Clarifying daas through bris milah

ובמד' אשא דעי למרחוק כו'.

In the Midrash on the verse "I will raise my knowledge from afar, etc." (Iyov 36:3).

The Sefas Emes opens with a posuk that speaks of bringing knowledge — daas — from a distant place, hinting that true daas must be drawn down and refined.

לשון שבח ולשון שבר שבחן של צדיקים ומפלתן של רשעים כו'.

The word carries a meaning of praise and a meaning of breaking — the praise of the tzaddikim and the downfall of the resha'im.

The same root expresses two opposite outcomes: the elevation of the righteous and the collapse of the wicked. One act of clarification produces both results.

כי הנה הדעת צריך בירור דכ' עה"ד טוב ורע.

For behold, daas (knowledge) requires birur (clarification), as it is written about the Eitz HaDaas of good and evil.

Since the Tree of Knowledge mixed good with evil, human daas itself became blended and now demands sorting out.

ואחר החטא התיקון הוא בדעת שיודעין להבדיל בין טו"ר כמ"ש חז"ל אם אין דעת הבדלה מנין.

And after the cheit (sin), the tikkun (rectification) lies in daas — that one knows how to distinguish between good and evil, as Chazal said: "If there is no daas, how can there be Havdalah?"

The repair for the primordial sin is precisely the capacity to discern good from evil; Havdalah itself depends on having clear daas.

א"כ ע"י הדעת מבררין שבחן של צדיקים ומפלתן של רשעים.

If so, it is through daas that one clarifies the praise of the tzaddikim and the downfall of the resha'im.

Refined daas is the instrument that separates good from evil, thereby revealing both the worth of the righteous and the fall of the wicked.

ולכן משמש ב' לשונות והבדלה זו נעשה ע"י בנ"י שזכו לתקן זה החטא מתערובת טו"ר.

This is why the word serves two meanings, and this Havdalah is accomplished through Bnei Yisrael, who merited to repair this sin of the mixture of good and evil.

Bnei Yisrael are the ones charged with sorting the confused blend of good and evil, and so the same term carries both elevation and downfall.

וראשון היה אברהם אע"ה.

And the first to do so was Avraham Avinu, alav hashalom.

Avraham was the pioneer of this avodah of clarifying daas and separating good from evil.

ז"ש מחשבין לשמו של אברהם כו'.

This is the meaning of "they reckon by the name of Avraham, etc."

The chronology of clarification is counted from Avraham, for with him the work of refining daas truly began.

שזכה שניתן לו אות ברית מילה.

For he merited that the os bris milah (the sign of the covenant of circumcision) was given to him.

Avraham received milah as the physical sign that embodies the clarifying of daas.

שהוא בירור זה הדעת.

For this is the birur of this daas.

The act of milah is itself the very clarification of daas — refining the mixture of good and evil.

והוסר הערלה והקליפה שסובבת הפנימיות.

And the orlah (foreskin) and the kelipah (husk) that surround the penimiyus (inner core) are removed.

Milah strips away the outer covering of coarseness that conceals the inner holy point within a person.

ולכן נברא האדם עם הערלה וביום השמיני ימול כדי לברר זה הדעת.

This is why a person is created with the orlah, and on the eighth day he is circumcised, in order to clarify this daas.

Man is intentionally born with the husk so that the mitzvah of milah on the eighth day can accomplish the birur of daas.

והסרת הערלה היא מפלת הרשעים.

And the removal of the orlah is the "downfall of the resha'im."

Stripping away the husk corresponds to the collapse of evil — the negative side of the clarification.

והברית הוא שבחן של צדיקים.

And the bris (covenant) is the "praise of the tzaddikim."

The covenant revealed beneath the husk corresponds to the elevation of good — the positive side of the clarification.

והוא עצמו מ"ש במשנה בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם כו' כדי להפרע מן הרשעים וליתן שכר לצדיקים.

And this is the very matter stated in the Mishnah: with ten utterances the world was created… in order to exact punishment from the resha'im and to grant reward to the tzaddikim (Avos 5:1).

The dual purpose of creation through the ten utterances — punishment and reward — is the same duality of downfall and praise that daas brings to light.

והנה האדם הוא עולם קטן וכולל מכל עשרה מאמרות ויש בו בחי' אחור וקדם כמ"ש לעיל.

And behold, man is a microcosm — an olam katan — and contains all ten utterances, and within him is the aspect of "back and front," as was mentioned above.

Each person mirrors the whole creation and therefore holds both the outer "back" dimension and the inner "front" dimension.

והוא כדי לעשות ב' הפעולות להסיר הפסולת ולהוציא אור הפנימי.

And this is so that he may perform the two actions: to remove the dross and to bring forth the inner light.

Man's avodah has two parts — clearing away the waste and revealing the hidden inner light — the negative and positive sides of birur.

והוא בירור הדעת.

And this is the birur of daas.

These two complementary actions together constitute the full clarification of knowledge.

וזהו אשא דעי למרחוק שהוא בכח סייעתא דשמי' שזכה אברהם אע"ה שכרת לו הקב"ה ברית מילה לרומם הדעת ולבררו מתערובת טו"ר כנ"ל:

And this is the meaning of "I will raise my knowledge from afar" — that it is through the power of siyata diShmaya (Heavenly assistance) that Avraham Avinu merited that HaKadosh Baruch Hu cut for him the bris milah, to elevate daas and clarify it from the mixture of good and evil, as above.

Raising daas "from afar" means that with Hashem's help, beginning from Avraham and the covenant of milah, knowledge is lifted up and purified of its admixture of evil.

Summary: Daas became blended with evil through the Eitz HaDaas, and the avodah of mankind — pioneered by Avraham through bris milah — is to clarify it: to strip away the husk (the downfall of the resha'im) and reveal the inner light and covenant beneath (the praise of the tzaddikim), thereby fulfilling "I will raise my knowledge from afar."