In this week's parasha, we are introduced to the mitzvah of Brit Milah (circumcision). The Torah teaches us that, at the ripe old age of 99, Avraham was circumcised.
Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky points out that, if you look at the mitzvah of Brit Milah - it seems rather pointless! Medically speaking, the foreskin which we remove serves no positive purpose whatsoever and - in actuality - would only be detrimental to the person if left on. That being the case, why does Hashem create us with it if we were then going to be commanded to remove it 8 days later? Anyone who has had the z'chut of making a Brit Milah knows that it would save a lot of planning, pain (to the baby) and money if we could just forgo the entire process and be born without the foreskin!
Rabbi Orlofsky goes on to answer this question rather beautifully... He explains that the purpose of Hashem creating us with a negative trait which we would be commanded to remove was to teach us that, just as He created us with negative physical traits, He also created us with negative characteristics - anger, jealousy, etc. One might think to himself "if Hashem gave me a temper, that must be how He wants me" and therefore the person would not work on overcoming this characteristic. Rather, look at the mitzvah of Brit Milah and see that - just because Hashem creates you with something, that doesn't mean he wants you to keep it! Through this mitzvah Hashem is teaching us that he does not want us to keep the parts of us that are negative or detrimental - he wants us to remove them!!
May we all work on ourselves to overcome and "cut off" our negative characteristics just like we cut off the foreskin of a baby boy. In doing so, may we merit to see the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days...
Shabbat Shalom!
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