October 19, 2025|כ"ז תשרי ה' אלפים תשפ"ו Breishis 5786 - ME'OD – Going Beyond Our Perceived Limits By Rabbi Beni Krohn

Today, we start again. After a remarkable year and the Yamim Noraim, Sukkos, Shemini Atzeres all behind us, we are right away invited to begin the Torah anew.

And as we take a look at the real beginning, Creation, we find an interesting difference between the first 5 days of creation, and Day #6.

After each day of Creation, Hashem says that what He did was Tov. However, after the Creation that took place on Day 6, the Torah says:

וַיַּרְא אֱלוֹקִים אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהִנֵּה טוֹב מְאֹד וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי: (פרק א פסוק לא)

And God saw all that He had done, and it was very good! There was night and day, the 6th day.

Why does Hashem change the formulation to Tov Meod, very good, on the 6th day?

The Maharal notes that the difference in how Hashem refers to all the other days and Day 6, emanates from the fact that the Human Being is created on Day 6, and is reflective of a fundamental difference between humans and all other creations.

Everything else besides the human being, writes the Maharal, is created b'foal, already in its complete, final, actualized state at the moment of creation. A lion cub will need to grow physically into a lion, but there's not much more to be expected of it.

What is unique about the Human Being, is that we exist b'koach, we are created with potential waiting to be realized.

This, writes the Maharal, explains the name which is given to humanity. On the simplest level, man is referred to as Adam, as the Torah itself tells us:

וַיִּיצֶר יְקֹוָק אֱלוֹקִים אֶת הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה: (פרק ב פסוק ז)

Hashem created man from the adama, from the Earth.

However, there is something much deeper to this connection between the human being and the Earth. And this is because the human being is more like Earth than any other entity in the world.

While, on the one hand, the ground is what it is, it is complete at creation. At the same time, through hard work of man, the ground can yield so much more than it is in its original state. Through hard work, the barren ground can produce trees, flowers, gardens, and all kinds of beautiful vegetation.

And in the same way, the human being is so much more than what we are in our original creation. We enter the world incomplete, and through our hard work, we have the capacity to bring the world so much good, so much that is beautiful through our commitment to Torah and Mitzvos.

In fact, this is the meaning of the pasuk in Iyov, "Adam L'Amal Yulad" that man was created to toil, to work hard. Because the human being in our essence, is to create to be so much more than our basic form when we are created. When we are created we are, by definition, an unfinished product, and it is our mission to finish the job, to bring out all of that Koach, all of that potential, l'foal, to the beautiful end-result of which we are all so capable.

This is all in contrast to animals, which are called beheima, which the Maharal explains is a contraction of Two words: בה מה, literally what is in it. The word bah means that which is within, and ma means what. So, an animal is ba ma, its essence, is already within in. It is what it is.

While the animal's essence has already been predetermined, the potential for the human being, what he or she will make of their life is yet-to-be-written, and it is limitless.

With all of this in mind, we can now understand why the Torah refers to the sixth day as Tov Me'od.

Every other day of creation, Hashem created one thing, then the next, birds, trees, sun, the moon. Amazing, beautiful, majestic creations, yet He referred to them all specifically as Tov.

However, when it came to the creation of Man, the Maharal notes that there isn't an explicit proclamation with respect to Hashem's creation of Man. Rather, at the conclusion of creation, Hashem says, at the end of the Sixth day that it was all Tov Me'od.

And Chazal say that the Tov Meod is a reference to the creation of the Human Being.

Why is Hashem's reference to how He felt about the creation of Man only through a hint and through the words Tov Me'od?

Explains the Maharal, because the word אדם and the word מאד, are the same letters. The word מאדis always reflective of the possibility of something or someone to exceed the apparent borders, to go beyond.

The Tov, the Goodness of the Human Being isn't stated explicitly because the goodness of a human being doesn't lie in our initial state, in how we are when we are created. It is all about what the person himself does with it! And what we can do is me'od! We have the ability to far exceed the basic nature of who we are at the moment we are created. Our potential is limitless!

And this also explains another approach to Tov Me'od found in Chazal. The medrash writes that Tov Me'od refers to the Yetzer Hara. It's very strange?! In what way could Tov Me'od, very good, be a reference to something so bad?!

Additionally, the Gemara in Sukkah writes that in the times of Mashiach, Hashem will destroy the yetzer hara, that voice inside of us that tries to convince to follow our base instincts and oftentimes do bad. And the gemara says that when this happens, the Tzadikim will cry!

Of course, this, too, is very difficult to understand?!

Rav Zev Smith explains, based on the Maharsha, that when we're having a good day, when doing the right thing comes easy, those days are Tov. They are good!

But when we're struggling, when we're having a difficult time, and instead of giving up we choose to persevere, we overcome our base instinct and choose to do the right thing anyway, that, of course, is so much greater! It is not only Tov, it's Tov Me'od! It's an amazing feeling! And it is so much more exalted and precious to Hashem.

And this is why Chazal say that the Tzadikim will cry when the Yetzer Hara is destroyed. Because it's only when we are challenged and maybe we mess up, but then we get up and we persevere and we're successful in overcoming a challenge that we can see our full potential, who we really can be!

It is the Yetzer Hara that brings out our potential! And that is why the Medrash says "Tov Me'od, this is the Yetzer Hara!" Because it's really the same idea as the Maharal – that Tov Me'od is a reflection of the ability for the Human Being to be so much more than we ever believed we could be. To go beyond our perceived limits, and bear so much amazing fruit for ourselves and the world around us.

Right after the Yamim Tovim is always a time of transition, the time when we shift back to the day-to-day. And it's also that time when we are challenged to take all that we gained during the Yamim Noraim and to finally be able to put it into practice. To showcase for ourselves who we can be not only in the big moments when it's a little easier to connect, but also in the small moments that can sometimes be a struggle.

And so, on that very first Shabbos we are called to read about the creation of man, to remind ourselves that we should never be satisfied with the status quo. But rather, we should be ready to fulfill our potential, to go beyond all of the perceived barriers in our life. To go after those goals and aspirations we set for ourselves just a short time ago, to be ready to show we are, indeed, ready to be Tov Meod.