At the beginning of the Torah portion, the verse instructs that one must circumcise a newborn boy on the eighth day. The Sages relate an exchange between Rabbi Akiva and Turnusrofus, the Roman prefect who ruled in the Land of Israel, regarding the question: Why do we attempt to improve upon the acts of the Creator?

Turnusrofus asked a question of Rabbi Akiva, saying to him: Which is superior, the creations of the Creator or the creations of people? Rabbi Akiva immediately understood his intent. He said to himself: This cursed one is using subterfuge to confound me concerning circumcision. If I answer him that the creations of people are superior, he will kill me for treating the Creator with contempt. If I answer him that the creations of the Creator are superior, then too, he will kill me, saying: Why are you modifying what the Creator willed by performing circumcision? Rabbi Akiva said: My lord the king, wait two hours for me until I go home and return. Turnusrofus said to him: Go. Rabbi Akiva went home and said to his wife: I want you to prepare for me now one very fine loaf of bread, sifted of bran and waste, with a little oil, sesame, and nigella seeds. Immediately, his wife prepared for him a loaf of a higher quality than what he had requested. Rabbi Akiva took the loaf and took a little wheat, and came before the king. Rabbi Akiva said to him: My lord the king, by your life! Answer me this question that I will ask you before I answer you the question that you asked me. Turnusrofus said to him: What do you want? Rabbi Akiva said to him: My lord the king, which is finer: This loaf, or these wheat kernels? The king said to him: This loaf is finer. Rabbi Akiva said: My lord the king, you have answered the question that you asked me, because you just now said that the actions of people are superior. As in this case, the creation of the Creator is the wheat kernel and the creation of people is the loaf. You asked me your question because of circumcision and you were using subterfuge to confound me. But now, you yourself answered, and your own mouth responded to your question. Turnusrofus said to him: Rabbi Akiva, You have answered well. But if a circumcised male is preferable, why didn’t the Holy One, blessed be He, create man circumcised? Rabbi Akiva said to him: If so, why didn’t the Holy One, blessed be He, create the umbilical cord cut? Why did He leave it so that the person must cut it? The Creator created this circumstance [that the male child needs completing] in order to refine His creations by their performing His mitzvot. (Midrash Aggada [Buber], Vayikra, Shemini–Tazria 12)