Abstract

In the Qur’an and the Mishnah there is a maxim that whoever kills one person is as if he were killing the whole of humanity. The same consideration applies to the salvation of a human life. The area in which the affirmation is placed is qualitative, which is why it is linked to human dignity. In the Mishnah, the phrase is placed at the end of a discussion dedicated to the procedures adopted in the case of capital judgments. In the case of murder there is no compensation. The price of one human life is only one more human life. This is a contradiction that was avoided by rabbinic discussions only because they took place at a time when the death penalty was inapplicable. From a series of biblical commentaries, it can be deduced that the “partµ has a dignity qualitatively comparable to the “wholeµ and that there is equality among human beings. In Judaism, human dignity is based on the conviction that man (adam) was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). The Bible states that image and likeness are transmitted through the act of generating. Not birth, but generation is the anthropological foundation of human dignity.