Every mitzvah has its unique accomplishment. Some mitzvos infuse us with more kedusha, and some or meant to help us remove imperfections. What is achieved through the mitzvah of milah? Does it just remove imperfection, or does it actually infuse kedusha in a person and facilitate reaching greatness. There seems to be different opinions in the Rishonim as to what this mitzvah accomplishes.
The Mishna in Nedarim teaches us that someone who has no milah is disgraceful and it is only through milah that a person can reach shleimus – totality. This – says the Mishna – is clear in the pasuk in Parshas Lech Lcha, where Hashem told Avraham in regards to the mitzvah of milah: הִ תְ הַ לֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים, “Go before Me and you will be complete,” which shows us that only after the milah did he become “complete.” The Gemara (Nedarim 32a) elaborates on this point, telling us how Avraham Avinu – even after all his great devotion to performing mitzvos – still did not achieve his highest level of complete spirituality until after his circumcision.
This seems to show that bris milah removes imperfection. The Rambam, in his classic Moreh Nevuchim, as well as the Sefer Hachinuch, elaborates on this point, explaining that a person is born incomplete, and his purpose in this world is to complete himself. This is similar to a person’s physical dimension, where one works to accomplish and achieve greatness. The Moreh Nevuchim continues by saying that the milah weakens one’s draw to material and physical desires, thereby facilitating a person’s achievement of tikun hamidos, reaching a level of having refined character traits.
These Rishonim seem to be of the opinion that the milah accomplishes removal of the spiritual blemishes.
However, other Rishonim, when discussing the greatness of this mitzvah, explain that there is much more to milah than just removal of spiritual imperfection. As mentioned earlier, the Tur delineates many great spiritual levels that can be reached through milah.
The Beis Halevi quotes the Sefer Akeida who maintains that the mitzvah of milah actually encompasses both dimensions: removal of spiritual imperfection, as well as infusing a person with kedusha. The Beis Halevi elaborates on this notion and suggests that both of these ideas are actually alluded to in the pasuk in Parshas Lech Lecha, where Hashem told Avraham: הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים וְאֶתְּנָה בְרִ יתִי בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ, “Go before Me and you will be complete, and I will place a bond between us.” The milah was two- fold: it brought him to reach completion as well as bringing him close to Hashem.
The Beis Halevi proposes that these two facets of milah are accomplished by the two components of the mitzvah: milah and priah, which correspond to these two dimensions of milah, thereby putting every child on the road to reach completion, as well as infusing them with great powers of kedushah, bringing them close to Hashem.
Summary
Some Rishonim hold that the milah removes spiritual blemishes, and others say that it helps a person reach great spiritual levels. The Beis Halevi suggests that the mitzvah of milah actually encompasses both dimensions: removal of spiritual imperfection, as well as infusing a person with kedushah.
Rabbi Scheiner
