ABSTRACT

As Symbolic Exemplars of both the Divine and those human icons of God, infused with the Divine breath,1 rabbis have among their major tasks alertness to, witnessing of, providing ongoing testimony for, advocating on behalf of, and naming and blessing2 the often obscured and sometimes rejected [Tzelem⇔Neshamah]3 in themselves, in others, and in the world at large. That which is unwitnessed, unnamed, and unblessed can never be fully human. And that which is not fully human detracts from God’s presence in the world, thus, as it were, diminishing God. Locating, witnessing, naming, and blessing the often elusive, hidden, “turned away from” [Tzelem⇔Neshamah] is crucial to rabbinic work.