L’esegesi altomedievale ebraica di Genesi 1:26, ‘Facciamo l’uomo a nostra immagine’

This article deals with the different exegetic methods adopted by some Jewish scholars of the 10th century, approaching the text of Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness” (in Hebrew na‘aśeh adam be-ṣalmenû kî-demûṯenû). The evident anthropomorphic implications of the verse and, more specificall, of the terms ṣelem and demûṯ (usually translated as ‘image’ and ‘likeness’) were already considered difficult to explain in very ancient times. At the dawn of the medieval Jewish exegesis, new responses were proposed: sometimes based on arguments borrowed by the Greek philosophy; other times, just relying on texts of the Jewish traditions. Here particulalrly under scrutiny are the positions of Sa‘adyah Ga’on (Dilaz, Egypt, 882 - Baghdad 942), the Karaite scholar Ya‘aqov al-Qīrqīsānī (first half of the 10th century) and the physician Šabbetay Donnolo (Oria, Southern Italy, 913 ca. – ? after 982).