Removing the shell to reveal the inner point

במדרש ואחר עורי נקפו זאת אחר שמלתי כו'

In the Midrash on "And after my skin is peeled away, this [I shall behold from my flesh]" (Iyov 19:26) — "after I circumcised myself…"

The Sefas Emes brings the Midrash that reads Iyov's words as alluding to Avraham: only "after" he removed the foreskin through milah did he attain a new vision.

כי בכל דבר יש נקודה חיות מהשי"ת ורק שצריכין להסיר הקליפה והחיצוניות שנקרא ערלה דחפיא ברית ובהוסר הערלה ממילא מתגלה הנקודה כנ"ל.

For in everything there is a point of vitality (nekudas chiyus) from Hashem, may He be blessed; one need only remove the shell (kelipah) and the outer layer, which is called "orlah" that covers the bris (covenant), and once the orlah is removed the point is automatically revealed.

Every thing contains an inner Divine point; it is hidden only by an outer "shell" — the orlah — which conceals the inner covenant. Strip away that covering and the inner point shines forth on its own.

וזה וירא אליו שנתגלה לו הפנימיות שהי' בעצמותו נסתר ונכסה קודם המילה כמ"ש ומבשרי אחזה כו'.

And this is "And [Hashem] appeared to him (vayeira eilav)" (Bereishis 18:1) — that the inner dimension (penimiyus) was revealed to him, which had been hidden and concealed within his very self before the milah, as it says, "and from my flesh I behold [God]" (Iyov 19:26).

"Hashem appeared to him" after the milah means that Avraham's own inner penimiyus, until then concealed within him, was now uncovered. Through his very flesh — the place of the bris — he came to perceive the Divine.

גם פי' וירא דכ' וירא אלקים כו' טוב על כל הנבראים.

There is also the meaning of "vayeira" as in what is written, "And God saw (vayar Elokim)… that it was good" (Bereishis 1) — concerning all the created beings.

The Sefas Emes connects "vayeira" to the "seeing" of Creation, when Hashem looked upon all that He made and saw that it was good.

וראי' זו קיימת לעד ונותנת קיום והעמדה למעשה בראשית והיא דבוקה ומיוחדת למי שיודע זאת שכל חיות העולמות מהשגחתו ית' כמ"ש תמיד עיני ה' אלקיך בה כו':

And this "seeing" endures forever and grants existence and sustenance to all of creation, and it is attached and unique to one who knows this — that all the vitality of the worlds is from His providence (hashgachah), may He be blessed — as it says, "Always the eyes of Hashem your God are upon it" (Devarim 11:12).

Hashem's original "seeing that it was good" is not a one-time event; it is a continual gaze that sustains creation at every moment. This sustaining hashgachah cleaves especially to the person who recognizes that all the world's vitality flows from Hashem's constant providence, as the pasuk says His "eyes" are always upon the land.

Summary: Every thing contains an inner Divine point hidden beneath an outer "shell" (orlah); removing the covering reveals it. "Vayeira eilav" after Avraham's milah means his concealed inner penimiyus was uncovered, so that through his very flesh he beheld the Divine. "Vayeira" also recalls Hashem's "seeing that it was good" at Creation — an enduring, sustaining gaze of hashgachah that grants existence to all the worlds and cleaves especially to one who knows that all vitality flows from Hashem's constant providence.