Milah sealing holiness into body as seed of truth

במדרש וירא אליו ה' מבשרי אחזה אלוקי.

In the Midrash: "And Hashem appeared to him" — "from my flesh I behold God."

The Midrash connects Hashem's appearing to Avraham (after the milah) with the pasuk "from my flesh I behold God," teaching that the body itself can become a means of perceiving the Divine.

דהנה חביבה מצות מילה שהיא חותם בגוף האדם עדות שגופות בני ישראל יש בהם רשימה קדושה כמ"ש במ"א שזהו פירוש המשנה חביב אדם שנברא בצלם שנאמר בצלם אלהים עשה ולא מביא פסוק שמקודם בצלמינו.

For behold, the mitzvah of milah is beloved, for it is a seal in the body of a person — testimony that the bodies of Bnei Yisrael contain a holy impression (reshimah), as I have written elsewhere, that this is the meaning of the Mishnah "beloved is man, for he was created in the [divine] image, as it says 'in the image of God He made him'" — and it does not bring the earlier pasuk "in Our image."

The bris milah seals holiness into the very body, showing that the Jewish body bears a holy imprint. This is why the Mishnah cites specifically "in the image of God He made him" (referring to the formed, physical man) rather than the earlier "in Our image" — to teach that even the body was created in the divine image.

רק לומר שגם הגוף נברא בצלם.

Rather, [it is] to say that even the body was created in the [divine] image.

The point is precisely that the holiness extends to the physical body, not the soul alone.

ואלה הג' משניות חביבין ישראל שנקראו בנים.

And these three Mishnayos: "beloved are Yisrael, for they are called children."

The Sefas Emes points to three statements in the Mishnah (Avos) about being "beloved" — first, that Bnei Yisrael are called Hashem's children.

ושניתן להם כלי חמדה אלה הג' בחי' נר"נ כי הנפש דבוק בגוף דם הוא הנפש.

And "that a precious vessel was given to them" — these three correspond to the aspects of Nefesh-Ruach-Neshamah, for the Nefesh is bound to the body: "the blood is the Nefesh."

The three expressions of being "beloved" map onto the three levels of soul: Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah. The Nefesh is the lowest, tied to the body and the blood.

וע"י התורה זוכין לרוח ובנים בחינת נשמה.

And through the Torah one merits Ruach; and "children" is the aspect of Neshamah.

The precious vessel of Torah elevates a person to the level of Ruach, while being called Hashem's "children" reflects the highest level, Neshamah.

ואנו אומרים בכל יום מותר אדם מן הבהמה אין כי הכל הבל מלבד הנשמה הטהורה כו'.

And we say each day "the superiority of man over beast is naught, for all is vanity, except the pure neshamah," etc.

In the daily liturgy we acknowledge that, on the bodily plane alone, man holds no advantage over an animal — the difference lies in the pure soul.

ומסיים אבל אנחנו עמך בני בריתך.

And it concludes "but we are Your people, the children of Your covenant."

Yet the prayer continues that we are nonetheless Hashem's people, bound to Him through the covenant.

א"כ משמע שגם הגופות שלנו הם עמך בני בריתך בכח הברית שכרת עם אבותינו שזה עיקר הברית להיות התקשרות והתחברות הגוף עם הנשמה ואז נקרא תמים כמ"ש בפרש' לך לך מזה.

If so, it implies that even our bodies are "Your people, the children of Your covenant," by the power of the covenant He made with our forefathers — for this is the essence of the covenant: to be a binding and joining of the body with the neshamah; and then one is called "tamim" (whole), as I have written about in Parshas Lech Lecha.

Since the prayer affirms us even as physical beings, our very bodies are included in the covenant. The core purpose of the bris is to unite body and soul into one, making a person "tamim" — complete, as discussed in Lech Lecha.

ולכן נקראו ישראל זרע אמת שנפשותיהם נמשכין מראש עד סוף.

Therefore Yisrael are called "seed of truth (zera emes)," for their souls extend from beginning to end.

Bnei Yisrael are "seed of truth" because their souls run consistently and unbrokenly from start to finish — and truth, emes, is whole only when it holds from beginning to end.

ואם הגוף אינו כלי מכוון לקבל הארת הנשמה לא נקרא אמת.

And if the body is not a fitting vessel to receive the illumination of the neshamah, it is not called "truth."

Truth requires that the body be properly aligned to receive and express the soul's light; otherwise the person is not fully "emes."

ובנ"י עלו במחשבה קודם שנברא העולם ועתידין להיות לעוה"ב זהו אמת ראש תוך סוף.

And Bnei Yisrael arose in [Hashem's] thought before the world was created, and are destined to exist in the World to Come — this is "truth": beginning, middle, and end.

Bnei Yisrael span all of existence — they were in the divine thought before creation, exist now, and endure into Olam Haba — and this completeness across beginning, middle, and end is the very definition of emes.

ובאין לזה על ידי הסרת הערלה.

And one comes to this through the removal of the orlah (foreskin).

This status of "truth" is attained through the bris milah, the removal of the orlah.

כי הערלה בא אחר החטא כי האלקים עשה את האדם ישר.

For the orlah came after the sin, for "God made man upright."

The orlah represents a flaw introduced by Adam's sin; man was originally created "upright," without it.

והערלה חלק הסט"א שהוא שפת שקר ולא יהיה לו תקומה לעתיד.

And the orlah is the portion of the sitra achra (the "other side"), which is "the lip of falsehood," and it will have no standing in the future.

The orlah belongs to the forces of impurity, the "lip of falsehood," which ultimately has no enduring existence.

ועל ידי הסרת הערלה נקרא זרע אמת דכתיב הצילה נפשי משפת שקר והקב"ה הציל נפשות בנ"י משפת שקר ע"י הסרת הערלה נולד כל הולד כולו זרע אמת ואין בו חלק משפת שקר שהוא הערלה.

And through the removal of the orlah one is called "seed of truth," as it is written "save my soul from the lip of falsehood." And HaKadosh Baruch Hu saved the souls of Bnei Yisrael from the lip of falsehood through the removal of the orlah; the whole child is born entirely "seed of truth," with no portion of the lip of falsehood, which is the orlah.

By removing the orlah — the "lip of falsehood" — Hashem rescues the Jewish soul from falsehood, so that the person becomes wholly "seed of truth," with no remaining attachment to that falsehood.

והוא ברית המעור וכמו כן יש לשון רמיה בלשון שמזה בא אח"כ בימי הפלגה התפשטות לשבעים לשונות אבל לבני ישראל נשאר לשון הקודש שהוא שפת אמת תכון לעד.

And this is the covenant of the bris milah (bris ha-ma'or); and likewise there is a "tongue of deceit" in speech, from which came afterward, in the days of the Dispersion (the Tower of Bavel), the spreading into seventy languages — but for Bnei Yisrael there remained Lashon HaKodesh (the Holy Tongue), which is "the lip of truth that is established forever."

Just as the bris milah is a covenant of the flesh, there is a parallel concern with speech: the "tongue of deceit" gave rise to the seventy languages after the Dispersion, but Bnei Yisrael retained the Holy Tongue, "the lip of truth," which endures forever.

והם ב' הבריתות כמ"ש וכרת לו ברית בין עשר אצבעות רגליו והוא המילה ובין עשר אצבעות ידיו והוא הלשון שעיקר החיות בב' מקומות אלו כמ"ש במ"א ולכן יש להם שמירה ולהט החרב לשמור דרך עץ החיים.

And these are the two covenants, as it is said "and He made with him a covenant between the ten toes of his feet" — that is the milah — "and between the ten fingers of his hands" — that is the tongue (speech); for the essential vitality is in these two places, as I have written elsewhere. And therefore they have protection, and "the flame of the sword" to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

There are two covenants — the bris of milah (alluded to in the feet) and the bris of the tongue (the hands and speech) — for the core of a person's vitality resides in these two; through them Bnei Yisrael are guarded along the path back to the Tree of Life.

ועל ידי ב' הבריתות נאחזים בעץ החיים.

And through these two covenants they are grasped onto the Tree of Life.

The covenants of milah and of holy speech are what bind Bnei Yisrael to the Eitz Chaim.

והם גם כן ברית מילה ושבת.

And they are likewise bris milah and Shabbos.

These two covenants correspond as well to milah and Shabbos.

מילה ותפילין:

[And to] milah and tefillin.

They also parallel milah and tefillin — pairs of covenantal signs (osos) that seal holiness into the body and bind a person to Hashem.

Summary: The mitzvah of milah seals holiness into the very body of a Jew, teaching that "even the body was created in the divine image" and that the bris's purpose is to unite body and soul so a person becomes "tamim." Through removing the orlah — the "lip of falsehood" of the sitra achra — Bnei Yisrael become "seed of truth," consistent from beginning to end; and through the two covenants of flesh (milah) and speech (Lashon HaKodesh) — paralleled by Shabbos and tefillin — they take hold of the Tree of Life.