Purity Drawn From Impurity Through Bris

במד' אחור וקדם צרתני זכה אדם א"ל אתה קדמת לכל מ"ב כו'.

The Midrash on "Back and front You have formed me" (Tehillim 139:5): if a person merits, he is told, "You preceded all the works of Creation," etc.

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash that man, though created last, can earn the status of having "come first" — his inner root precedes the whole of creation.

האדם נברא בסוף כל מ"ב אבל הוא מוכן שיקרב את עצמו כמ"ש מעשיך יקרבוך.

Man was created at the end of all the works of Creation, but he is poised to bring himself close, as it is said, "Your deeds bring you near."

Being created last is not a lowering but an opportunity: through his own avodah a person draws himself up to his higher root.

ולכן זכה א"ל אתה קדמת בכוחך.

Therefore, if he merits, he is told, "You came first" — by the power within you.

The inner strength a person uses to come close to Hashem is precisely the "preceding" point that was there before creation itself.

ז"ש במד' אשא דעי למרחוק כי האדם צריך לעלות לשורשו העליון בכח הדעת שבו לכן יש בו לשון שירה.

This is what the Midrash means by "I will carry my knowledge from afar" (Iyov 36:3) — for a person must ascend to his higher root through the power of the daas (understanding) within him, and therefore this verse uses the language of song.

Daas is the faculty that reaches back to one's distant source; when a person rises to his root through it, his avodah becomes shirah, a song.

ב' לשונות שבחן של צדיקים ופורענותן של רשעים.

There are two expressions: the praise of the tzaddikim and the punishment of the resha'im.

The same created reality can yield reward for the righteous or retribution for the wicked, depending on how a person uses it.

והוא כמאמר התנא למה נברא בע"מ ליתן שכר טוב ולהפרע.

This is like the teaching of the Tanna: why was man created on Erev Shabbos? In order to grant good reward and to exact punishment.

Man's late creation sets the stage for both reward and accountability — the dual outcome of free choice.

ואמר מחשבין לשמו של אברהם אבינו ע"ה כי הוא הי' הראשון שקירב א"ע וכל העולם אל השורש כמ"ש במד' פ' לך שאיחה כל העולם להקב"ה.

And it says that the reckoning points to the name of Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, for he was the first to draw himself and the entire world close to the Root, as the Midrash on Parshas Lech Lecha says that he stitched the whole world back to the Holy One, blessed is He.

Avraham is the prototype of "coming first": he was the one who reattached creation to its Source, repairing the rupture of mankind's estrangement from Hashem.

והוא האדם שזכה להיות נוחל ב' עולמות.

He is the man who merited to inherit two worlds.

By binding this world back to its root, Avraham earned a share in both olam hazeh and olam haba.

ובמד' חקת מי יתן טהור מטמא לא אחד עוה"ב מעוה"ז וכן אברהם מתרח.

And in the Midrash on Chukas: "Who can produce a pure thing from an impure?" (Iyov 14:4) — is it not the One? Olam haba from olam hazeh, and likewise Avraham from Terach.

Only Hashem can extract purity from impurity — drawing the next world out of this one, and a tzaddik like Avraham out of an idolater like Terach.

וכ"כ באברהם מי העיר ממזרח צדק יקראהו לרגלו.

And so it is written of Avraham: "Who roused one from the east, whom righteousness called to its feet?" (Yeshayahu 41:2).

Avraham was "roused" from his lowly origin and summoned by tzedek — the inner pull toward Hashem that lifts a person above his beginnings.

וכ' אחד הי' אברהם והיינו כשמעלין הכל אל השורש נדחה הפסולת ונעשה מטמא טהור.

And it is written, "Avraham was one" (Yechezkel 33:24) — meaning that when one raises everything up to the Root, the dross is cast off and the impure becomes pure.

"One" expresses the act of unification: lifting all things back to their single Source separates out the waste and transforms tumah into taharah.

ובגמ' נדה איתא ר"מ אומר מי יתן טהור מטמא על דם נעכר ונעשה חלב.

And in Gemara Niddah it is brought that Rabbi Meir says: "Who can produce a pure thing from an impure" refers to blood that turns turbid and becomes milk.

Rabbi Meir reads the verse physically: a mother's blood, itself impure, is refined into nourishing milk — purity emerging from impurity.

ורבנן דרשו על שכבת זרע שהוא טמא ואדם נוצר ממנו והוא טהור.

And the Rabbanan expounded it concerning the seed, which is impure, yet man is formed from it and he is pure.

The Sages apply the same idea to human formation: a pure person emerges from a source that is itself tamei.

והכל ענין א' כי הדם כשנתעלה לדדים ונעכר ונבדל הפסולת.

And it is all one matter, for when the blood is elevated to the breasts and turns turbid, the dross is separated out.

The physical process mirrors the spiritual one: elevation is what causes the waste to fall away.

מתהפך מדם שהוא טמא ומזיק. לחלב שהוא מחי' וטהור.

It is transformed from blood, which is impure and harmful, into milk, which is life-giving and pure.

The very same substance flips from something damaging to something nurturing once it has been refined.

והכל לרמוז כי יכולין לצאת מטומאה לטהרה ע"י תשובה אל השורש והאחדות.

And all of this hints that one can pass from tumah to taharah by means of teshuvah — returning to the Root and to oneness.

The lesson is the avodah of teshuvah: returning everything to its single Source is what purifies.

וכן הי' ממש באברהם שכל החסד מתגלגל בעולם בשבילו ויצא מתרח שהי' טמא.

And so it was literally with Avraham, for all chesed flows through the world on his account, yet he came forth from Terach, who was impure.

Avraham, the source of chesed in the world, is the living example of pure emerging from impure.

וזה ממש דם נעכר ונעשה חלב שהיא בחי' החסד.

This is literally "blood that turned turbid and became milk," which is the aspect of chesed.

Milk, the kindness drawn out of blood, corresponds to the midah of chesed that Avraham embodies.

ולא עוד אלא שהשאיר רשימה וברית לדורות לבנ"י שנכנסין בבריתו של אאע"ה.

And not only that, but he left an imprint and a bris for the generations, for Bnei Yisrael who enter into the covenant of Avraham Avinu.

The bris milah is Avraham's lasting legacy — every Jewish child enters the same covenant of purification he began.

ולכן אדם שנברא מש"ז שהוא טמא (ולכן) יש בו ערלה.

Therefore man, who is formed from seed that is impure, consequently has an orlah (foreskin).

The orlah represents the residue of impurity inherent in man's physical origin.

וע"י המילה נבדל הפסולת וזוכין לטהרה.

And by means of the milah the dross is separated and one merits purity.

Bris milah is the act that strips away that residue, just as elevation separated the dross from the blood.

וכמ"ש על המילה בר"ת מי יעלה לנו השמימה.

And as it is expounded regarding milah, that the initial letters of "Who shall ascend for us to Heaven?" (Devarim 30:12) spell milah.

The roshei teivos hint that milah is the very means by which a person ascends Heavenward.

ולכן ביום השמיני ימול שהוא בחי' קדם בשורש העליון למעלה משבעת הימים.

Therefore on the eighth day he shall be circumcised, for the eighth is the aspect of "preceding" — the higher root, above the seven days.

The number eight reaches beyond the natural seven-day cycle to the supernal root that "came first," which is why milah is on the eighth day.

ולכל איש ישראל נאמר אתה קדמת לכל מ"ב ע"י המילה.

And to every Jew it is said, "You preceded all the works of Creation" — by means of the milah.

Through the bris, every Jew shares in Avraham's status of "coming first," connected to the root above creation.

כמ"ש כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעוה"ב ועמך כולם צדיקים כמ"ש ע"ז הברית אשרי תבחר ותקרב.

As it is said, "All Yisrael have a share in olam haba" and "Your people are all tzaddikim" (Yeshayahu 60:21), and as it is said regarding the bris, "Fortunate is the one You choose and bring near" (Tehillim 65:5).

The bris is what makes every Jew "chosen and brought near," guaranteeing a portion in the World to Come.

באמת א"א ע"ה קירב א"ע אבל אנחנו זכינו להתקרב בזכותו של א"א.

In truth, Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, brought himself close on his own, but we merit to be drawn near in the zechus of Avraham Avinu.

Avraham achieved closeness through his own efforts; we inherit access to that closeness through his merit and his covenant.

ולכן נברא האדם בסוף שיעלה מלמטה למעלה.

And therefore man was created last, so that he would ascend from below to above.

Being created last sets the trajectory of human avodah: rising upward from the lowest point.

אחור ואח"כ קדם.

"Back," and afterward "front."

One begins as "back" — last and lowly — and through avodah becomes "front," reaching the root that precedes all.

וטמאה ז' ימים אח"כ וביום השמיני ימול:

"And she shall be impure seven days," and afterward, "on the eighth day he shall be circumcised."

The seven days of impurity correspond to the natural order, and the eighth-day milah lifts the child above it to the supernal root.

Summary: Man was created last so that, through his own avodah and especially through bris milah, he could ascend from "back" to "front" — extracting purity from impurity and returning all of creation to its single Root, just as Avraham Avinu drew himself and the whole world close to Hashem.