ספר בראשית

‎Midrash Tanchuma Tazria 5 relates that Turnus Rufus ‎the wicked, engaged in an argument with Rabbi Akiva, ‎concerning whose works are more impressive, G’d’s or Man’s? ‎Rabbi Akiva, sensing a trap, promptly replied that man’s works ‎are more impressive. Turnus Rufus, feeling outwitted, thereupon ‎asked Rabbi Akiva since when “man” was able to create heaven ‎and earth. Surely this was proof that G’d’s works are more ‎impressive! Rabbi Akiva retorted that the subject under dispute ‎did not concern the celestial regions, a domain to which man did ‎not have access, but it dealt with works performed in the ‎terrestrial regions. Thereupon Turnus Rufus questioned why the ‎Jews circumcise themselves. Rabbi Akiva said: “I knew right away ‎that you would raise this question, as in your mind this looks as if ‎we criticize G’d as having made an imperfect creature when He ‎made man, and we are ‘repairing’ G’d’s ‘oversight.’” He added that ‎this was precisely why he had said immediately that man’s works ‎are more significant. Rabbi Akiva then proceeded to show ‎Turnusrufus a freshly baked roll, and some wheat kernels. He ‎pointed to the wheat kernel as an example of G’d’s (nature’s) ‎work, whereas the roll he described as an example of man’s works. ‎He challenged Turnus Rufus to tell him which of the two he ‎preferred. Thereupon, feeling outwitted, Turnus Rufus asked that ‎if G’d did indeed prefer man without a foreskin, why did He equip ‎him with a foreskin in the first place? Thereupon Rabbi Akiva ‎asked, that according to Turnus Rufus argument, why is a baby ‎born with an umbilical cord, which was to be cut off for the baby ‎to start living outside the mother’s womb? If man was born with ‎a foreskin, this was in order to enable his father, or himself, to ‎circumcise himself and thus fulfill a commandment by His ‎Creator.‎From Rabbi Akiva’s answer to Turnus Rufus we learn why ‎Avraham had waited for the commandment to circumcise ‎himself, seeing that this is a commandment that can be fulfilled ‎only once in a lifetime, the foreskin not growing back. It is a ‎greater credit for man to perform G’d’s commandments when ‎having been told to do so, than to merely do so because one ‎assumes that this is what the Creator would want him to do. ‎‎[Compare Baba Kamma 38 Ed.]‎