Milah as tikkun of knowledge of good and evil

בפרשת המילה אני אל שדי התהלך לפני והי' תמים כו' ונמלתם את בשר ערלתכם.

In the parsha of milah: "I am Kel Shakkai, walk before Me and be tamim (whole)…" and "you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin."

The Sefas Emes opens with the command of bris milah to Avraham, where becoming "whole" is tied to the removal of the orlah (foreskin).

וכתיב כל הגוים ערלים וישראל ערלי לב כי האדם " כולל כל העולם ונקרא עולם קטן וממילא נמצא בו חלק עה"ד טו"ר והקב"ה אמר מעץ הדעת טו"ר לא תאכל.

And it is written: "all the nations are uncircumcised, and Yisrael are uncircumcised of heart," for man encompasses the whole world and is called a "small world" (olam katan); and consequently there is found within him a portion of the Eitz HaDaas tov v'ra (the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil), and the Kadosh Baruch Hu said: "of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat."

Since man is a microcosm of all creation, he contains within himself a portion of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil — the source of the prohibition Hashem gave Adam.

ומה שאמר הנחש והייתם כאלהים יודעי טוב ורע.

And as the serpent said: "and you shall be like Hashem, knowing good and evil."

The nachash tempted Adam with the promise of becoming godlike through the knowledge of good and evil.

ואנחנו הרואים כי הקב"ה ותורתו אמת ואין אנו יכולין לעמוד בידיעת טו"ר.

And we who see that the Kadosh Baruch Hu and His Torah are truth — we are not able to withstand the knowledge of good and evil.

The danger of "knowing good and evil" is that a person cannot remain unswayed by the evil he comes to know; he is drawn toward it.

ואמת כי מי שיוכל לדעת טו"ר ולא יהי' לו שום נטי' אחר ידיעת הרע הוא שנאמר עליו אני אמרתי אלהים אתם.

And it is true that one who could know good and evil yet have no inclination whatsoever toward the knowledge of evil — of him it is said: "I had said, you are godlike beings."

To know evil and yet feel no pull toward it would indeed be a godlike level, the lofty state the verse describes.

והקב"ה ידע כי אדה"ר לא הי' יכול לעמוד בזה לכן נאמר לא תאכל ממנו.

And the Kadosh Baruch Hu knew that Adam HaRishon could not withstand this; therefore it was said: "do not eat of it."

Because Adam could not attain that godlike imperviousness to evil, Hashem forbade him the tree altogether.

אבל באברהם אע"ה כתיב ומצאת את לבבו נאמן ב' לבבות יצ"ט ויצ"ר ולא הי' שום נטי' אחר ידיעת הרע.

But of Avraham Avinu it is written: "and You found his heart faithful before You" — "his heart," with two hearts, the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara — yet he had no inclination whatsoever toward the knowledge of evil.

Avraham reached precisely the level Adam could not: though he possessed both inclinations, he leaned in no way toward evil, his heart wholly faithful to Hashem.

ולכן נתן לו הקב"ה מצות מילה והוא תיקון עה"ד טו"ר.

And therefore the Kadosh Baruch Hu gave him the mitzvah of milah, which is the tikkun (rectification) of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

Bris milah is the remedy that repairs the very flaw introduced by the Tree of Knowledge.

והסרת הערלה הוא כי לא יתלבש בחי' טו"ר במעשה כענין שנאמר ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם.

And the removal of the orlah means that the aspect of good-and-evil will not become clothed in action, in the manner of what is said: "and do not stray after your hearts and after your eyes."

Cutting away the orlah ensures that the "knowledge of good and evil" stays confined to the mind and does not get expressed in deed.

שבנ"י מוכנים לזה בכח התורה ומצות.

For Bnei Yisrael are prepared for this through the power of Torah and mitzvos.

The Torah and its mitzvos equip Bnei Yisrael to keep evil from entering their actions.

ואיתא כי השדים נבראו רוחות בלא גופות וכשקידש יום השבת לא נגמר להם גופות.

And it is brought that the sheidim (demons) were created as spirits without bodies, and when Shabbos was sanctified their bodies were not completed.

The demons remained "unfinished" — spirit without full body — because the day of Shabbos arrived before their physical formation could be completed.

והוא עצמו ענין חותם ברית מילה שע"י הסרת הערלה נחתם אות יו"ד ונגמר שם שד"י ואז המזיקין בורחין.

And this is the very matter of the seal of the bris milah: that through the removal of the orlah the letter yud is sealed and the Name Shakkai is completed, and then the harmful spirits flee.

Milah completes the divine Name Shakkai (the same Name in "incomplete" demons), sealing the yud upon a person so that destructive forces have no hold over him.

ובעוד שהי' הערלה לא הי' חל השם.

And as long as the orlah remained, the Name did not rest upon him.

Before milah, the foreskin blocked the Divine Name from being established on the person.

ובהסיר הערלה חל השם.

And when the orlah is removed, the Name rests upon him.

Once the orlah is cut away, the holy Name Shakkai can come to dwell upon him.

ואמרו על אדם מושך בערלתו הי' פי' שנתן לערלה חלק בגוף ומעשה.

And they said of Adam that he "drew himself in his orlah" — meaning that he gave the orlah a portion in the body and in action.

Adam's sin gave the orlah — the principle of evil — a foothold not only in thought but in the physical body and in deed.

והמילה היא להסיר חלק המעשה ולכן איתא מחשבה רעה אין הקב"ה מצרפה למעשה שכן הוא שיש בחי' דעת טו"ר אבל רק בידיעה ולא במעשה.

And the milah serves to remove the portion of action; and therefore it is taught that the Kadosh Baruch Hu does not join an evil thought to a deed — for so it is, that there exists an aspect of "knowledge of good and evil," but only in knowing and not in action.

Because milah severs evil's grip on action, an evil thought in a Jew is not counted as a deed; the knowledge of evil may remain in the mind but cannot pass into act.

ובעכו"ם מחשבה מצטרפת למעשה שיש להם ערלה בגוף ומעשה ובני ישראל רק ערלי לב וז"ש ימול את בשר ערלתו שלא יהי' התלבשות הרע במעשה.

But for the idolatrous nations a thought is joined to a deed, for they have orlah in body and in action; whereas Bnei Yisrael are only "uncircumcised of heart." And this is the meaning of "he shall circumcise the flesh of his orlah" — so that evil should not become clothed in action.

Among the nations evil reaches into deed, so even their thoughts are reckoned with their actions; in Bnei Yisrael, milah confines evil to the heart alone, severing it from action.

ובשר הערלה אינו יכול להתדבק בקדושה.

And the flesh of the orlah cannot cleave to kedushah (holiness).

The orlah represents a part of a person that is incapable of attaching itself to holiness, and so must be removed.

וא"י להיות תמים רק בהסרת הערלה ואז הוא בלא מום כי בטל הדעת טו"ר בעץ החיים ועי' בזוה"ק דף ל"ה ע"ב:

And one cannot be tamim (whole) except through the removal of the orlah, and then he is without blemish — for the knowledge of good and evil is nullified within the Eitz HaChaim (Tree of Life); see Zohar HaKadosh, page 35b.

Only by removing the orlah does a person become "whole and unblemished," for the divisive knowledge of good and evil is dissolved and absorbed back into the Tree of Life.

Summary: Man is a microcosm who carries within him a portion of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, which Adam could not withstand and which became "clothed" even in body and deed. Avraham, whose heart leaned in no way toward evil, was given bris milah as the tikkun for this flaw: removing the orlah seals the Divine Name Shakkai upon a person, banishes harmful forces, and confines the "knowledge of evil" to mere thought rather than action — making a Jew tamim, whole and unblemished, as the knowledge of good and evil is nullified within the Tree of Life.