Milah and Pesach as the root of Jewish life

מצות הפסח מצוה ראשונה שנצטוו בני ישראל אחר מצות המילה שניתנה לאברהם.

The mitzvah of the Pesach is the first mitzvah that Bnei Yisrael were commanded, after the mitzvah of milah that was given to Avraham.

The Sefas Emes points out that the Korban Pesach was the very first national mitzvah of Yisrael, following only the bris milah originally commanded to Avraham Avinu.

ואלו ב' המצות מיוחדים שנענשין עליהם כרת.

And these two mitzvos are distinctive in that one is liable to kares (excision) for [neglecting] them.

Milah and the Korban Pesach are the only two positive commandments whose willful neglect carries the penalty of kares — a sign of their unique connection to the soul's very life.

ממילא משמע שעיקר חיות איש ישראל ע"י אלו המצות.

It follows of itself that the essential life-force of a Jew comes through these mitzvos.

Since the penalty for neglect is kares — a cutting-off of the soul — these two mitzvos must be the very source of a Jew's true vitality.

הגם שנאמר על כל המצות יעשה אותם האדם וחי בהם.

Even though it is said of all the mitzvos, "which a man shall do and live by them" (Vayikra 18:5).

True, every mitzvah is a source of life, as the passuk says generally.

אבל עיקר החיות ע"י אלה הב' מצות.

But the essential life-force is through these two mitzvos.

Nevertheless, milah and Pesach are the primary, root channels of a Jew's chiyus, beyond all other mitzvos.

ועליהם נאמר בדמיך חיי בדמיך חיי ב' פעמים כמ"ש בתרגום בדמי מהולתא ובדמי פסחא.

And concerning them it is said, "In your blood, live; in your blood, live" (Yechezkel 16:6) — twice — as the Targum explains: "by the blood of the milah and by the blood of the Pesach."

The doubled phrase "in your blood, live" refers to these two bloods — of circumcision and of the Korban Pesach — through which Yisrael merited life at the redemption from Mitzrayim.

דכתיב חי חי כו' יודך שהם הצדיקים שהם חיים בעוה"ז ובעוה"ב.

As it is written, "The living, the living, he shall thank You" (Yeshayahu 38:19) — these are the tzaddikim, who are alive in this world and in the World to Come.

The doubled "living, living" hints at the tzaddik who possesses two-fold life: vitality in olam hazeh and enduring life in olam haba.

וכ"כ ביצירת האדם ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים.

And so it is written regarding the formation of man, "and He breathed into his nostrils a breath of life" (Bereishis 2:7).

The very creation of man involved a Divine breath of "chayim" (life) — itself a plural/doubled word, hinting at these two dimensions of life.

הוא החיות בעצם לעולמי עד.

This is the intrinsic life-force, [enduring] forever.

The soul that Hashem breathed into man is an essential, eternal vitality that never ceases.

וע"ז עדות המילה שבני ישראל הם בני עוה"ב.

And of this the milah is testimony — that Bnei Yisrael are children of the World to Come.

The bris milah, sealed in the flesh, bears witness that Yisrael belong to the eternal life of olam haba.

ויהי האדם לנפש חי' הוא להמשיך חיות הנשמה גם בעוה"ז.

"And man became a living soul" (Bereishis 2:7) — this is to draw down the vitality of the neshamah even into this world.

The second clause of man's creation expresses the task of bringing the soul's eternal life into the present, physical world as well.

וכתיב ביום אכלך ממנו מות תמות הם ב' מיתות של הנפש ושל הגוף.

And it is written, "on the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Bereishis 2:17) — "mos tamus" (literally "dying you shall die") refers to two deaths, of the soul and of the body.

The doubled language of death corresponds to two possible deaths: a death of the body and a far graver death of the soul.

ולכן רשעים בחייהם קרויים מתים.

Therefore the wicked, even in their lifetimes, are called "dead."

Because the resha'im have severed themselves from the soul's life, they are considered dead while still bodily alive (Berachos 18b).

והצדיק יש לו ב' כחות להמשיך אור הנשמה על הגוף בעוה"ז והוא בכח ברית הלשון והוא ברית דשבת ותפילין ופסח.

And the tzaddik has two powers: to draw the light of the soul onto the body in this world — and this is by the power of the bris of the tongue, which is the bris of Shabbos, tefillin, and Pesach;

The tzaddik wields two complementary forces. The first draws soul-light into the body of this world, accomplished through the "bris ha'lashon" — the covenant of speech and recognition expressed in Shabbos, tefillin, and the Korban Pesach.

ולתקן הגוף להיות מוכן לעוה"ב בכח ברית מילה כנ"ל:

and to rectify the body so that it be prepared for the World to Come, by the power of the bris milah, as above.

The second force refines the body itself, readying it for eternal life; this is accomplished through the bris milah, which testifies that Yisrael are children of olam haba.

Summary: Milah and the Korban Pesach are Yisrael's first two mitzvos and the only two whose neglect incurs kares — proof that they are the very root of a Jew's life-force, hinted in the doubled "in your blood, live." Man's creation contains two dimensions of life, this-worldly and eternal, and the wicked, cut off from the soul, are "dead" even while alive. The tzaddik possesses two powers: through the bris of speech (Shabbos, tefillin, Pesach) he draws the soul's light into the body in this world, and through bris milah he refines the body itself for the World to Come.