Wholeness through self-nullification

במדרש תנחומא על פסוק התהלך לפני והי' תמים תמה אברהם עד עתה אני חסר וכשאמול עצמי אהי' שלם כו'.

In the Midrash Tanchuma, on the verse "Walk before Me and be tamim (whole/perfect)" — Avraham wondered: "Until now I am lacking, and when I circumcise myself I will be complete," etc.

The Midrash describes Avraham's reaction to the command of milah: he understood that the bris would bring him to the wholeness Hashem was asking of him, removing what was still "lacking" in him.

פי' שזה באמת השלימות מה שאדם מחסר את עצמו כדי להיבטל להשי"ת ולהראות כי אין שלימות לנברא רק בהשפעת הבורא.

The explanation is that this itself is the true completeness — that a person diminishes himself in order to be nullified to Hashem Yisborach, and to demonstrate that there is no wholeness for a created being except through the influence of the Creator.

True perfection, paradoxically, comes through bittul (self-nullification). By cutting away part of himself, a person shows that a creature has no completeness of its own — all wholeness flows from Hashem.

זה עצמו הוא הנותן לו השלימות וביטולו של דבר זה קיומו.

This very thing is what grants him completeness, and the nullification of a thing is its very fulfillment.

The act of making himself "less" is precisely what makes him whole. When something nullifies itself to Hashem, that bittul is in truth its highest existence.

ולכן ניתנה מצוה זו באבר הזה אשר בו כח ההשפעה והתולדות של האדם שזה עיקר כח ומעלת האדם וצריך להיות שם אות ורמז כי הוא חסר מעצמו וצריך להשלמת הבורא ית'

Therefore this mitzvah was given specifically in this limb, in which lies the power of influence and procreation of a person — for this is the main power and distinction of a person — and there must be there a sign and a hint that he is lacking on his own and requires the completion of the Creator Yisborach.

Milah is placed precisely on the organ that represents man's greatest creative power. By marking it, a person testifies that even his strongest, most "self-sufficient" ability is incomplete without Hashem's input.

וכל מה שאדם מחסר גופו בעבור כבוד הבורא ע"ז נאמר דורשי ה' לא יחסרו כל טוב ונא' אין מחסור ליראיו.

And whatever a person diminishes of his body for the sake of the honor of the Creator — concerning this it is said, "Those who seek Hashem shall lack no good thing" (Tehillim 34:11), and it is said, "There is no lack for those who fear Him" (Tehillim 34:10).

When one "subtracts" from himself for Hashem's honor, he loses nothing; the pesukim promise that one who seeks Hashem with yiras Shomayim ends up lacking nothing at all.

והוא ענין באת שבת באת מנוחה כלתה ונגמרה המלאכה כמ"ש שם במקומו.

And this is the matter of "Shabbos came, rest came; the work was completed and finished," as is written there in its place.

Just as the cessation of work on Shabbos is what brings creation to its completion, so too the "stopping" and diminishing of milah is what brings a person to his fullness.

ולכך נקרא ברית שהוא התקשרות המקבל אל המשפיע והוא השלימות.

Therefore it is called a bris (covenant), for it is the binding of the recipient to the One who bestows — and that is completeness.

The word "bris" means a bond. The wholeness of milah is precisely this connection: the created recipient attaching himself to Hashem, the source of all influence.

ונראה שלכך ניתן זה לאדם שהקשו הערלים אם חביבה המילה למה לא נברא מהול כמ"ש במד' ע"ש.

And it appears that this is why it was given to man — for the uncircumcised challenged: if milah is so beloved, why was man not created already circumcised, as is brought in the Midrash; see there.

The Sefas Emes raises the famous challenge of the gentiles: if circumcision is so precious to Hashem, why did He not simply create man that way from the start?

והתירוץ כנ"ל שבאמת במילה הוא מחסר הגוף רק מצד שהאדם הוא העושה זאת בעבור הבורא הוא השלימות אבל לא שייך שיהי' נברא כך כנ"ל:

And the answer is as above: that in truth, through milah a person diminishes the body; it is only because the person himself performs this for the sake of the Creator that it becomes completeness — but it would not be fitting for him to be created that way, as explained above.

The resolution is that the wholeness of milah does not lie in the physical result but in the human act of self-diminishment for Hashem. Had man been born circumcised, there would be no bittul, no act of binding himself to the Creator — and so the perfection would be lost.

Summary: True shleimus (wholeness) is achieved not by adding to oneself but through bittul — diminishing oneself before Hashem. Milah is placed on the organ of man's greatest creative power to testify that even his strongest ability is incomplete without the Creator; the covenant binds the recipient to the Giver, which is why man could not simply be created circumcised — the perfection lies in his own act of self-nullification for Hashem.