Milah unveils the hidden light through avodah

במדרש ואחר עורי כו' מבשרי אחזה אלולי שמלתי מהיכן הי' ה' נגלה עלי פי' הגם שהי' לו גם קודם המילה מראות.

In the Midrash on "And after my skin… from my flesh I shall behold" — "Were it not that I circumcised myself, from where would Hashem have been revealed to me?" The meaning is: even though he had visions also before the milah (circumcision)…

Avraham declares that his bris milah is what enabled Hashem to be revealed to him "from my flesh." The Sefas Emes clarifies that Avraham had received prophetic visions even before he was circumcised, so the question is what the milah added.

הי' בחסד עליון ועתה זכה מצד עצמותו.

— it was [then] through a supernal chesed, but now he merited it from his own essence.

The earlier visions came as a free gift, a supernal chesed (kindness) bestowed from above. After the milah, by contrast, Avraham earned the revelation through his own being, having transformed himself so that the closeness was now intrinsically his.

להיות השי"ת נגלה אליו.

— that Hashem should be revealed to him.

This earned revelation is precisely the new level the milah granted: Hashem revealing Himself to Avraham as a result of Avraham's own avodah.

כמ"ש מבשרי אחזה.

As it is written, "from my flesh I shall behold."

The phrase "from my flesh" teaches that the very flesh he sanctified through milah became the vehicle through which he now beholds Hashem.

ולכן נגלה המראה אליו בדביקות עצום כי מה שמשיג אדם באמצעות עבודה שלו יש לו בזה דביקות יותר מהשגה שבא בחסד עליון בלבד.

And therefore the vision was revealed to him with tremendous deveikus (attachment), for whatever a person attains through his own avodah, he has in it a greater attachment than in an attainment that comes through supernal chesed alone.

A gift received freely produces a lesser bond than something earned through one's own toil. Because Avraham now attained the revelation through his own avodah, his deveikus to Hashem was immeasurably deeper and more enduring.

אחר עורי פרשנו במ"א כי אדה"ר ע"י החטא הוצרך לכתנות עור כי לא הי' יכול לקבל הארה עליונה בלי התלבשות כמ"ש ויתחבא האדם כו'.

"After my skin" — we explained elsewhere that Adam HaRishon, through the sin, required "garments of skin," for he could no longer receive the supernal illumination without a covering, as it is written, "and the man hid himself…"

Before the sin, Adam could receive divine light directly. After the sin he needed "garments of skin" — a protective covering — because he could no longer bear the unfiltered supernal light, and so he "hid." The coarse outer skin both shields and conceals.

ואבינו אברהם ברוב מעשיו הטובים זכה להסיר מכסה העור ולפתוח פתח מאותו בחי' שהי' קודם החטא.

And Avraham Avinu, through the abundance of his good deeds, merited to remove the covering of skin and to open an opening from that aspect which existed before the sin.

By the sheer abundance of his good deeds, Avraham — through milah, the removal of the orlah (foreskin/covering) — peeled away the concealing "skin" and reopened access to the unmediated light that existed before Adam's sin.

וז"ש והוא יושב ע"י המילה פתח האהל שנפתח מה שהי' נכסה.

And this is the meaning of "and he was sitting" — by virtue of the milah — "at the opening of the tent," for that which had been concealed was now opened.

The verse describing Avraham "sitting at the opening of the tent" after his milah hints that the milah opened a "petach" (opening) into what had been hidden — the inner light now lay open before him.

וחז"ל דרשו הפסוק אשרי תבחר ותקרב על המילה והוא רמז למילה ופריעה כי בחירה היא נגד המילה שהערלה נכרתת ממילא נתגלה במקום הזה קדושה ונפתח עי"ז היכל מיוחד.

And Chazal expounded the verse "Fortunate is the one whom You choose and bring near" upon the milah, and it alludes to milah and pri'ah (the two stages of circumcision): for "choosing" corresponds to milah, where the orlah is cut away, and automatically kedushah is revealed in this place, and through this a special chamber (heichal) is opened.

The two stages of circumcision, milah and pri'ah, map onto the verse's two phrases. "You choose" (tivchar) parallels milah: cutting off the orlah removes the obstruction so that holiness is automatically revealed there, opening a special heichal (sanctuary) above.

וקריבה היא נגד הפריעה כי יש ב' קליפות יש שצריכין לרחק לגמרי כמו האיסורים.

And "bringing near" corresponds to the pri'ah, for there are two kelipos (husks): there is one that must be distanced entirely, like the forbidden things.

"Bring near" (tekarev) parallels pri'ah. The Sefas Emes explains there are two types of kelipah (the husk that conceals holiness). The first must be cut off and removed completely — like outright issurim (forbidden matters), which have no permissible use.

ויש יצה"ר בדברים המותרים והיא קליפת הפריעה שא"י לבטלה לגמרי רק להפריש עצמו ולהרחיק עצמו מאותו הקליפה ג"כ.

And there is the yetzer hara within permitted things — this is the kelipah of the pri'ah, which one cannot nullify entirely, but only separate himself and distance himself from that husk as well.

The second kelipah is the yetzer hara that hides within permitted matters (eating, money, and the like). This thinner membrane cannot be cut away entirely, for the permitted thing itself remains; one's avodah is to "uncover" it — to separate and refine oneself from its grip, paralleling pri'ah, which peels back the thin membrane rather than removing it whole.

ולכן בזכות ב' הרחקות אלו נפתחים ב' היכלות כמ"ש בסיפא נשבעה בטוב ביתך קדוש היכלך

And therefore, in the merit of these two distancings, two chambers are opened, as it says in the latter part of the verse, "May we be sated with the goodness of Your House, the holiness of Your Sanctuary."

Corresponding to the two forms of separation — from the forbidden and within the permitted — two heichalos are opened above, alluded to in the verse's two phrases: "the goodness of Your House" and "the holiness of Your Sanctuary."

וכפי הרמז בדורות שהיו מקודם בכלל הבריאה הערלה והוא דור המבול שנאבדו ונכרתו מן העולם אח"כ דור הפלגה שלא נאבדו לגמרי רק נרחקו ונפרשו מן האחדות אח"כ בא אאע"ה שהוא אור הגנוז.

And according to the hint within the generations that came earlier: included in creation was the "orlah" — this is the generation of the Flood, who were destroyed and cut off from the world; afterward the generation of the Dispersion, who were not destroyed entirely but only distanced and separated from the unity; afterward came Avraham Avinu, who is the hidden light.

The same two-kelipah pattern is mirrored across history. The Dor HaMabul (generation of the Flood) was like the orlah that must be cut off entirely — they were destroyed. The Dor HaPlagah (Dispersion) was like the thinner kelipah — not annihilated but scattered and distanced from divine unity. Then came Avraham, who is the "or ha-ganuz," the hidden primordial light revealed once those husks were cleared away.

וכעין זה מצינו שנאמר לאברהם אע"ה לך לך מארצך כו' ולוט הלך עמו רק שאח"כ נתרחק ממנו שהי' לו קצת אחיזה ומ"מ הי' צריך להיות מרחוק וזה רמז לב' המילות כנ"ל:

And similar to this we find that it was said to Avraham Avinu, "Go for yourself from your land…" and Lot went with him, only that afterward he became distanced from him, for he had a slight grip [of holiness], yet nevertheless he had to remain at a distance — and this alludes to the two "cuttings" (milos), as above.

The pattern repeats with Avraham's own companions. Some attachments, like the idolatry he left behind, were severed completely. Lot, however, had "a slight grip" of holiness in him — like the permitted matters that cannot be cut away entirely — so he was not utterly cast off, yet still had to be kept at a distance. This too mirrors the two stages of circumcision and the two forms of separation.

Summary: Avraham's bris milah let him behold Hashem "from his own flesh" — an earned closeness far deeper than the freely-given visions before it, removing the concealing "skin" that has covered the world since Adam's sin. The two stages of circumcision, milah and pri'ah, correspond to two kinds of separation — cutting off the forbidden entirely versus refining oneself within the permitted — a pattern echoed in the generations of the Flood and the Dispersion, and in Avraham's parting from Lot.