Word Prompt – TOV – Hillel Fuld

The word ‘tov’ means good but it has a very significant place in Judaism because in Genesis, when G-d is creating the world, the Torah says multiple times that G-d looked at the world He created and the Torah says that the world was “tov meod,” very good.

Another thing the word “tov” is used for is the land of Israel. The Torah says, “Tova ha’aretz meodmeod” – the land is very, very good.

Like many phrases or words in modern Hebrew, the word tov, depending on the context, can mean different things.

For example, if you see someone frowning who says tov, it might mean “Ok… Fine.”

But if you see someone smiling who says tov!, it might mean different things: “Good going!” Or “Kudos for a job well done!”

The important thing is that we know that there is good and evil in the world and in today’s day and age, where the world would have you believe that good is relative, the Torah uses the word “tov” many times to remind us that good and evil are objective.