.

In all the upper spheres, in all the upper dimensions, in all the upper realms.

In all those worlds, who decides what they are going to look like?

Who decides what is going to be their state?

Who is going to decide if they have more power, more holiness, more light, or less?

Less holiness, less purity, less light.

That is what God created with a creative man.

He is in the image of elo-him.

And when man does the will of God, he is increasing the power in the might of heaven.

And when man is flouting and violating and reputing the will of God, he is, as it were,

diminishing the power of heaven.

He is causing heavenly weakening.

A sin of man, he sizes over, causes damage, causes blemishes above.

To new O's, Elohim, the verse tells us, give power to God, as it were.

God is outsourcing some of the power that He has to us.

We are like an ultimate source of power, which can cause an augmenting, an increasing,

or a shrinking of the power of the heavens.

Thus concludes chapter 3.

What this is sending us up for, we can already see it.

It is going to very much change how we view ourselves, and how we view our choices,

and how we view our decisions, and how we view our words, and our actions.

The first definition of man in the Torah is in the image of God.

And specifically, in the image of elo-him.

Now, that's not mean that God has an image, of course not.

Just like if a person is like a bird, it doesn't mean that he is flying.

It doesn't mean that he has wings or a beak.

It means that there's some sort of similarity between a person and a bird.

There's some sort of similarity to man and God.

And specifically, the word Elo-him, the name Elo-him.

The name Elo-him connotes God has the power, the ultimate power.

He creates something God have nothing, and He continuously bestows upon His creations their vitality.

And that, on some level, in some dimension, was given to Adam.

Adam is in the image of Elo-him.

The heavenly spheres, the heavenly realms, the heavenly dimensions, their state is determined by man.

And that, of course, completely recasts what we're here to do, what impact we have.

You do Amit Svah, you're changing, not just your state and maybe the people around you,

all the heavens are being reoriented because of your decision.

You do Amit Svah, you have a good thought, good speech, you're causing cosmic shifts.

Conversely, it doesn't mean bad.

We viewed as not so important.

Well, it's not harmful, no one suffers.

Consenting adults.

What difference does it make?

All that.

All those perspectives are going to be banished.

As we continue to see, please, God, in this first section, first gate of this wondrous work.

Nephachachayam, we're starting.

We're embarking upon it.

I'm not promising to visit Old Book.

But we're going to continue to please God to understand, okay, so what's the impact of our behavior?

And the next question is, okay, why was man given such tremendous power?

We'll please God continue.

But this is it.

This is what I decided to do.

The next subject in our exploration of fundamental foundational principles of our philosophy.

The book is called Nephachachachayam, which translates as, I guess, the soul of life.

Authored by Rabbi Chayam of Velujan, primary disciple of the Gona Vilna, founder of the Great Velujan Yashiva,

and great expository guess of Torah philosophy.

Please go ahead and continue.

I'm with chapters four, an unward, very interesting, very fascinating.

I'm looking forward to doing that together with you all from the toward center, and you can touch us by what this is,

rabbiwalbiachimo.com.