The Beis HaLevi (Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik, (1820-1892)) notes that when Avraham Avinu received the mitzvah of milah in this week’s parsha, it is the first mention of the name Sha-k-ai (Shin, Daled, Yud) of the Almighty in the Torah. HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Avraham, “I am Kel Sha-k-ai, walk before Me and be perfect.” (Bereshis 17:1).
What is the specific connection between the Name Sha-k-ai and the mitzvah of milah? The Beis Halevi says that the connotation of the name Shin-Daled-Yud is that “I am the One who said to the world ‘Dai‘ (Enough)”. This name indicates that the Ribono shel Olam put the brakes, so to speak, on the act of creation.
The Medrash elaborates: Ma’aseh Bereshis (the Story of Creation) was an ongoing process. Had it not been for the fact that at a certain point, Hashem said to the world “Enough” (Dai – Daled, Yud), the process of creation would have continued. As a result, instead of going out into the field to harvest bushels of wheat, a person would go out into the field and harvest loaves of bread. The seed would not only produce the wheat, but creation would continue and the wheat would independently go on to produce bread and other edible products. Likewise, creation would not stop with just flax and linen, but rather suits and ready-made garments of all sizes would be “manufactured”.
The Ribono shel Olam said, “No. That is not the way I want My world to work. I am the One who said to My world ‘Dai – Enough!’ because I want to leave something for man to do.” This, says the Beis Halevi, is why the mitzvah of milah appears with the Divine Name of Sha-k-ai. As the Medrash relates, the wicked Turnus Rufus asked Rabbi Akiva, “If Hashem wanted man to be circumcised, why was he born with a foreskin – why weren’t we all born already circumcised?” The answer to that question is that Hashem wants us to perfect ourselves. We are not born perfect. No one comes into this world as a finished product. Man’s charge in this world is to perfect himself. This is the underlying message of the mitzvah of milah.
When I was once in England, Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu (Av Beis Din of the London Beis Din (1932-2022)) told me a beautiful thought from his predecessor on the London Beis Din, Dayan Morris Swift (1907-1983):
We put a mezuzah on our door containing the Torah chapters: Shema Yisrael and V’haya Im Shamoa. However, we do not see those chapters. The parchment is rolled up so it is impossible to see what is written inside. The only part of the mezuzah that we see is the outside of the mezuzah’s parchment where the name Shin Daled Yud is written. Dayan Swift said that the message is “I am the one who said to My world ‘Enough!'” Just as at the time of the original creation, Hashem said, “I am going to create the world but I am going to leave something ‘left over’ for man to complete”, so too, each man’s creation is ‘incomplete,’ leaving over the removal of the foreskin as a covenantal task for man to thereby improve himself.
And in the spirit of havei domeh lo (man ‘imitating’ G-d’s Actions), man too, in his own “Home Improvement” projects, does not need to complete every last detail, by building the greatest palace in the world. The message of Shin-Daled-Yud is He who said to His world ‘Enough‘ – so too, we need to say to our interior decorator “My ‘world’ is also ‘enough‘”.
I told my handyman, “We need a new shower rod” (because our old shower rod keeps falling down). He sent me the links to Home Depot shower rods. It is incredible how many different types and prices of shower rods there are. I am not even talking about the shower curtains. I am merely speaking of the shower rods! Chrome, brush nickel, this and that. Enough! There is a boundary. That is why the part of the mezuzah that is visible is Shin-Daled-Yud: I am the One who said to My world ‘Enough’.
