A vort of the Rebbe for Parshas Bereishis. When the Torah tells us about the different creations that took place on the first days, so at the end of every day, almost every day, it says that Hashem saw that what He did was good. On the sixth day it also says, וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאוד, השם saw everything that He made was very good. But the Rebbe asks a question: How can you say that what happened on the sixth day, everything was very good, when the חטא עץ הדעת took place on the sixth day? The Gemara tells us in Sanhedrin דף ל״ח, beginning of עמוד ב׳, that the חטא עץ הדעת took place on the sixth day of creation. And that was a terrible thing. The חטא עץ הדעת brought the gezeirah of misah, the decree that people should die. It brought the tzaar, the pain, the labor pains of a woman, the pains of pregnancy, and all other kinds of bad things. So how can you say that after all that, Hashem said that כל אשר עשה, everything that He did, was טוב מאוד, was very good? The kashya is even stronger. The other days it just says the word טוב, He saw that what He did was good. On the sixth day it says טוב מאוד, very good. Now the sixth day was the day of the חטא עץ הדעת. So be'emes it's not only not very good, it's not good bichlal, but certainly not very good. So how come on the sixth day when we had the חטא עץ הדעת, that's when the Torah says that whatever He did was טוב מאוד, very good?

So the Rebbe says, to answer this, we have to bring you what the Midrash says in Bereishit Rabbah on the פסוק והנה טוב מאוד, on this pasuk where it says that Hashem saw everything that He did was טוב מאוד, very good, it says like this: טוב, זה יצר טוב. Good is the יצר טוב, obviously, the good inclination. טוב מאוד, the מאוד, very good, that's the יצר הרע, which is also very hard to understand. How can we say on the יצר הרע that the יצר הרע is טוב מאוד, the יצר הרע is very good? It's obvious that he's not.

So Chassidus explains that the reason for that is, why we call the יצר הרע טוב מאוד, because through an aveirah, which comes because of the יצר הרע, a person could reach a very high level, the level of teshuvah. And the teshuvah is so great that it even changes over aveirot into mitzvot. And that's טוב מאוד, that's very good, greater than טוב. If you listen to the יצר טוב and you do good, and you do mitzvot, etc., etc., it's very good, it's good. But there is no maalah of יתרון האור מן החושך, which means the maalah of bringing light out of darkness. But if you have the yetzer hara, and you chas veshalom listen to the yetzer hara, but then you do teshuvah, then you reach a much higher madregah, then it's טוב מאוד, then it's very good. Like the Chazal say: במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים, אין צדיקים גמורים יכולים לעמוד. In the level where בעלי תשובה stand, צדיקים גמורים, complete tzaddikim cannot stand there. And this is the maalah that comes through the avodah of teshuvah that comes through the yetzer hara. That's the inyan of זדונות נעשו לו כזכיות, that the aveirot that you did במזיד, the aveirot you did intentionally turned into mitzvot. And that's why we say טוב מאוד. What's very good? That is the yetzer hara. So the Rebbe says the same thing we could explain here, why on the sixth day it says טוב מאוד, even though on that day the חטא עץ הדעת took place. The first days till the sixth day, everything was created through Hashem, and it was good, the תכלית הטוב והשלימות. That's why it says וירא אלקים כי טוב, He saw it was good. But this טוב that was there did not have the maalah yet of יתרון האור מן החושך, means the darkness that comes out of, light that comes out of darkness. That's a very high madregah, that didn't happen on the first days. And that only took place on the sixth day, when there was a חטא עץ הדעת, and it brought, Adam HaRishon that brought teshuvah to the world, that is טוב מאוד. So therefore, davka on the sixth day, when the person was created with the yetzer hara, and not only the yetzer hara that tries to convince him to do aveirah, but he actually did the aveirah, but then he came to the maalah of teshuvah, so that brought a greater good into the world, something that's very special. And that's why on the sixth day it says והנה טוב מאוד, that what happened on the sixth day could bring a person to the highest madregah, to the best, very good. And this is what we read on the first Shabbos of the year after Simchat Torah when we start reading the parshah again, is to give us the guide for the whole year, that we have to know that everything we do is good, and we have to do good, but if chas veshalom a person does an aveirah, and then does teshuvah, he should know then he reaches the level of טוב מאוד.