Parshas Tazria speaks about the mitzvah of giving a baby boy a bris milah on the eighth day. The first time we learn about this mitzvah, however, is back in Sefer Bereishis.
There, in Parshas Va’yeira, the Torah tells us that Hashem appeared to Avraham Avinu on the third day following his bris milah “K’chom ha’yom—In the heat of the day” (Bereishis 18:1). The Baal HaTurim notes that the gematria (numerical value) of the words K’chom ha’yom are both Gehinnom and Dam milah (the blood of circumcision). Why would these words, which describe the weather, have anything to do with the fires of Gehinnom and the mitzvah of bris milah?
The Gemara (Eruvin 19a) says that Avraham Avinu sits at the entrance of Gehinnom and prevents anyone who has a bris milah from entering. Now, what does this mean? First off, what about women who don’t have a bris milah? Secondly, how does Avraham Avinu know who does or does not have a bris milah? The Neshamah, after a person passes away, separates from the body, which remains and disintegrates in the grave. How can Avraham Avinu know if the body underwent a bris milah if he only sees the Neshamah? Lastly, simply because a person has a piece of skin cut off, even if he commits every sin in the Torah, he’ll be spared from everything? How can that be?
To answer this, we must turn to the Zohar. The Zohar explains that the orlah, foreskin, is not simply a physical barrier which is removed, but a spiritual blockage. When a person passes away after one hundred and twenty years and doesn’t contain a spiritual barrier over his Neshamah, Avraham Avinu notices and ensures he will not enter Gehinnom.
With this, we can answer our questions. Removing the spiritual impediments and blockages in life applies to women as much as to men. As well, Avraham Avinu doesn’t look toward the body to check if the bris milah was performed, but rather to the Neshamah. And lastly, it is not simply the cutting away of physical, human skin which grants a person this protective merit, but the effort to clear away any spiritual tumah from his or her life, so they can be free of any spiritual barriers.
How, though, does a person remove this spiritual orlah, especially if he has committed aveiros in his life?
The answer, says the Zohar, is with the knife of teshuva. When a person changes their ways, they cut away the spiritual growths which cover their Neshamah.
This is why K’chom ha’yom references Gehinnom. Avraham Avinu, so to speak, sits “in the heat of the day”—at the entrance to Gehinnom—preventing anyone who has a spiritual bris milah from entering. Just as Avraham Avinu did so when he himself underwent his own bris milah in this world, he does the same in the Next World.
But this leaves us with a new question. If a person who has a bris milah like Avraham Avinu does not enter Gehinnom, why would he be sitting in the heat of the day? If he is not in Gehinnom, he should outside and away from the heat of the day, not in it?
The answer is that there’s another heat of the day which the Pasuk is alluding to. The Gemara (Chagigah 12a) tells us that at the time of the creation of the world, Hashem created a special, spiritual light (“Ohr HaGanuz”) which he hid away for the tzaddikim in the World to Come. While this supernal light was originally intended to brighten up this world, Hashem determined that those who were wicked were not deserving of it, and therefore stored it away to be later benefited by the tzaddikim.
This is what is otherwise meant by the ‘heat of the day.’ When someone who has underwent a spiritual bris milah in their life on this earth removes the spiritual barriers which cover their Neshama, when they arrive in Heaven, they do not enter Gehinnom. They do not sit in that heat of the day. Rather, specifically because they have done teshuva and removed the orlah around their Neshama, they sit in a different heat of the day—the light of the Ohr HaGanuz.
Now, sometimes we wonder if we are worthy or capable of meriting this. How can we, so immersed and stuck in our old ways and habits, break free and change? How can we do teshuvah if we are so far gone? It’s just about impossible to overcome the challenges of life in our modern day.
The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 49:2) says that when Avraham Avinu began to circumcise himself, he was scared. At his elderly age of ninety-nine, it wasn’t a simple feat to circumcise himself alone. What happened? Hashem stretched out His Hand to hold Avraham’s, and together, they performed the bris milah.
If you ever think that your challenges to spiritually circumcise yourself are too hard, too much, too beyond you, do one thing: reach out to Hashem. Tell Hashem that you need His help. “I can’t do it alone. I need You.” And He will come to your side and hold your hand.
Life is not a light matter. It’s very serious and we must recognize that our every action leaves a mark, leaves an impact. But teshuvah can change that all and remove the spiritual impediments. We just need to try, and if we are ever overwhelmed, turn to Hashem. If we do so, when we arrive in Shamayim and come before Hashem, Avraham Avinu will be there and see us and say, “You have a bris milah. You do not belong in Gehinnom. You belong in Gan Eden with us.”
