Milah and Shabbos uncover the hidden light in concealment

במד' אחור וקדם צרתני זכה נוחל ב' עולמות כו'.

In the Midrash: "Back and front You have formed me" (Tehillim 139:5) — if one is worthy, he inherits two worlds, etc.

The Midrash reads "back and front" as two worlds — olam hazeh and olam haba — and one who merits inherits both.

פי' שממשיך נחל וחיבור משורש החיות אל ההסתר וההעלם שיש בעוה"ז.

The meaning is that he draws down a stream and a connection from the root of life to the concealment and hiddenness that is in this world.

To "inherit both worlds" means to draw a flowing channel (nachal, a play on "inherit") connecting the source of all life above to the concealed, lower world below.

כי מה שבח שנוחל עוה"ז.

For what praise is it that he inherits this world?

Merely possessing olam hazeh would be no great praise — so that cannot be the point.

אך מה שמחבר עוה"ז אל עולם העליון כנ"ל.

Rather, it is that he connects this world to the upper world, as above.

The real accomplishment is binding the lower world back to the upper world, reuniting it with its source.

ואיתא כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעוה"ב.

And it is stated: "All of Yisrael have a portion in the World to Come" (Sanhedrin 90a).

The Mishnah teaches that every Yid possesses a share in olam haba.

פי' גם בעוה"ז כל מעשיהם יש בהם חלק פנימיות מאור הצפון שנגנז במעשה גשמיי.

The meaning is that even in this world, all their deeds contain a portion of penimiyus — of the hidden light that is concealed within a physical act.

The "portion in olam haba" is not only future reward: already now, every action of a Yid holds an inner point of the ohr hatzafun (hidden light) buried inside the physical deed.

וזה הי' מכוון בריאת האדם בעוה"ז כדי לתקן כל הבריאה לברר שהכל מחיות הש"י.

And this was the very purpose of the creation of man in this world — to repair all of creation, to clarify that everything is from the chiyus of Hashem.

Man was placed in olam hazeh precisely to do this tikkun (repair): to reveal that all of existence draws its life from Hashem.

וז"ש אחור וקדם.

And this is the meaning of "back and front."

The phrase "back and front" hints at man's special role spanning both ends of creation.

אחרון למעשה וראשון במחשבה.

"Last in deed and first in thought" (from the Shabbos hymn Lecha Dodi / Chazal).

Man was created last in the order of the world's making, yet he was first in Hashem's intention — the whole purpose of creation.

כי אדם השלם שכל מעשיו במחשבה ודביקות בשורש החיים הוא מזכה כל הבריאה.

For the complete person, all of whose deeds are done with thought and with deveikus (cleaving) to the root of life, brings merit to all of creation.

When a person acts with mindfulness and attachment to Hashem, the source of life, he elevates and benefits the entire world.

ולכך נברא בסוף שהוא השלמת הכל.

Therefore he was created last, for he is the completion of everything.

Man comes last because he is the finishing perfection that brings the whole of creation to its purpose.

ולכך מיד כשנברא בא עמו הסתר וקליפה.

And therefore, as soon as he was created, concealment and kelipah (husk) came along with him.

Because his task is to refine and reveal, man is born together with concealment and the kelipah — the outer "shell" that hides the inner light and must be removed.

וביום השמיני ימול.

"And on the eighth day he shall be circumcised" (Vayikra 12:3).

The mitzvah of milah on the eighth day is the act that cuts away this initial concealment.

ע"י שמבטל כל הז' מדות בלתי לה' [*לבדו].

By nullifying all seven middos (attributes) to Hashem alone,

The seven days before the bris correspond to the seven middos of olam hazeh; through milah on the eighth, one nullifies all of them to Hashem alone (bittul).

עי"ז מתדבק בעולם העליון שלמעלה מן הטבע ועי"ז נכרתים כל הקליפות.

through this he cleaves to the upper world that is above nature, and through this all the kelipos are cut away.

"Eight" reaches beyond the natural order of seven; attaching to that supernatural realm severs the husks of concealment — hence milah is an act of kerisus (cutting).

וז"ש וביום השמיני ימול.

This is the meaning of "and on the eighth day he shall be circumcised."

The eighth day specifically signals the rise above nature that removes the kelipah.

וכבר כתבנו במ"א כי עוה"ז ועוה"ב ב' העלמות שיש העלם מצד שלמעלה מן ההשגה והוא עוה"ב.

And we have already written elsewhere that olam hazeh and olam haba are two forms of concealment: there is a concealment that comes from that which is above comprehension — this is olam haba.

The Sefas Emes distinguishes two kinds of hiddenness. One is the concealment of olam haba — hidden because it is too lofty for the human mind to grasp.

ויש העלם מצד הסתר וקליפה וזהו עוה"ז.

And there is a concealment that comes from hiddenness and kelipah — and this is olam hazeh.

The other is the concealment of olam hazeh — hidden because of the kelipah, the husk that obscures the divine light below.

וכפי מה ששומרין הפנימיות בעוה"ז זוכין להתדבק בעוה"ב כמ"ש במ"א.

And according to how one guards the penimiyus in this world, one merits to cleave to the World to Come, as we have written elsewhere.

By protecting and staying loyal to the inner point here below, a person earns deveikus with the higher concealment of olam haba.

וז"ש אחור וקדם צרתני כי מכוון הבריאה שהאדם יתקן ויחבר כל התחתונים עד שורש חי החיים.

This is the meaning of "back and front You have formed me" — for the purpose of creation is that man should repair and connect all the lower realms up to the root of the Life of all life.

"Back and front" expresses man's mission to join the two worlds, lifting everything below back to Hashem, the source of all life.

וכ' שער החצר הפנימית הפונה קדים כו' ביום השבת כו' החודש יפתח.

And it is written: "the gate of the inner court that faces east… on the day of Shabbos… of the new moon it shall be opened" (Yechezkel 46:1).

The navi describes an inner gate facing east (kadim) that is normally shut but opens on Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh.

כי בחול נסתר חיות הפנימיות שבכל דבר.

For on a weekday the inner chiyus that is in everything is concealed.

During the ordinary weekdays, the inner life-force within all things stays hidden behind the kelipah.

והוא בחי' אחור וקדם.

And this is the aspect of "back and front."

The interplay of the hidden weekday ("back") and the revealed inner point ("front," kadim/kedem) is the very "back and front" of the verse.

שע"י המשכת בחי' השבת תוך ימי המעשה עי"ז הוא דבוק בבחי' קדם שהוא שער הנמשך מעולם העליון שלמעלה מהטבע.

For by drawing the aspect of Shabbos into the weekdays of work, through this one is attached to the aspect of "kedem" (the primordial front), which is the gate drawn down from the upper world that is above nature.

When a person carries the light of Shabbos into the working week, he connects to that eastward "gate" — the channel reaching down from the supernatural upper world.

ובשבת ור"ח נפתח זה כנ"ל.

And on Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh this is opened, as above.

On Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh that inner gate stands open, letting the hidden penimiyus shine through.

וז"ש במד' כי המילה אחר שבת שעבר על הילד.

This is what the Midrash says: that the milah comes only after a Shabbos has passed over the child.

The Midrash requires that at least one Shabbos pass over the infant before the bris on the eighth day — linking milah to the revealing power of Shabbos.

כי ע"י בחי' שבת מתגלה חיות הפנימיות שיש בכל הנבראים ועי"ז יכול לצאת מהמסגר ולהסיר החיצוניות המסתיר נקו' הפנימית.

For through the aspect of Shabbos the inner chiyus that is in all created beings is revealed, and through this one is able to emerge from confinement and to remove the externality that conceals the inner point.

Shabbos uncovers the inner life-force in every creature, enabling a person to break out of his "prison" and strip away the outer shell hiding the nekudah penimis (inner point).

והוא ע"י בחי' הביטול להיות בטל לפנימיות החיות.

And this comes about through the aspect of bittul — to be nullified to the penimiyus of the chiyus.

The way to reach that inner point is bittul: nullifying oneself before the inner life-force rather than to the external surface.

ועי"ז נהפך איסור להיות היתר.

And through this, the forbidden is transformed into the permitted.

When the inner point is revealed, even what was "bound up" and forbidden (issur, from the root meaning "bound") becomes released and permitted (heter, "untied").

ומתגלה שגם בהסתר עצמו יש בחי' אור הנעלם.

And it becomes revealed that even within the concealment itself there is an aspect of the hidden light.

The deepest revelation is that the concealment was never empty — the hidden divine light was present inside it all along.

וז"ש וביום השמיני ימול כנ"ל:

This is the meaning of "and on the eighth day he shall be circumcised," as above.

Milah on the eighth day — the level above nature — accomplishes exactly this: it removes the husk and reveals the hidden light dwelling within the concealment.

Summary: Man was created last in deed but first in thought, charged with connecting the lower world to its supernal root and revealing that everything draws its chiyus from Hashem. Olam hazeh and olam haba are two forms of concealment — the one hidden by kelipah, the other too lofty to grasp — and by guarding the inner point below one merits to cleave Above. Milah on the eighth day, like Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh, reaches past nature through bittul, cuts away the kelipah, transforms the forbidden into the permitted, and uncovers the hidden light that was present within the concealment itself.