Speaking in the plural – B’reshit
The dramatic stage by stage account of the origin of the universe reaches its culmination in the creation of man. Everything leads up to this pinnacle. Man is the summit of all God’s creation. He is made in God’s image – morally, intellectually, but not physically, since by definition God has no physical form.
What makes man different from and greater than the lower creatures is that unlike them he has the capacity to choose between right and wrong, to think, reason, plan and speak. Being made in God’s image means that something of the Divine soul and mind is implanted in man.
But why, in relating God’s decision to create man, does the Torah use the plural, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness”?
The Midrash says that when Moses was writing down the Torah, he stopped at this verse and asked God, “Why do You give an opportunity for doubters to question the unity of the Creator?”
Why, in other words, does God not say “My image” instead of “our image”?
The plural clearly does not suggest that God is plural; that would strike at the very heart of the axiom that He is one, unique and indivisible.
The answer is that God is using what is known as the plural of majesty, suggesting the intensity or concentration of Divine power.
The Midrash offers a different answer in order to teach an ethical lesson. The plural, it says, teaches us derech eretz – good manners, correct etiquette. It shows that a greater person should always consult his subordinates. Who, then, did God consult at the time of creation? The angels in heaven.
This, in the eyes of the Midrash, is a reason for the plural, but it adds, “However, God informed Moses, ‘Those who still want to doubt, let them come and doubt!’”
