Genesis 1:31

The sixth day: It added [the letter,] hay, to the word, sixth, (making it read, the sixth day, whereas all of the other days were not preceded with a hay), to say that He made a condition with [the acts of creation], that [the creation] was on condition that Israel would accept the five (which is the numerical equivalent of hay) books of the Torah. A different [explanation]: The sixth day - they were all dependent and waiting until the sixth day; that is the sixth of Sivan, which was [the day] prepared for the giving of the Torah. (Other editions: Since on the sixth day of Sivan, on which Israel received the Torah, the entire creation was strengthened; and it was considered as if the world was created then. And that is what is meant by the sixth day with a hay; that the day [referred to] was the sixth of Sivan.)

And the Lord beheld every thing He had made, and it was very good. And it was evening, and it was morning, the Sixth Day.

"The sixth day: - there are those who say that that it is juxtaposed [to another noun, i.e., referring to something other than "day"] - the meaning being "the sixth heavenly orb". And likewise [we could explain] "the seventh day" Genesis 2:3. But this is not true. And the referent of "the sixth day" [the planet associated with the sixth day] would prove this. Rather, its explanation is "a day which is sixth to the first day. Likewise for "the seventh day". And we find similar [usages - where the noun lacks the definite article born by the adjective]: "The Israelite man" Numbers 24:10 ish hayisraeli and many like it. Also thus: The firmament of the heaven - the firmament which is the heaven.

AND, BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD. This signifies their permanent existence, as I have explained. The meaning of the word me’od (very) is “mostly.” On this sixth day He added this word because he is speaking of creation in general which contains evil in some part of it. Thus He said that it was very good, meaning its me’od is good [thus conveying the thought that even the small part of it which is evil is basically also good, as is explained further on]. It is this thought which is the basis of the saying of the Rabbis in Bereshith Rabbah: “And, behold, it was very good. And, behold, it was good — this refers to death.” Similarly the Rabbis mentioned, “This means the evil inclination in man,”, 9. “Were it not for the evil inclination, no one would build a house or marry a woman.” and, “This means the dispensation of punishment.” “He considers well how to mete it out” so as to cause a minimum of suffering. Onkelos also intended to convey this thought for he said here, “And, behold, it was very orderly,” meaning that the order was very properly arranged since the evil is needed for the preservation of the good, just as it is said, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Some Rabbis explain that on account of the superiority of man, He added special praise on his formation, i.e., that he is “very good.”

וירא אלוקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד, G’d reviewed all that He had done during these six “days,” to see if anything needed adjustments or improvement, but He found that everything was very good.

את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד, the accomplishment of a project containing many different parts is greater than the accomplishment of each part of such project successfully. Now that G’d had completed the entire project successfully, the Torah described this with the additional word מאד instead of merely טוב.

יום הששי, this is the first day which is described as “the (sixth) day.” In other words, it was the first of many days known as “the sixth,” but this was the first such day. The specific function of the sixth day is to be the bridge between the ordinary weekdays and the Sabbath. The “six” days have been defined in Exodus 20,9-10 as the days on which “you will perform all your tasks involving work.”

וירא אלוקים, in this verse G’d includes His assessment of the creation of man with that of His overall assessment of all He had done previously. The word טוב applies to all of G’d’s creative activities. This judgment had been withheld until after the creation of man, as it might have been conceivable that with the appearance of man previously created matter would appear in a different light. The verse tells us that in G’d’s judgment, and looking at it after execution of His plan, it appeared just as good as it had during each of the stages the Torah had reported on. Having found confirmation of the success of His blueprint for the universe, the Torah added the word מאד, “very much.” Up until that moment the perfection of G’d’s handiwork was not yet complete. Even though, as a result of these six “days” of G’d’s creative endeavour, something had been lost forever, i.e. the אפס, the absolute nothingness which had preceded creation of the universe, silence this very “nothingness” had now become inextricably interwoven with the “something,” all the phenomena which G’d had called into existence, G’d described the sum total as good.
Maimonides, in commenting on the words והנה טוב מאד, (Moreh 3,10) writes: “even death, which appears to constitute a return to אפס to nothingness, G’d considered as something positive, constructive, seeing it is only a prelude to rebirth, albeit sometimes in a different guise than that the previous incarnation. Death is perceived as the result of the ‘nothingness’ which had preceded the universe having become an integral part of this universe. Hence it had become a necessary phenomenon. [these words are mine, I am not sure that I could literally translate the words of Maimonides, themselves a translation, rendered differently by different super-commentaries, such as Crescas, Shem Tov, and Afudi, as well as Abravanel. Ed.] Having all these considerations in mind, we can now understand the meaning of the Midrash claiming Rabbi Meir (Bereshit Rabbah 9,5) as saying that in his version of the Torah instead of the word מאד there appeared the word מות, “death.” [a brilliant explanation of this by Rabbi Zeev Wolf Einhorn is that the key here is the word והנה, which is altogether extraneous, and especially the prefix ו in that word. Ed.]
(author speaking): “I have found (Midrash Bereshit Rabbati, Albeck edition page 209) that in a hidden archive in Rome there has been found a Torah scroll in a church by Severus (a Roman Biblical, …