וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם לֹ֤א נוּכַל֙ לַעֲשׂוֹת֙ הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה לָתֵת֙ אֶת־אֲחֹתֵ֔נוּ לְאִ֖ישׁ אֲשֶׁר־ל֣וֹ עָרְלָ֑ה כִּֽי־חֶרְפָּ֥ה הִ֖וא לָֽנוּ׃
Mereka berkata kepada mereka: “Kami tidak dapat melakukan hal ini, yaitu memberikan saudara perempuan kami kepada seorang laki-laki yang tidak bersunat, sebab hal itu merupakan aib bagi kami.”
Akeidat Yitzchak
When Bereshit Rabbah 48 tells us that Abraham sits at the entrance of purgatory and prevents any circumcised Jew from being consigned to that detination, the meaning is that between the combined effects of circumcision, (physical) and Torah (spiritual), the fate that is reserved for the uncircumcised could not possibly be in store for circumcised Jews. Rabbi Eleazar in the opening statement quoted refers to the triple effect of speech, mind, and hearing, and that is the reason he quotes the three verses from scripture. The first verse refers to the lack of power of speech, someone who boasts of the wrong attributes (Jeremiah 9,22). The second, Goliath, lacks brains or he would not blaspheme (Samuel I chapter 17). The third are the daughters of the uncircumcised who refuse to listen to the voice of mussar, moral instruction, and who rejoice when they hear that the representative of moral values (Saul) has been slain (Samuel II chapter 1). As a diamond sparkles best when in a suitable setting, so the purest soul unless placed in a superior body cannot perform at optimal ability. This is why a baal mum, a physically blemished person must not perform temple service. Otherwise, his physical blemish might affect his soul, thus preventing him from drawing down from on high all the blessings that the priest ought to channel to his people. Because it is the purpose of the commandments to refine those who perform them, man was not born circumcised, so as not to deny him the effects performance of that mitzvah would have on the development of his personality.