What does "circumcise the foreskin of your heart" mean in Parashat Ekev?
“Umaltem et arlat levavchem ve’arpechem lo takshu od” (“Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer”, Deuteronomy 10:16).
The Torah uses two metaphors here:
- The foreskin of the heart - something that covers the heart and keeps it from feeling, from listening, and from changing.
- A stiff neck - obstinacy, a refusal to turn the head and reexamine the road.
An interpretive idea that rises from these verses is that circumcising the heart is not a one time act but an ongoing process of removing the layers that hold us at a distance from the truth. It can be thought of on several levels.
1. Removing the layer of ego
Earlier in the same parasha, the Torah warns against the thought: “kochi ve’otzem yadi asah li et hachayil hazeh” (“my strength and the might of my hand made me this wealth”, Deuteronomy 8:17). When a person is certain that they already know everything, the heart becomes sealed. Circumcising the heart begins with humility and with the recognition that I do not always see the whole picture.
2. Agreeing to change
A stiff necked person is one who will not change direction even when reality calls for it. Circumcising the heart is the ability to say: perhaps I was wrong, perhaps I still have something to learn.
3. Remembering the kindnesses
Throughout Parashat Ekev, Moses returns again and again to the exodus from Egypt, to the manna, and to the miracles of the wilderness. Memory softens the heart. Someone who practices gratitude finds it less difficult to open up.
4. Turning knowledge into life
A person can know a great deal of Torah, but if that knowledge does not shape how they treat people, the heart is still covered. This is why, immediately after this verse, the Torah describes the greatness of God, and then commands the love of the stranger (Deuteronomy 10:17-19). An interpretive idea: how close a person is to God shows also in how they treat the weak.
5. Removing one layer at a time
It is worth noticing that the Torah does not say “let your hearts be circumcised”, but “Umaltem”, you shall circumcise. This is a call to personal responsibility. Later the Torah also promises: “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart” (Deuteronomy 30:6). An interpretive idea that emerges from comparing the verses is that there are two stages here: a person does their part, and God helps them complete the process.
Circumcising the heart is not the removal of anything physical. It is the removal of everything that keeps the heart from staying sensitive to truth, to gratitude, to humility, and to the love of another person.