Parshat Lech Lecha 5782
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha that Avraham Avinu is commanded the mitzvah of Bris Milah. When Hashem instructs Avraham to perform the mitzvah, He says to him (Chapter 17, Pasuk 1), Hishalech Lefanai Ve’Heyah Samim; walk before Me and be complete. According to the Medrash Tanchuma, Avraham is bewildered by this statement. He says, now I am complete; were I to remove my Arlah, I will then become lacking. The command to perform Milah in order to become whole, Tamim, is counter intuitive!
In the Medrash Tanchuma (Tazria 5), the wicked Turnus Rufus asks Rabbi Akiva, how come man wasn’t born circumcised? If Hashem wanted Jewish men to have a Bris Milah, He should have created them that way. What is the point of creating man with an Arlah, and then commanding him to remove it?!
The Sfas Emes teaches that the question of the wicked person doesn’t even begin. The whole idea of the mitzvah is for man to subjugate himself to Hashem by removing his Arlah. A person who thinks that he isn’t dependent on Gd is severely lacking, not to mention a fool. The complete person, the one who is Tamim, is the one who shows he is dependent on Hashem. And it is precisely at the point of man’s most creative abilities, his ability to procreate and influence through his offspring, that the Torah obligates us to express our reliance and dependence. Without Hashem, we can’t create anything.
The idea, then, is not be born Mahul, circumcised. It is, rather, to perform the Bris Milah and to connect with the One who provides for us, and through this mitzvah become closer to our source. The term Bris means a relationship between two sides. We become connected to Hashem through Bris Milah, and this ultimately makes us a more whole and complete person.
The pasuk says in parshat Bereishis (Chapter 2, Pasuk 2), Va’Yechal Elokim Bayom Ha’Shvi’i Melachto Asher Asah; Gd finished His work in creation on the seventh day, on Shabbos. Rashi has a difficulty with the fact that the pasuk seems to imply that Hashem finished creation on Shabbos and not Friday. How could that be if the world was created in six days?
Rashi’s second answer is, Ba’as Shabbos, Ba’as Menuchah, Kalsa V’Nigmarah Ha’Melachah. With the onset of Shabbos came rest, and now the work of creation was complete. What does it mean that rest was created, and how does this represent the completion of the work for creation?
The Sfas Emes explains that the whole point of creation was for the world to be connected to the Creator. And this couldn’t happen until the world recognized Hashem as the Creator. This is the Menucha of Shabbos; when Shabbos came and the work stopped and there was a cessation of the physical activity, then there was clarity that Hashem created the world. Menucha is the Kedushah of Shabbos, the holiness contained in the physical. And only at that point was the Melachah complete. The cessation of the physical created the wholeness of creation and the ability to always connect to the source of it all.
Similarly, the removal of the physical and the connection to Hashem through Bris Milah makes man complete. Bitulo Harei Hu Kiyumo; the removal of the Arlah and subjugation to Hashem is the fulfillment of man. It completes his purpose and makes him who needs to become.
We read in the beginning of the parsha (Chapter 12, Pasuk 2), Va’E’escha L’Goy Gadol, Va’Avarechecha, Va’Agadlah Shemecha, Ve’Heyeh Bracha. Rashi teaches on this pasuk, Va’E’escha L’Goy Gadol references our reciting Elokei Avraham in the first pasuk of Shemoneh Esrei; Va’Avarechecha references Elokei Yitzchak, while Va’Agadlah Shemecha references Elokei Yaakov. The words Ve’Heyeh Bracha teach that the Chasima, the end of the bracha is with Avraham, as we say Magen Avraham.
The Chasima is with Avraham Avinu just as the Bris Milah, as we say in the bracha of Milah, Brischa Asher Chasamta Bivsareinu, is also a Chasima. It’s the Nigmearah Melachto of man. The completion of the creation of man is his acknowledgment that he is dependent on Gd. And this completion, this Chasima, began with Avraham Avinu, who became complete by removing his Arlah.
Good Shabbos
Print this article