Since last Friday's storm, when a telephone pole fell in front of my house, I've been without phone service. Internet service comes with the phone, which means I have no way to communicate, neither by phone nor email, nor any other digital tool. Of course, a cell phone isn't a good option except in emergencies, since its cost (in Argentina) makes it a very precious resource.
On Saturday morning, when I left my house to go to the synagogue, I saw the famous telephone pole lying in the street, with some wires hanging from it, but I didn't pay too much attention to it; after all, Shabbat is a different day and there wasn't much to be done about it.
However, when I sat down to write some emails on Saturday night, after Shabbat, I realized I had no internet... so I quickly picked up the phone receiver and... there was no dial tone... it was disconnected. That's when I realized that one of the cables hanging from the fallen pole was mine...
A state-of-the-art computer, Spanish and Hebrew keyboards, an optical mouse, 3-megabit internet, and a Wi-Fi router—nothing could help me. I was completely disconnected. Then I understood what our sages explain about Abraham, our patriarch.
This week we read in the Torah about Abraham's Brit Milah (circumcision). At ninety-nine years old, God appeared to Abraham (as he was called before God Himself changed his name) and commanded him to circumcise his foreskin. Now, our sages say that Abraham (and the other patriarchs) observed the Torah even before it was given at Mount Sinai. If this was the case, why didn't Abraham circumcise himself earlier? Why did he wait until God commanded him to do so?
The answer is simple: Abraham was holy, a soul of a high spiritual level and a refined, holy body. But without a connection initiated by God, he was (to a certain extent) disconnected. He was like me, with my excellent equipment, but if the internet provider didn't give me a cable, I was disconnected. Abraham waited to undergo Brit because he wanted it to come from God; he wanted to be connected to the very essence of God, from which the commandments for each mitzvah originate.
Today we have an advantage over Abraham (in this sense): God has already given us the Torah and established the connection through Torah and mitzvot. The big question is: do we have the equipment? In other words, from God to humankind, there is already a link, but are we exercising our capacity to connect from humankind (ourselves) to God?