The Good of the Good is Deeper than the Happy

Each and every morning, upon seeing friends, neighbors and colleagues, we wish everyone a Boker Tov, a good day.  

After each Shabbat we wish everyone a Shavua Tov and after a special occasion, we wish people Mazal Tov.  And each year, we wish each person a Shana Tova.  The word tov/ ט֛וֹב is a probably one of the first words we all learn when first learning Hebrew. 

While the word literally means “good,“ upon  learning the Shaarei Orah, the 800 year old book by R. Yosef Giqatillah, I realized something deeper and more unique about the word tov that we can bring into our everyday lives.  

The word tov, is actually the word of God.  It appears as something that synthesizes materials or states of being to make them whole.

The first example of this synthesis is in Breishit. After many of God’s creations, the word tov appears -- displaying how God took disparate materials and created complete creations from them.  

Be they physical components, virtual elements or emotional ingredients  -- each day, we are given the gifts of the physical world, elements to combine and to create.  Being partners in creating through completion is the first meaning of tov-ness. 

The Shaarei Orah additionally says that true righteous people are also able to be a machria,  to link two disparate ideas and concepts and make them work together in the world. We read each morning about R. Yishmael who reminded us about the fact that when two things contradict each other, there often comes a third to synthesize the opposite voices. 

Each day, we are inundated with ideas that often seem to contradict.  Whether they be about our political lives, our religious lives or our personal ones -- as we grow, the world and its messages become more complicated.  Part of living the life of tov is harmonizing ideas and voices and making them our own.  

The ultimate moment of tov is found in Breishit as well.  

When the first man is created, God says, it is not tov for humans to be alone,  לֹא־ט֛וֹב הֱי֥וֹת הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְבַדּ֑וֹ אֶֽעֱשֶׂה־לּ֥וֹ עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדּֽוֹ (Gen. 2:18)--so God creates a partner so humans can walk hand in hand together.   Tov means working as team.  It means giving oneself to an other--whether in personal or professional lives. Tov enhances what we give and also allows us to navigate the challenges of life. 

As Kohelet says, .טוֹבִ֥ים הַשְּׁנַ֖יִם מִן־הָאֶחָ֑ד'Two Are Better Than One, כִּ֣י אִם־יִפֹּ֔לוּ הָאֶחָ֖ד יָקִ֣ים אֶת־חֲבֵר֑וֹ… For If Either Of Them Falls, One Can Help The Other Up' - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10  

Yes, during the year, we will wish each other חג שמח - happy holiday, but the word ט֛וֹב goes to another dimension than happy. Tov has great depth--the depth of teaching us how to create, how to synthesize and how to connect each and every day.