Refining the body through milah to behold Hashem

במדרש ומבשרי אחזה אלוקי.

In the Midrash: "and from my flesh I behold God" (umibesari echezeh Eloka).

The Midrash opens with Iyov's words that one can perceive Hashem from within one's own flesh — the body itself can become a means of beholding the Divine.

כי זה עיקר עבודת האדם לזכך הגוף.

For this is the main avodah of a person: to refine the body.

The central work of a person's life is to purify and refine the physical body so that it too can reflect Hashem.

והאבות נזדככו כל כך עד שנעשו מרכבה גם בגופם.

And the Avos refined themselves so much that they became a merkavah (chariot for the Shechinah) even in their bodies.

The Avos purified themselves to such a degree that not only their souls but even their physical bodies became a "chariot" carrying the Shechinah.

ולכן הגם שמקודם הי' לו מראות ברוח והתפשטות הגשמיות.

Therefore, although beforehand he had visions in spirit, with a divestment of physicality,

Before his milah, Avraham received prophecy only through a "stripping away" of the physical — his body had to be set aside for the spirit to perceive.

אבל עתה אחר המילה מבשרי אחזה כמ"ש וירא אליו כו' והוא יושב פירוש שלא הי' צריך לשנות א"ע.

but now, after the milah, "from my flesh I behold," as it is written "and Hashem appeared to him etc., and he was sitting" — meaning that he did not need to change himself.

After milah, Avraham could behold Hashem "from his flesh" — while sitting, in his ordinary bodily state, without needing to leave the physical behind. His refined body itself had become a vessel for the Divine vision.

וכן בכל איש ישראל ע"י המילה יכולין לזכך הגוף וכן בכל המצות כמ"ש חז"ל רצה הקב"ה לזכות את בני ישראל הרבה להם תורה ומצות.

And so too with every Jew, through the milah one can refine the body, and likewise through all the mitzvos, as Chazal said: "Hashem wished to grant merit to Bnei Yisrael, therefore He gave them abundant Torah and mitzvos."

Every Jew can refine his body through milah and through all the mitzvos. The abundance of mitzvos is precisely Hashem's gift to give us many opportunities to purify the physical.

אבל מילה היא כלל כל המצות וז"ש מי יעלה לנו השמימה ר"ת מילה כי רוח בני אדם עולה למעלה אבל ע"י המילה יכולין להעלות גם הגוף כענין שנאמר באליהו מלאך הברית ויעל אליהו בסערה השמימה.

But milah is the all-inclusive principle of all the mitzvos, and this is the meaning of "Who will ascend for us to the heavens" — whose initial letters spell "milah" — for the spirit of man ascends upward, but through milah one can elevate even the body, as was said of Eliyahu the angel of the bris: "and Eliyahu ascended in a storm to the heavens."

Milah encompasses all the mitzvos. While the soul naturally rises heavenward, milah uniquely empowers a person to elevate even the physical body. Eliyahu, called "the angel of the bris," exemplifies this: he ascended to heaven bodily, alive — because milah grants the body itself the power to rise.

וזה עיקר יגיעת האדם כמ"ש בשר נתייגע ביראה מבשרי אחזה ע"י ביטול הבשר כמו שהוא במילה שמחסר בשרו לשם שמים.

And this is the main labor (yegiah) of a person, as it says: "flesh labored in fear" — "from my flesh I behold" — through the nullification (bittul) of the flesh, as it is in milah, where one diminishes his flesh for the sake of Heaven.

The essential toil of a person is to labor at his physical self in yiras Shomayim, attaining "from my flesh I behold" through bittul of the body — the very nullification expressed in milah, where one literally reduces his flesh purely for Hashem's sake.

ועי"ז זוכה לתקן גם הגוף.

And through this he merits to rectify even the body.

By this bittul of the flesh, a person succeeds in rectifying and elevating even his physical body, not only his soul.

והמפרשים פירשו ומבשרי אחזה אלוקי שאמר איוב יותר מבשרי אחזה אלקי שכל הסתכלות שלו הי' לאלקות יותר ממה שנסתכל על בשרו.

And the commentators explained "and from my flesh I behold God," that Iyov said: more than my flesh, I behold God — that all his gazing was upon the Divine more than he gazed upon his own flesh.

An alternative reading: Iyov declared that he looked toward Hashem even more than he attended to his own body — his constant focus was on the Divine rather than on physical concerns.

שכן צריך להיות עיקר רעיון האדם תמיד על הנפש יותר מעל הגוף.

For so it must be: a person's primary thought should always be on the soul more than on the body.

This is the lesson: one's main attention and concern should always rest on the neshamah, more than on the needs and desires of the body.

וזה חותם המילה בגוף האדם.

And this is the seal (chosam) of milah in the body of a person.

Milah is the permanent seal imprinted on a person's body, fixing this orientation of soul-over-body into his very flesh.

ויש בכל איש ישראל ב' אותות מילה ושבת מילה ותפילין.

And every Jew has signs (osos): milah and Shabbos, milah and tefillin.

Each Jew bears holy "signs" of his bond with Hashem — milah together with Shabbos, and milah together with tefillin.

והנה שבת ותפילין הם הארות אשר חופפים על האדם.

Now, Shabbos and tefillin are illuminations (he'aros) that hover over a person.

Shabbos and tefillin are lights that rest upon and surround a person from without — they are external radiances rather than fixed parts of him.

בשבת נשמה יתירה.

On Shabbos, the neshamah yeseirah (additional soul).

The light of Shabbos comes as the neshamah yeseirah, an extra soul that descends upon a person — but only for the day.

וכן ע"י התפילין זוכה להארה מן הנשמה אבל ברית מילה הוא קבוע בגוף האדם לעולם להיות מבשרי אחזה

And likewise through tefillin one merits an illumination from the soul; but the bris milah is fixed in the body of a person forever, to be "from my flesh I behold."

Tefillin too bring a soul-illumination, but it is temporary. The bris milah is different: it is permanently engraved in the body itself, so that a person beholds Hashem "from his flesh" always — making the physical body itself a constant, fixed vessel for the Divine.

Summary: The main avodah of a person is to refine the body so that it too becomes a vessel for beholding Hashem — "from my flesh I behold God." The Avos refined themselves until their very bodies became a merkavah, and after milah Avraham could perceive Hashem without leaving the physical. Milah, which includes all the mitzvos, uniquely elevates the body (as Eliyahu ascended bodily), accomplished through bittul of the flesh. Unlike Shabbos (neshamah yeseirah) and tefillin, which are temporary illuminations hovering over a person, the bris milah is a permanent seal fixed in the body forever.