Human beings have an innate desire to be better people. At times, that desire is expressed in a competitive way with others, and at times we compete “with ourselves” by asking ourselves, “How can I be a better person today than I was yesterday?”
Of course it’s a lot healthier when we look at ourselves in the mirror and try to lift ourselves up instead of trying to put others down. Let’s rephrase that: The only way to make ourselves better is to lift ourselves up because nothing is gained by putting others down.
Yet, it is worth asking the question: Why the need to become a better person? Why can’t we just come to terms with “who I am,” and just say this is the way that nature is, or that is the way I was nurtured? Why invest in myself? Why improve myself?
In Hebrew there are expressions of praise given to people who have lived their lives to the fullest: We will call them Tamim, complete, or Ish Shalom, a peaceful person. These Biblical terms are taken from this week’s Torah portion. However, what is interesting is that the Torah doesn’t just use these expressions to describe people in their old age – such as for Noach and Abraham – but also to describe baby Isaac when he has his Brit Milah, his circumcision!
How is it that a baby can become a “complete” individual, without doing any hard, personal, individualized soul-searching? Just like that, a little “surgery” and bam, you become complete! What is it about the Brit Milah that is so important that it makes an eight-day-old baby “complete?”
Circumcision is beyond our understanding. We do it because G-d commands us to. It doesn’t have to make sense, nor does it make sense. We do so in order to connect to G-d on a deep and spiritual level. We want to become one with Him, connect to Him, beyond any reason, not because we understand, but even though we don’t understand. When we achieve a point in our lives when we do something for someone else without expecting anything in return, we have reached a level of perfection that no “self-help” book can teach us. The emphasis is not on the “I” but on the other person. It is the fact that we are willing to subjugate our egos for another person’s that makes us great. So long as we are trying to make ourselves better, the focus is still on us. As we get older, it becomes more and more difficult to remove ourselves from the picture, and that is why we circumcise our children when they are only eight days old.
However, the lesson gives us the strength to be able to continue to put others before ourselves, to put G-d before ourselves, and to continue to grow and become better people.
The name of the Torah portion is Lech Lecha, Go onto yourself. We should continue to grow and grow.