Milah binds Avraham beyond nature to wholeness

התהלך לפני והי' תמים.

"Walk before Me and be whole (tamim)."

Hashem's command to Avraham at the bris milah: to walk before Him and thereby attain wholeness and perfection.

ובמד' סוד ה' ליריאיו כו' ענין מצות מילה שניתן לאברהם.

And in the Midrash: "The secret of Hashem is to those who fear Him," etc. — referring to the mitzvah of milah that was given to Avraham.

The Midrash links the verse about Hashem's hidden secret being entrusted to His yirei Shomayim with the gift of the mitzvah of circumcision granted to Avraham.

כי אאע"ה הבין וידע שחסר לו השלימות.

For Avraham Avinu understood and knew that he was lacking wholeness.

Avraham sensed that, despite all his greatness, he still fell short of complete shleimus (perfection).

ולא הי' יודע האיך לתקן וכאלו הי' בוש להלוך לפניו ית' בראותו שחסר לו השלימות.

And he did not know how to rectify it, and it was as if he was ashamed to walk before Him, blessed be He, seeing that he lacked wholeness.

Avraham did not know how to repair this deficiency and felt a kind of shame standing before Hashem while still incomplete.

והשי"ת אמר התהלך לפני ואח"כ עי"ז יבוא השלימות.

And Hashem said: "Walk before Me," and afterward, through this, the wholeness will come.

Hashem's response was that the very act of walking before Him — and the mitzvah of milah — would itself be the means by which the missing perfection is attained.

ובמד' למה לא נברא אדם מהול כו' לצרף הבריות.

And in the Midrash: why was man not created already circumcised? — In order to refine (l'tzaref) the creatures.

Chazal ask why Hashem left man "incomplete," requiring milah; the answer is that this incompleteness exists so that people can refine and perfect themselves through their own avodah.

והענין כי הטבע הוא בחסרון.

And the matter is that nature itself is in a state of deficiency.

By design, the natural world is created with a built-in lack, an inherent incompleteness.

אמנם הצדיק שמייגע עצמו בכל כחו זוכה להמשיך הארה מעולם העליון וכשיש התקשרות בשורש העליון אין חסרון.

However, the tzaddik who exerts himself with all his strength merits to draw down an illumination (he'arah) from the upper world, and when there is a connection to the supernal root, there is no deficiency.

One who toils with full effort draws a light from above and binds himself to his supernal root; once joined to that root, the deficiency of nature disappears.

וזה עצמו ניתן לאברהם אע"ה כי מקודם הי' רק שיעשה כל א' כפי כח טבעו להכיר טובת הבורא ית'.

And this very thing was given to Avraham Avinu, for previously it was only that each person should act according to the strength of his nature to recognize the goodness of the Creator, blessed be He.

Before the bris, the avodah available was limited to natural human capacity — using one's innate powers to recognize Hashem's goodness.

אבל עתה נתן השי"ת לאאע"ה התקשרות הברית שיהי' בזה מדובק בשורש העליון וממילא יוכל להיות תמים לגמרי בלי חסרון וזה הסוד שניתן ליראיו פנימיות החיות שיש בכל דבר.

But now Hashem gave Avraham Avinu the bond of the bris (covenant), so that through it he would be attached to the supernal root, and consequently he would be able to be wholly tamim without deficiency — and this is the secret given to those who fear Him: the inner vitality (penimiyus ha'chiyus) that is within everything.

The bris elevated Avraham beyond natural limits, binding him to his supernal root so he could become completely whole. This is "the secret of Hashem to His yirei Shomayim" — the awareness of the inner divine life-force, the penimiyus, hidden within all things.

וכמו שזכה אאע"ה להשתנות הטבעיות והראה לו הקב"ה עצה לבוא אל השלימות ע"י שינוי הגוף בהסרת בשר ערלה כמו כן יש בפרטיות תמיד ע"י עבודת האדם שזוכה לעזר עליון על ידי סיבות שונות כמ"ש מי זה כו' ירא ה' יורנו בדרך יבחר ונאמר אין מחסור ליריאיו ע"י שניתן לו כח חדש מהשורש כנ"ל:

And just as Avraham Avinu merited to transcend the natural order — and Hashem showed him the counsel to reach wholeness by changing the body through the removal of the foreskin — so too there is always, on an individual level, through a person's avodah, that he merits supernal help by means of various causes, as it is written, "Who is the man that fears Hashem? He will instruct him in the way he should choose," and it is said, "There is no lack to those who fear Him" — through being given new strength from the root, as above.

Avraham's transformation is a paradigm: through milah he transcended nature. Likewise every individual, through his own avodah, can draw down Heavenly assistance — guided "in the way he should choose" — and receive fresh strength from his supernal root, so that "there is no lack to those who fear Him."

Summary: Avraham felt his natural incompleteness and did not know how to repair it. Hashem answered with the mitzvah of milah, which binds a person to his supernal root and thereby lifts him beyond the inherent deficiency of nature into true wholeness (tamim). This is "the secret of Hashem to His yirei Shomayim" — the inner divine vitality within all things — and it applies to every individual, who through avodah draws down new strength from his root so that nothing is lacking.