Shabbat and Mila: Completing Creation

And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.                                                                                                Leviticus 12:3
Ba’al haTurim notes that our verse contains the same number of words and letters as the verse “vaYechulu haShamayim,” [Genesis 2:1] which presents the original Shabbat, teaching that mila overrides Shabbat.

My father suggested that there is an additional lesson to be learned from the commonality of the verses. The verse “vaYechulu” teaches us that Shabbat constitutes the completion of God’s creation. Our Sages tell us that at the end of the sixth day of creation the world was lacking rest, which God created on Shabbat. Similarly, mila completes man’s creation, expressing the partnership between man and his Creator and allowing man to become an active participant in God’s creation.