Milah reveals the inner point of creation

במדרש ואחר עורי נקפו זאת כו' אחר שמלתי עצמי כו'.

In the Midrash: "And after my skin has been struck off, this [I will see]…" — "after I circumcised myself…"

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash that reads Iyov's verse about "my skin" as alluding to Avraham, who attained a new vision of the Divine "after I circumcised myself."

כי נקודה זאת היא חיות הכל וכל הנבראים נקשרים בנקודה פנימית הנ"ל.

For this point (nekudah) is the life-force of everything, and all created beings are bound to this inner point.

"This" (zos) refers to the inner point that is the vitality of all existence, to which every creature is connected.

רק שהתגלות הנקודה הוא לפי חשיבות המקבלים דכ' סוד ה' ליראיו במד' כשתמול תקח סוד ע' נפש ע' זקנים כו'.

Only that the revelation of this point is according to the worthiness of those who receive it, as it is written, "the secret of Hashem is for those who fear Him (sod Hashem li'yere'av)" — [and] in the Midrash: when you circumcise (timol), you take the "secret" (sod): the seventy souls (shiv'im nefesh), the seventy elders…

The inner point is revealed in proportion to the recipient's spiritual standing. Chazal link "milah" (circumcision) to "sod" (secret) — both connected to the number seventy — meaning that milah opens access to the hidden secret of Hashem reserved for those who fear Him.

דכתיב ויבדל בין האור כו'.

As it is written, "And He separated between the light [and the darkness]…"

The Sefas Emes recalls the verse of creation in which Hashem separated light from darkness.

ובאמת הע' אומות הם המסתירין האור והוא ההפרש בין אור לעור דכתיב ויעש כו' כתנות עור.

And in truth the seventy nations are the ones who conceal the light, and this is the difference between "or" (light, אור) and "or" (skin, עור), as it is written, "And He made… garments of skin (kosnos or)."

The seventy nations represent the forces of concealment that hide the Divine light. The wordplay between "or" spelled with an aleph (light) and "or" spelled with an ayin (skin) reflects how the "garments of skin" given after the sin became a covering that obscures the inner light.

ובתורתו של ר"מ אור כתיב כו'.

And in the Torah of Rabbi Meir it was written "or" with an aleph (light)…

Chazal note that in Rabbi Meir's Torah scroll the verse read "garments of light" (with an aleph) rather than "garments of skin" — alluding to the original luminous state before the concealment.

ובנ"י זכו לברית מילה שהוא להסיר עור הנ"ל ונתגלה להם נקודה הפנימית אשר שם שורש הכל כנ"ל.

And Bnei Yisrael merited the bris milah, which is to remove the aforementioned "skin," and the inner point — where the root of everything lies — was revealed to them.

Through bris milah, Bnei Yisrael strip away the concealing "skin," uncovering the inner point of holiness that is the source of all.

ונקרא פתח האהל כי משם מתחיל ההתפשטות לכל הע' אומות ובנ"י זוכין ע"י המילה להיות דביקין בפתח האהל קודם כל ההמשכות שבאים לעולם כנ"ל.

And it is called "the opening of the tent (pesach ha'ohel)," for from there the expansion to all the seventy nations begins; and Bnei Yisrael merit, through the milah, to be attached to the "opening of the tent" — before all the flows that come into the world.

The inner point is the "opening of the tent," the source from which Divine flow spreads out even to the seventy nations. Through milah, Bnei Yisrael cleave directly to this source, ahead of and above all the secondary flows that descend into the world.

ויש בכלל הבריאה עולם שנה נפש כידוע.

And in general, creation contains "olam, shanah, nefesh" (world/space, year/time, soul), as is known.

The Sefas Emes invokes the three dimensions of creation: space, time, and soul.

ויש ג' בריתות.

And there are three covenants (brisos).

Corresponding to these three dimensions, there are three bris-covenants.

קשת בעולם.

The rainbow (keshes) in the dimension of "olam" (world/space).

The covenant of the rainbow corresponds to space, the physical world.

ושבת ברית בזמן שנה.

And Shabbos is the covenant in the dimension of time, "shanah" (year).

The covenant of Shabbos corresponds to time.

ומילה בנפש:

And milah (circumcision) [is the covenant] in the dimension of "nefesh" (soul).

The covenant of bris milah corresponds to the soul — completing the three covenants across space, time, and soul.

Summary: The inner point ("zos") is the life-force of all creation, to which every being is bound, though it is revealed only according to the recipient's worthiness — "the secret of Hashem is for those who fear Him." The seventy nations represent concealment, captured in the wordplay between "or" (light, with an aleph) and "or" (skin, with an ayin); the "garments of skin" given after the sin obscure the original light. Through bris milah, Bnei Yisrael remove that concealing "skin" and cleave to the inner point — the "opening of the tent" — at the very source from which all Divine flow spreads. Finally, the three dimensions of creation (olam, shanah, nefesh) each have a covenant: the rainbow for space, Shabbos for time, and milah for the soul.