Milah and Shabbos Let the Neshamah Shine

בפסוק התהלך לפני והיה תמים.

On the pasuk "Walk before Me and be wholehearted (tamim)" (Bereishis 17:1).

The Sefas Emes takes up Hashem's command to Avraham to walk before Him and be "tamim," whole and complete — the charge given together with the mitzvah of milah.

דהנה ע"י הערלה אין הנשמה מאירה באדם וע"ז איתא גולל אור מפני חושך ובהסרת הערלה הנשמה מאירה באדם וגולל חושך מפני אור ואז נקרא תמים ושלם וכמו כן שבת נקרא שלום דסט"א אתעברית בשבת ומאיר הנשמה.

For behold, through the orlah (foreskin) the neshamah does not shine within a person, and about this it is said "He rolls away light before darkness"; and with the removal of the orlah the neshamah shines within a person and "He rolls away darkness before light," and then he is called tamim and shaleim. Similarly, Shabbos is called "shalom," for the sitra achra is removed on Shabbos and the neshamah shines.

The orlah is a spiritual covering that blocks the neshamah's light — a state of "rolling light away before darkness." When the orlah is removed through milah, that obstruction is cleared and "darkness is rolled away before light," so the neshamah radiates and the person is whole (tamim, shaleim). Shabbos works the same way: it is called "shalom" because the sitra achra (the side of impurity) is pushed aside, allowing the neshamah to shine.

וזה מצות הדלקת נר בשבת משום שלום בית שאז בנין האדם נשלם בכל הנר"ן וכמ"ש בזוה"ק כי כל אורות הנר אוכמא וחיורא ושלהבת הכל רומז לנר"ן של האדם:

And this is the mitzvah of kindling the lamp on Shabbos, on account of "shalom bayis," for then the structure of a person is completed in all of nefesh-ruach-neshamah; and as is written in the Zohar HaKadosh, that all the lights of the lamp — the black, the white, and the flame — all hint to the nefesh-ruach-neshamah of a person.

Lighting the Shabbos lamp "for the sake of shalom bayis" reflects this inner completion: on Shabbos a person's full spiritual structure — nefesh, ruach, and neshamah — comes together as one. The Zohar reads the very parts of the flame (the dark base, the white glow, and the rising flame) as corresponding to these three levels of the soul, so the Shabbos light mirrors the person made whole.

Summary: The orlah blocks the light of the neshamah, and its removal through milah lets the soul shine, making a person tamim and shaleim — "darkness rolled away before light." Shabbos accomplishes the same as "shalom," pushing aside the sitra achra so the neshamah radiates; the Shabbos candle, kindled for shalom bayis, embodies this wholeness, its three parts of flame mirroring the nefesh-ruach-neshamah of the completed person.