Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on October 19, 2025 by Carole Daman
Monday will be the 19th yahrzeit of my beloved husband, Dr. Harlan Daman, Tzvi Hirsh ben Dovid Aryeh.
Harlan died several days after Simchat Torah and the last Torah reading he ever heard was the beginning of Parshat Bereshit which we read this morning.
One of Harlan’s prominent characteristics was his desire and ability to see the good in all the people he encountered. At work and at home, he believed in encouraging an individual’s strengths and filling in any gaps himself when necessary. This attitude contributed greatly to the well-being and personal growth of family, friends and the patients in his medical practice as an allergist, for whom he was often not just a physician but a wise counselor and cheerleader.
Consequently, I would like to give a Dvar Torah in his memory focused on the verse after the description of the creation of humanity, Bereshit 1:31.
“Vayar Elokim et col asher asah v’hinei tov miod, vayihi erev vayihi voker yom hashishi.”
“Then God saw all that he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning- the 6th day.”
Before this, the Torah has said six times that God sees that what He has created is “Good.” This verse is the first time that the modifier “very” has been added, and commentators disagree as to what is being described as “very good.” Several, including Sforno, view it as referring to the whole of Creation upon its completion indicating that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Others like Rav Saadya Gaon bring humanity into the picture asserting that this sense of completion comes about only after the creation of humankind, the ultimate goal of Creation. But humanity itself is not one of the six creations described as “good”. Indeed several commentators point out that later, near the end of this morning’s Torah reading, Bereshit 6:5, before Hashem decides to bring the Flood, “Hashem saw how great man’s wickedness was upon the earth and that his thoughts constantly inclined to evil.”
Ramban and Hizkuni both quote a section of Bereshit Rabba which attributes the addition of the word Miod to a recognition that the human personality is not perfectly good but rather includes the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination. However, as the Midrash there notes, were it not for the evil inclination, a man would never build a house, marry a wife, beget children, or engage in commerce. So this inclination can motivate people to fulfill the very charges to procreate and take control of the earth which God has just given to Adam, or it can be taken in a negative direction.
As Rambam points out in chapter 8 of his Shemoneh Perakim, each individual has the power to direct his inclinations in the proper directions. It is his responsibility to accustom himself to the practice of good deeds in order to acquire the virtues corresponding to those good deeds. The ability to choose one’s course of action and mold one’s character is viewed by the Meshech Chachma as the true meaning of being created b’tzelem elokim, “in the image of God.”
This understanding of Miod in Parshat Bereshit suggests a new interpretation of the word Miodecha in the first paragraph of the Shema, Dvarim 6:5.
“V’ahavta et Hashem elokecha b’chol livavicha uv’chol nafshicha uv’chol miodecha”
Usually translated as “And you shall love Hashem your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.”
Mishna Berachot on daf 54a offers two interpretations of the meaning of B’chol Moidecha. The first is that it refers to one’s money. The Gemarra on Berachot 61b explains that the phrase is included for the person who values his money even more than his body or his life. In the second explanation, the Mishna uses the phrase as a proof text supporting the obligation to bless God for the bad as well as the good in one’s life.
Looking back at our interpretation of Miod in Parshat Bereshit, perhaps Miodecha can also be understood as a reference to an individual’s power to mold his inclinations by following Hashem’s directives in the Torah. The rest of the V’ahavta paragraph offers a number of means by which to do so.
Harlan lived his life in a very deliberate and thoughtful way. He chose to view life’s challenges in a positive light and to work on enhancing his own strengths and those of others. His example continues to inspire me and his children.
Shabbat Shalom.
