The concluding verse on the sixth day of creation reads, “And G-d saw all that he had made and behold it was very good”. This compares favorably to G-d’s observation of creation for the previous days where G-d saw only that “it was good” verses very good. This is most surprising since everything went south almost immediately. First Adam and Eve sin, followed soon after by Cain and Abel, followed by the incident with the “sons of elokim”, then the flood, the sin of Cham against his father Noah, the tower of Babel, and the casting of the one good person into a furnace.
In order to understand the meaning of this Pasuk we need to have a better understanding of what is meant by the term “Tov”. What this means and how this is important can be understood as we think about the creation story again. G-d created things and saw that they are good. When we humans create things and see that they are good it means that we are pleased for having done something useful, beautiful, and lasting. The Torah in recounting G-d “seeing that is good” similarly reflects this idea. The natural world that G-d created is all those things, useful, beautiful, and lasting. Unfortunately, the misdeeds and misbehavior by G-d’s other creations resulted in much of that world being “Destroyed” or in Berieshis terms “uncreated”, washed away in a flood of steaming boiling acid rain!
It’s important to notice the unique language used when recognizing the creation of Mankind. The pasuk uses the term; “And he saw and behold it is very good. (“Vayar Vehenai”). This is different than the language used in the other days where G-d said simply “and he saw that it was good”, (Vayare Elokim key Tov”). The extra term “Vehenei”, “And Behold” is important. The term Vayar Vehenei in the torah usually refers to a prophetic vision or a dream. The difference in language is significant. In each day of creation the created was designed to be perfect then and forever. Man, however, was created to be “imperfect”. Mankind could be potentially Very Good” (Tov Meod) better than perfect, actually in a state of constant perfecting.
Part of ‘Perfecting’ includes necessarily making mistakes. The first part of the Chumash is replete with mistakes (aka sins) and ‘redo’s. In fact all the stories in the Chumash are about imperfection and consequences. Yet we move forward hopefully towards betterment if not now than sometime in the future.
Shabbat Shalom
Dedication to the memory of Joel Shulman A’H
