Milah uncovers inner sight of the Divine

וירא אליו ה' כו' במדרש ואחר עורי נקפו זאת ומבשרי אחזה כו' אלולי שמלתי עצמי מהיכן היה נגלה אלי.

"And Hashem appeared to him…" In the Midrash: "And after my skin is peeled off, this; yet from my flesh I shall behold [G-d]" (Iyov 19:26) — Avraham said: had I not circumcised myself, from where would He have been revealed to me?

The Sefas Emes opens with Avraham's reflection: it was the milah, the removal of the bodily covering, that made the revelation of the Shechinah possible.

דאיתא במדרש בפסוק ויפקח אלקים את עיני' ותרא באר מים מכאן שהכל בחזקת סומין עד שהקב"ה מאיר עיניהם פי' מו"ז ז"ל להראות כי כל הנצרך לאדם עומד לפניו רק שיזכה לפתוח עיניו לראות כמ"ש גל עיני כו'.

As it is taught in the Midrash on the pasuk "And G-d opened her eyes and she saw a well of water" (Bereishis 21:19): from here we learn that all are presumed blind until the Holy One, blessed is He, illumines their eyes. My grandfather, of blessed memory, explained: this shows that everything a person needs already stands before him; he need only merit to open his eyes and see, as it is written "Uncover my eyes" (Tehillim 119:18).

Hagar's well was always there; she lacked only the sight to perceive it. So too every person's needs already stand before him, awaiting the opening of his inner eyes.

כי האדם נברא בצלם אלקים א"כ מכל אבר ואבר יש לו למצוא השייך לו בצלם הפנימי.

For man was created in the image of G-d (tzelem Elokim); therefore, from each and every limb he can find what corresponds to it in the inner image.

Every limb of the body mirrors an inner spiritual form; the physical is a garment for the tzelem within.

אך העונות מסתירים ע"י שמתדבק בגשמיות הגוף מכסה על הנפש ולכן נתן הקב"ה תרי"ג מצות לזכך הגוף כדי שיוכל הנפש להתגלות בגוף האדם כמ"ש חז"ל רצה הקב"ה לזכות את בני ישראל הרבה להם תורה ומצות דכמו שהעונות מסתירין הארת הנפש כן המצות מאירים הארת הנפש וכמ"ש מצות ה' ברה מאירת עינים וכ"כ נר מצוה.

But the sins conceal it: by clinging to physicality, the body covers over the soul (nefesh). Therefore the Holy One, blessed is He, gave the 613 mitzvos to refine the body, so that the soul could be revealed within the body of a person — as Chazal said, "Hashem wished to give merit to Bnei Yisrael, therefore He gave them abundant Torah and mitzvos." For just as sins conceal the light of the soul, so the mitzvos illuminate the light of the soul, as it is written "The mitzvah of Hashem is clear, enlightening the eyes" (Tehillim 19:9), and "a mitzvah is a lamp" (Mishlei 6:23).

Sin thickens the body as a screen over the soul; the mitzvos refine that body into a transparent vessel through which the soul's light can shine forth.

ולפעמים יש חטאות נעורים שמסתירין ואפילו מה שעתידין לעשות כי הקב"ה לפניו עבר והוה ועתיד הכל אחד וכמ"ש ז"ל שקפצו מה"ש ואמרו מי שעתיד להמית בניך בצמא אתה מעלה לו באר.

And sometimes there are "sins of youth" that conceal — and even what one is destined to do — for before the Holy One, blessed is He, past, present, and future are all one. As Chazal said: the ministering angels leaped forward and said, "The one whose descendants are destined to kill Your children with thirst — for him You raise up a well?"

Because Hashem sees all time as one, even future sins (here, Yishmael's descendants) can cast a concealing shadow; the angels objected to providing for Hagar on that account.

אך הקב"ה השיב באשר הוא שם.

But the Holy One, blessed is He, answered: "[I judge him] according to where he is now" (Bereishis 21:17).

Hashem judges a person by his present state, not by what he will become — and so the well was opened despite the future.

וכ"כ וירא און ולא יתבונן לכן פקח את עיניה והנה המילה היא מצוה ראשונה שניתן לבני ישראל ביחוד והוא הסרת הערלה ומכסה של הגשמיות ולכן אחר עורי נקפו ונתגלה עצם הציור הפנימי.

And so it is written, "He sees iniquity, yet does not perceive [it]" (Tehillim 35:21) — therefore He opened her eyes. Now, milah is the first mitzvah given to Bnei Yisrael in particular, and it is the removal of the orlah, the covering of physicality; therefore, "after my skin is peeled off," the very inner form is revealed.

Milah is precisely the stripping away of the physical screen, allowing the inner spiritual form to come into view — which is why revelation followed Avraham's circumcision.

ומבשרי אחזה הוא ממש מגוף הרמ"ח אברים ושס"ה גידים וע"ז אחז"ל דע מה למעלה ממך שיכול האדם להסתכל בדמות נפשו כל שלמעלה וזה וירא אליו ממש.

"From my flesh I shall behold" means literally from the body's 248 limbs and 365 sinews; and concerning this Chazal said, "Know what is above you" — that a person can gaze, through the form of his soul, at all that is above. And this is "He appeared to him" — literally.

Through his own refined body, mirroring the 248 limbs and 365 sinews, a person can perceive the Divine; "He appeared to him" means the revelation came through Avraham's very self.

דמקודם כתיב וירא ה' אל אברם הוא אל בחי' השם שלו אבל כאן כתיב וירא אליו כמ"ש מבשרי אחזה.

For earlier it is written "And Hashem appeared to Avram" (el Avram) — that is, to the dimension of his name; but here it is written "He appeared to him" (eilav), as in "from my flesh I shall behold."

Before the milah the revelation reached only toward Avram's outer "name"; afterward it reached "to him" — to his very inner self, perceived through his own refined flesh.

וע"ז ביקש דהמע"ה גל עיני.

And concerning this David HaMelech, peace be upon him, requested: "Uncover my eyes" (Tehillim 119:18).

David prayed for this same opening of inner sight — to perceive the Divine reality already present.

עיני הוא הציור והסתכלות כמו לה' עין אדם שהוא הציור והדמות:

"My eyes" refers to the inner form and the faculty of gazing, as in "the eye of man is toward Hashem" — which is the form and likeness.

The "eyes" are the soul's power of spiritual perception; refining the body restores this inner vision to behold Hashem.

Summary: Man is created in the tzelem Elokim, and all he needs — including the perception of the Divine — already stands before him; he need only open his inner eyes. Sin clings to physicality and screens the soul, while the 613 mitzvos refine the body into a transparent vessel. Milah, the removal of the bodily covering, was what allowed the Shechinah to be revealed "to" Avraham himself, "from his flesh," and the same uncovering of inner sight is what David begged for in "Uncover my eyes."