Torah Ohr · Parshas Lech Lecha · Maamar 6
בעצם היום הזה נימול אברהם וגו׳
On that very day Avraham was circumcised
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The big idea
There are two circumcisions of the heart: one we do ourselves through teshuvah and the Torah, and a greater one that G‑d performs from above, drawn from the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, beyond reason and beyond the Torah itself. Avraham kept the whole Torah on his own but waited for circumcision because he sought the higher circumcision that only G‑d can give.
The maamar in brief
The maamar asks why Avraham, who kept the entire Torah before it was given, did not circumcise himself until commanded. It answers by explaining the nature of circumcision. The verse “Who will go up for us to heaven?” hides milah in its initial letters and Havayah in its final letters, so circumcision stands above the Name Havayah and above the Torah, which is “not in heaven” but brought down to earth. The Torah speaks of two circumcisions of the heart: “you shall circumcise,” our own teshuvah and service, an arousal from below; and “Havayah will circumcise,” the revelation from above that will come after the ingathering of the exiles, G‑d’s stored-away goodness. This higher circumcision is the “great circumcision” of the thirteen covenants: like a covenant between friends, it is above reason, drawn from the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which transcend wisdom and the Torah. Avraham therefore kept all of the Torah below it himself and waited to receive this circumcision from above. Hence the Torah says “Avraham was circumcised,” in the passive, and “in the essence of that day,” the entirely good day of the time to come, revealed to him then.
Outline
- The question and the key verseWhy did Avraham, who kept the whole Torah, not circumcise himself earlier? “Who will go up for us to heaven” hides milah and Havayah.¶1
- Two circumcisions, and the great one above the TorahCircumcision from below (teshuvah, Torah and mitzvos) and from above (G‑d’s revelation, from the Thirteen Attributes, above reason, Havayah and Torah); so Avraham waited for the higher one.¶2
- “Was circumcised” in the essence of the dayThe passive verb and the phrase “in the essence of that day” show that Avraham received the circumcision from above, from the revelation of the day that is entirely good.¶3
Key concepts
- Circumcision from belowמילה שמלמטה למעלה
- “You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart”: a person’s own teshuvah and service through Torah and mitzvos, an arousal from below.
- Circumcision from above (the great circumcision)מילה גדולה שמלמעלה למטה
- “Havayah will circumcise your heart”: G‑d’s own revelation, the “great goodness” He has stored away, which no human effort reaches.
- Initial letters and final lettersר״ת מילה וס״ת הוי״ה
- In “Mi ya’aleh lanu hashamaymah” the initials spell milah and the finals spell Havayah, showing circumcision to be above the Name Havayah.
- Torah not in heavenלא בשמים היא
- The Torah has been brought down to earth through the Name Havayah (contraction, expansion, drawing down), so its law is decided here below.
- Thirteen Attributes of Mercyי״ג מדות הרחמים
- Divine mercy above wisdom and the Torah, the source of forgiveness and of the great circumcision, alluded to in the “thirteen covenants.”
- Covenantכריתת ברית
- A bond above reason, like two friends who commit to love each other even when reason would no longer produce that love.
- The day that is entirely goodיום שכולו טוב
- The time to come, whose “essence” is the revelation of G‑d’s great goodness; it was revealed to Avraham at his circumcision.
For children · ages 9–13
Two circumcisions of the heart
The big idea
We do our part to come close to G‑d, and then G‑d gives us a gift from above that is higher than anything we could reach by ourselves.
Avraham kept the whole Torah even before it was given. So why did he wait to do the mitzvah of milah, circumcision, until G‑d commanded him? The maamar explains that there are two circumcisions of the heart. The first we do ourselves: through teshuvah, returning to G‑d, and through Torah and mitzvos, we remove the hard covering of the heart, as the verse says, “You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart.” The second G‑d does for us from above, as the verse says, “And G‑d will circumcise your heart.” This is a gift beyond reason, higher even than the Torah. A verse hints at it: in the words “Who will go up for us to heaven?” the first letters spell milah, and the last letters spell G‑d’s holy Name, so milah stands even higher. That is why Avraham kept all the rest of the Torah himself and waited to receive milah from G‑d. The Torah says “Avraham was circumcised,” not “he circumcised himself,” because it came to him from above, “on that very day,” a day that is entirely good.
The mashal
Two friends who love each other make a covenant, a promise to stay loving. Even if one day their reasons for that love do not come to mind, the covenant holds, because it is above reasons. In the same way, the great circumcision from above comes from G‑d’s mercy, which is beyond reason.
Questions for the Shabbos table
- What is the difference between the circumcision of the heart that we do and the one that G‑d does for us?
- Why does the Torah say “Avraham was circumcised” and not “Avraham circumcised himself”?
- What is one thing you can do this week to do your part, so that your heart is ready for G‑d’s help from above?
Explanation © likuteitorah.com, CC BY-NC 4.0: retold for children from our translation and explanation, with AI assistance; not yet reviewed by a human editor.
The question and the key verse ¶1
1בעצם היום הזה1 נימול אברהם2 וגו׳. להבין הקושיא שנזכר בספרים מפני מה לא מל אברהם3 א״ע קודם מאחר שקיים כל התורה כולה עד שלא ניתנה4 ואפילו עירובי תבשילין.5
“On that very day Avraham was circumcised,” etc. [We need] to understand the question that is raised in the books: why did Avraham not circumcise himself earlier, since he kept the entire Torah before it was given, even eiruvei tavshilin?
The maamar opens with the verse about Avraham’s circumcision at ninety-nine and raises a known question: Avraham kept the whole Torah before Sinai, down to the Rabbinic enactment of eiruvei tavshilin (which allows cooking on Yom Tov for Shabbos). Why, then, did he wait until he was commanded to circumcise himself?
To understand this, we must first [explain] the matter of circumcision. For it is written, “It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to heaven?’ (mi ya’aleh lanu hashamaymah)” — whose initial letters [spell] milah (circumcision) and whose final letters [spell] Havayah.
Before answering, the Alter Rebbe explains what circumcision is. In the verse “Who will go up for us to heaven?” the first letters of the four Hebrew words spell milah, circumcision, and the last letters spell the Name Havayah; he will show that this places circumcision above the level of Havayah and of the Torah.
The paragraph poses the maamar’s question: Avraham kept the whole Torah, so why did he not circumcise himself until commanded? It then points to the verse whose initials spell milah and whose final letters spell Havayah, the key to the answer.
Likkutei Torah (Rosh Hashanah) uses the same letter reading to teach that guarding the covenant draws Havayah down to the lowest level, and it refers to this maamar. The Tikkunei Zohar is the source of the reading.
Marei mekomos
- 1בעצם היום הזה · Genesis 42:1
- 2בעצם היום הזה נמול אברהם · Genesis 17:26
- 3מפני מה לא מל אברהם · בפי׳ ריב״א על התורה כ׳ שמכיון שקיום מצות מילה שייך רק פעם אחת, לכן לא מל א״ע עד שנצטווה על זה — וכן יש עוד תירוצים במפרשים. ראה לקמן מא, ב. הביאור ע״פ דרך הפשט ראה בלקוטי שיחות ח״ה ע׳ 146. ובפנימיות הענינים ראה לקו״ש שם ע׳ 79 הערה 25.
- 4שקיים כל התורה כולה עד שלא ניתנה · Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14
- 5שקיים . . ואפי׳ עירובי תבשילין · Yoma 28b:10–11
- 6לא בשמים היא · Deuteronomy 30:12
- 7מי יעלה . . ר״ת מילה · ת״ז בהקדמה בתחלתה ותי׳ כב. תי׳ ע׳ (קלא, א). בלקו״ת נצבים מה, ד מציין לכאן.
- 8מי יעלה לנו השמימה ר״ת מילה וס״ת הוי״ה · Tikkunei Zohar 131a:1
Two circumcisions, and the great one above the Torah ¶2
2והענין דהנה תחלה כתיב ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם1 וכתיב ומל ה׳ אלקיך את לבבך ופי׳ שיש ב׳ בחי׳ מילה2 האחת היא מלמטה למעלה שצריכים אנו למול את ערלת הלב והוא ענין התשובה
The explanation: first it is written, “You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart,” and it is [also] written, “And Havayah your G‑d will circumcise your heart.” The meaning is that there are two levels of circumcision. The first is from below upward: we must circumcise the foreskin of the heart, and this is the matter of teshuvah (return),
The Torah speaks of circumcising the heart in two ways: once as a command to us, and once as a promise that G‑d will do it. The first is circumcision “from below upward”: our own effort to remove the “foreskin” that blocks the heart from feeling G‑dliness, which is teshuvah, returning to G‑d.
כמ״ש ושבת עד3 הוי״ה אלקיך בקיום התורה ומצות וארז״ל אם ישראל עושין תשובה4 נגאלין ואם לאו אין נגאלין.5
as it is written, “And you shall return unto Havayah your G‑d,” through fulfilling the Torah and mitzvos. And our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “If Israel do teshuvah, they are redeemed; and if not, they are not redeemed.”
The verse about returning to G‑d is read as referring to keeping the Torah and mitzvos. The Talmud’s teaching ties the redemption to this teshuvah: our own work of return is the condition for being redeemed.
ואחר קבוץ גליות כתיב והביאך אל הארץ והטיבך6 כו׳. והוא המילה שמלמעלה למטה ומל ה׳ את לבבך
And after the ingathering of the exiles it is written, “And He will bring you into the land… and He will do you good,” etc. And this is the circumcision that is from above downward: “And Havayah will circumcise your heart.”
Only after the exiles are gathered in does the Torah promise that G‑d will bring Israel to the land and do them good, and only then does it say that G‑d will circumcise their hearts. That is the second circumcision, which comes “from above downward,” as G‑d’s own act.
(וזהו והטיבך מאבותיך בחי׳ מה רב טובך אשר צפנת7 כו׳ כי במשה שנולד מהול8 כתיב ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא9 כו׳)10
(And this is [the meaning of] “And He will do you good more than your fathers”: the level of “How great is Your goodness that You have hidden away,” etc.; for regarding Moshe, who was born circumcised, it is written, “And she saw him, that he was good,” etc.)
In a parenthesis the Alter Rebbe links “He will do you good” to the “great goodness” that G‑d has stored away. The Sages learn from the word “good” said of the newborn Moshe that he was born already circumcised: the “good” describes a circumcision given from above, not achieved by human effort.
והיינו שבחי׳ מילה ראשונה שמלמטה למעלה11 היא אתעדל״ת והאתעדל״ע הוא הגלוי בחי׳ ומל ה׳ את לבבך כו׳.
That is to say: the level of the first circumcision, which is from below upward, is an arousal from below; and the arousal from above is the revelation, the level of “And Havayah will circumcise your heart,” etc.
He restates the two circumcisions in Chassidic terms. Our own circumcision of the heart is an arousal from below, human initiative; G‑d’s circumcision of the heart is an arousal from above, a revelation that comes from Him.
והנה על מילה שניה הזאת שיהיה לאחר קבוץ גליות ולאחר קיום התורה כולה כתיב מי יעלה לנו השמימה ר״ת מילה שהיא למעלה מבחי׳ התורה
Now, about this second circumcision, which will be after the ingathering of the exiles and after the fulfillment of the entire Torah, it is written, “Who will go up for us to heaven?” — the initial letters [spelling] milah — which is above the level of the Torah.
The verse “Who will go up for us to heaven?”, whose initial letters spell milah, speaks of this second circumcision that will come after the ingathering of the exiles and after the whole Torah has been kept. Its place in the verse shows that it is higher than the Torah.
כי על התורה נאמר לא בשמים היא12 שהיא נשפלת למטה דוקא וכנז׳ בגמ׳ שא״ר יהושע אין משגיחין בבת קול13 מפני שאין התורה בשמים כ״א למטה הימנה ונק׳ תורת הוי״ה
For about the Torah it is said, “It is not in heaven,” for it is brought low, below, specifically. And [this is] as mentioned in the Gemara, that Rabbi Yehoshua said, “We pay no heed to a heavenly voice,” because the Torah is not in heaven but only below it. And it is called “the Torah of Havayah,”
“It is not in heaven” teaches that the Torah has been brought down to this world, so its law is decided here by human reasoning; the Talmud tells that Rabbi Yehoshua overruled a heavenly voice on these grounds. Because the Torah came down through the Name Havayah, it is called “the Torah of Havayah.”
כי שם הוי״ה יו״ד צמצום14 ה׳ התפשטות ו׳ המשכה כו׳ שעי״ז נמשכה למטה15 אבל מילה הנ״ל היא למעלה משם הוי״ה עד שהיא בר״ת ושם הוי״ה הוא בס״ת וע״כ היא מבחי׳ ומדרגת השמימה.
for the Name Havayah [is]: the yud, tzimtzum (contraction); the hei, expansion; the vav, drawing down, etc. — through which it was drawn down below. But the circumcision mentioned above is above the Name Havayah, to the point that it is in the initial letters while the Name Havayah is in the final letters; and therefore it is of the level and rank of “to heaven” (hashamaymah).
The letters of Havayah describe how G‑dliness descends: the yud, a single point, is contraction; the hei is expansion; the vav, a vertical line, is drawing down. Circumcision stands at the beginning of the words of the verse while Havayah stands at their end, which shows that circumcision belongs to the higher level of “heaven,” above Havayah.
ולמעלה מבחי׳ התורה שנשפלה למטה מבחי׳ שמים אלו.16 וע״ז ארז״ל גדולה מילה17 שנכרתו עליה שלש עשרה בריתות.
And [it is] above the level of the Torah, which was brought low, below, from the level of these heavens. And about this our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Great is circumcision, for thirteen covenants were made over it.”
So circumcision is above the Torah, which came down from that “heaven.” The Mishnah’s praise, “Great is circumcision,” with its thirteen covenants, is brought as support: the word “covenant” occurs thirteen times in the chapter of Avraham’s circumcision.
פי׳ גדולה מילה היא בחי׳ המילה הגדולה שמלמעלה למטה (ע׳ במק״מ על הזוהר ח״ג דרל״ג ע״ב1819 ובלק״ת פ׳ קדושים20 בטעמי מצות מענין גדולה מילה) שימול ה׳ את לבבך
The meaning of “Great is circumcision” is: the level of the great circumcision, which is from above downward (see the Mikdash Melech on the Zohar, part 3, page 233b, and in Likkutei Torah, Parshas Kedoshim, in Taamei HaMitzvos, on the matter of “Great is circumcision”) — that Havayah will circumcise your heart.
“Great circumcision” is read as the great, higher circumcision that G‑d performs from above. The Alter Rebbe refers the reader, in a parenthesis, to the Mikdash Melech’s commentary on the Zohar and to the Kabbalistic writings on the reasons for the mitzvos, which explain the phrase in this way.
ולכן נכרתה בי״ג בריתות פי׳ כידוע שענין הכריתת ברית הוא למעלה מן השכל והדעת21 ע״ד ב׳ אוהבים שעושים כריתת ברית להיות אוהבים זע״ז
And therefore it was made with thirteen covenants. The explanation, as is known, is that the matter of making a covenant is above reason and knowledge, like two who love each other, who make a covenant to be loving to one another;
Why thirteen covenants? A covenant, by its nature, is above reason: two friends make a covenant so that their love will stand whatever their minds may later decide.
דהיינו שיוכרח להיות אוהבו אף אם לא היה נמשך אצלו אהבה זו אליו אח״כ מצד השכל והדעת מ״מ מכריח א״ע לאהבה בבחינה שלמעלה מהשכל והדעת.
that is, that he will be bound to love him: even if afterward this love for him would not arise in him on account of reason and knowledge, nevertheless he compels himself to love, on a level that is above reason and knowledge.
The covenant binds a person to go on loving his friend even if at some later time his reason and understanding would no longer produce that love. The love then comes from a place above reason, and that is what a covenant creates.
וכך כדי להיות גילוי והמשכה בחי׳ מילה הגדולה הנ״ל (שהוא בחי׳ מה רב טובך כו׳)
And so too, in order that there be a revelation and drawing down of the level of the great circumcision mentioned above (which is the level of “How great is Your goodness,” etc.),
In the same way the great circumcision, which is the “great goodness” G‑d has stored away, must be drawn down from a level above reason.
הוא ע״י י״ג מדה״ר22 שהן למעלה מהחכמה והשכל ולכך היא למעלה מבחי׳ שם הוי״ה ולמעלה מבחי׳ תורה
it is through the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which are above Chochmah (wisdom) and intellect; and therefore it is above the level of the Name Havayah and above the level of Torah
That level is the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which are above Chochmah and intellect. Since the Torah is G‑d’s wisdom brought down through Havayah, a circumcision drawn from the Thirteen Attributes is above both Havayah and the Torah.
(כמו שי״ג מדה״ר הן בחי׳ שלמעלה מהתורה ולכן שם הוא סליחת עון) וע״ז נאמר עד יעבור עמך23 הוי״ה פי׳ עד יעבור בבחי׳ שלמעלה משם הוי״ה (וגם בי״ג מדה״ר כתי׳ ויעבור24 כו׳).
(just as the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are a level that is above the Torah, and therefore it is there that sin is forgiven). And about this it is said, “Until Your people pass over, Havayah”; meaning, “until [they] pass over” into the level that is above the Name Havayah. (And regarding the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, too, it is written, “And [He] passed,” etc.)
This is why forgiveness of sin comes through the Thirteen Attributes: forgiveness goes beyond what Torah law, which is wisdom, would decide. The verse “until Your people pass over, Havayah” is read as passing beyond Havayah, and the same verb, “He passed,” begins the Thirteen Attributes at Sinai.
והנה בזה יובן ענין שאברהם קיים כל התורה כולה עד שלא ניתנה ולא קיים מצות מילה מפני שרצה להגיע לאותה מילה גדולה שמלמעלה למטה.
Now with this can be understood the matter that Avraham kept the entire Torah before it was given, yet did not keep the mitzvah of circumcision: because he wanted to attain that great circumcision which is from above downward.
Now the opening question is answered. Avraham did not circumcise himself on his own initiative because a circumcision he did himself would have been only the lower one, from below; he wanted the great circumcision that comes from above.
ולכך קיים כל התורה כולה שלמטה מאותה מילה ואח״כ זכה לאותה מילה גדולה שמלמעלה.25
Therefore he kept the entire Torah, which is below that circumcision, and afterward he merited that great circumcision which is from above.
So he kept all the rest of the Torah, which is below that circumcision, as his own service from below, and afterward G‑d gave him the higher circumcision.
The paragraph distinguishes two circumcisions of the heart: one from below, our own teshuvah through Torah and mitzvos, and one from above, G‑d’s revelation drawn from the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, above reason, the Name Havayah and the Torah. This explains why Avraham kept the rest of the Torah himself but waited for circumcision.
As Likkutei Torah (Tazria) quotes the Mikdash Melech, the “great circumcision” is drawn from Yesod of Arich Anpin, where the thirteen tikkunim of the beard are the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. A marginal gloss in Torah Ohr adds that the sea split in the merit of circumcision, which ties “until Your people pass over” to milah. Sefer HaMaamarim 5679 explains Avraham’s circumcision the other way, as refinement from below, and marks the question for study.
Marei mekomos
- 1ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם · Deuteronomy 10:16
- 2שיש ב׳ בחי׳ מילה · ראה אגה״ק סי׳ ד.
- 3ושבת עד ה׳ אלקיך · Deuteronomy 30:2
- 4אם ישראל עושין תשובה · Sanhedrin 97b:14–15
- 5ואם לאו אין נגאלין . . ומל ה׳ את לבבך · בסה״מ תקס״ג ע׳ יא ”ואם לאו אין נגאלין כו׳ והוא ע״י המילה שמלמטה כו׳ למול את ערלת הלב כו׳ לשוב אל ה׳ ע״י קיום התורה כו׳ שעי״ז נגאלין כו׳. והמילה הב׳ הוא ע״ד שיהי׳ אחר הגאולה כדכתיב ושבת כו׳ והביאך אל הארץ כו׳ והטיבך כו׳ שהוא לאחר קיבוץ הגליות”.
- 6והביאך אל הארץ והטיבך · Deuteronomy 30:5
- 7מה רב טובך אשר צפנת · Psalms 31:20
- 8במשה שנולד מהול · Sotah 12a:17
- 9ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא · Exodus 2:2
- 10(וזהו והטיבך . . טוב הוא כו׳) · הענין ליתא בסה״מ תקס״ג.
- 11שבחי׳ מילה ראשונה שמלמטה למעלה · ראה בסה״מ עטר״ת ע׳ פה דשם מבאר דענין המילה דאברהם הוא ”ע״ד הבירור מלמטלמ״ע (ועמ״ש בתו״א והוספות בד״ה בעצם היום, וצ״ע)”.
- 12לא בשמים היא · Deuteronomy 30:12
- 13וכנז׳ בגמ׳ שא״ר יהושע אין משגיחין בבת קול · Bava Metzia 59b:5
- 14כי שם הוי״ה יו״ד צמצום . . . · ראה אגה״ת פ״ד.
- 15שו״ה בבת קול — ונק׳ תורת הוי׳ . . נמשכה למטה · ליתא בסה״מ תקס״ג.
- 16ושם הוי׳ הוא בס״ת . . מבחי׳ שמים אלו · ליתא בסה״מ תקס״ג.
- 17גדולה מילה · Nedarim 31b:8–9
- 18ע׳ במק״מ על הזהר ח״ג דרל״ג ע״ב · מובא בלקו״ת פ׳ תזריע כא, ב. ”מארז״ל . . גדולה מילה . . ופי׳ במק״מ . . דהיינו שנמשך מיסוד דא״א שיש בו י״ג ת״ד שהם י״ג מדות הרחמים”.
- 19ע׳ במק״מ על הזוהר ח״ג דרל״ג ע״ב · Zohar, Pinchas 84:537–545
- 20ובלק״ת פ׳ קדושים · ראה גם לק״ת עקב טו, ב ”גדולה מילה שנכרתו עליה י״ג כריתות שכמו שיש י״ג ת״ד בדיקנא עילאה דא״א כך הוא ג״כ בדיקנא תתאה בבחינת יסוד כו׳ כמ״ש בלק״ת פ׳ קדושים”.
- 21שענין הכריתות ברית הוא למעלה מן השכל והדעת · ראה לקו״ת נצבים מד, ב.
- 22הוא ע״י י״ג מדה״ר · Rosh Hashanah 17b:7–8
- 23עד יעבור עמך ה׳ · Exodus 15:16
- 24וגם בי״ג מדה״ר כתי׳ ויעבור · Exodus 34:6
- 25ומל ה׳ אלקיך · Deuteronomy 30:6
“Was circumcised” in the essence of the day ¶3
And this is why it says, “Avraham was circumcised,” and it is not written, “And he circumcised himself,” as it is written earlier regarding the circumcision of Yishmael and those purchased with his money, where it is written, “And he circumcised,” etc.
The wording of the verse confirms this. Of Yishmael and the servants the Torah says actively that Avraham “circumcised” them, while of Avraham himself it says passively that he “was circumcised,” not that he circumcised himself.
לפי שהיא המילה שמלמטה כדכתיב ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם אבל אברהם זכה לגילוי בחי׳ ומל ה׳ את לבבך ע״כ נאמר נמול אברהם כו׳.
For that is the circumcision from below, as it is written, “You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart.” But Avraham merited the revelation of the level of “And Havayah will circumcise your heart”; therefore it says, “Avraham was circumcised,” etc.
The active form fits the circumcision from below, which a person does himself. The passive form shows that Avraham received the circumcision from above, the one G‑d performs.
And this is [the meaning of] “On that very day (be’etzem hayom hazeh) he was circumcised”: that is, in the very essence of this day. And “this day” is the day that is entirely long, that is entirely good, etc.
The word be’etzem, “on that very day,” also means “in the essence.” “This day” is the day the Sages call “entirely long” and “entirely good,” the World to Come.
והעצמיות של היום הזה היינו אותו הגילוי הגדול שיהי׳ לע״ל גילוי בחי׳ רב טובך5 וזהו שכולו טוב וכשנתגלה לו בחי׳ העצם של היום הזה אז נמול אברהם כו׳:
And the essence of this day is that great revelation which will be in the time to come: the revelation of the level of “Your great goodness.” And this is [the meaning of] “entirely good.” And when the level of the essence of this day was revealed to him, then Avraham was circumcised, etc.
The “essence” of that day is the great revelation of G‑d’s stored-away goodness that will come in the time to come. That revelation was shown to Avraham at his circumcision, and so his circumcision came from above.
The wording of the verse bears out the answer: “was circumcised,” in the passive, shows that Avraham received the circumcision from above, and “in the essence of that day” shows that it came from the revelation of the “entirely good” day to come.
Or HaTorah (Pinchas) reads “this day” as Z’eir Anpin of Atzilus and its “essence” as the Infinite Light clothed within it, comparing the sun that lights the day to Yesod of Abba shining into Z’eir Anpin.
Marei mekomos
- 1נמול אברהם · Genesis 17:26
- 2גבי מילת ישמעאל ומקנת כספו דכתיב וימל · Genesis 17:23
- 3בעצם היום — פי׳ בעצמיות של היום · באוה״ת פ׳ פינחס ע׳ א׳רא: ור״ל כי היום הזה היינו ז״א דאצי׳ שנק׳ יום ונק׳ זה ע״ד משה רבינו ע״ה נתנבא בזה היינו בחי׳ אספקלריא המאירה, אמנם העצמי׳ של בחי׳ ז״א היינו אוא״ס המלובש בו ע״ד שנת״ל בפי׳ בי נשבעתי כו׳ וכן בגשמיות ביום מאיר השמש אשר שמש הוא בחי׳ יסוד אבא המאיר בז״א כדפי׳ הרמ״ז ר״פ בהעלותך ור״פ אמור בענין שמש צדקה.
- 4היום שכולו ארוך שכולו טוב · Kiddushin 39b:8
- 5רב טובך · Psalms 31:20
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
A person must first do his own part, circumcising the “foreskin” of his heart through teshuvah and keeping the Torah and mitzvos, as Avraham kept the whole Torah. That service from below prepares him for the higher circumcision, which comes as a gift from above, beyond anything his own reason and effort can reach.
Questions for discussion
- Why would a circumcision Avraham performed himself have been only the “lower” circumcision, and what did he gain by waiting to be commanded?
- How does the letter reading of “Who will go up for us to heaven” show that circumcision is above the Torah, when the same verse says the Torah is “not in heaven”?
- In what sense is a covenant between friends “above reason,” and how does this illuminate the thirteen covenants of circumcision?
- Why must the circumcision from below (teshuvah and Torah) come before the circumcision from above, and why is the second tied to the time after the ingathering of the exiles?
- What is the difference in meaning between “And he circumcised” and “Avraham was circumcised”?
Key terms in this maamar
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- Teshuvah (return)תשובה
- Returning to G‑d; not only repentance. ×2
- An arousal from belowאתערותא דלתתא
- Human initiative that draws down a divine response.
- An arousal from aboveאתערותא דלעילא
- Divine initiative, unprompted by us.
- Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
- The self-concealment of the Infinite Light that makes room for finite worlds. ×1
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight. ×1
- Daas (knowledge)דעת
- Deep connection to an idea, bridging intellect and emotion. ×3