Shabbat Parashat Bereishit 5786

Parashat Hashavua: Is “Not Good” the Same as Bad?

The word “tov” (good) appears 16 times in our parasha, which restarts our Torah learning and presents, in a special way, the beginning of the world. One of the memorable p’sukim containing tov is: “It is not good (lo tov) that man is by himself; I shall make for him a helper opposite him” (Bereishit 2:18). What does “lo tov” mean – in general and here?

Throughout Tanach, including our parasha, tov appears as an antonym and direct contrast to rah. For example, the full name of the etz hada’at is “the tree of knowledge of tov and rah” (ibid. 17). Rah can be translated as either bad, a broad term applying to many levels and contexts of undesirability, or evil, referring to a low level of morality.

So, lo tov can mean bad or it can mean evil. In theory, it can also include average situations. If we rate on a scale of 1 to 10, and good is from 7 and up and bad is from 3 down, then 4-6 is “not good,” but it is also “not bad.” So how do we describe the lo tov situation of man without wife? Evil? No. Bad? Maybe, but why would Hashem create such an important creation as man, in a bad way? Average? Maybe, but this is intuitively unappealing.

Perhaps the answer emerges from an interesting phenomenon in the Torah’s portrayal of Creation. Famously, every major stage of creation is summarized, as “Hashem saw that it was tov.” This statement usually appears once a day, but does not appear on Day 2 and appears twice on Day 3. On Day 6, creation of animals is described as “tov” (ibid.1:25) and the entire creation as a whole is rated “very tov” (1:31). In between these two tovs, the five p’sukim on creation of man is not “crowned” with a tov. Why not?

Perhaps this is what the Torah means with “lo tov” before Chava’s creation. It was not evil, or bad, or average. However, it was lacking the expected tov of creations. As the creation of the second day waited for completion on the third day, so did Adam need to wait for Chava to become a complete creation (see Yevamot 62b).

Hashem decided that man should be created and recognize himself as incomplete before receiving his completion. This phenomenon repeats itself regularly when a baby Jewish boy is born in a way that requires him to be completed by a brit (see Tanchuma, Tazria 7). We can suggest that since as soon as Chava was created there was completion, when a baby girl is born there is no need to seek completion with a brit or the like.

If tov, as opposed to lack thereof, is connected to being complete, we add appreciation for Chazal’s comment that Moshe was born circumcised and that this is learned from the fact he was described as born tov (see Shemot 2:2; Avot D’Rabbi Natan 2). The fact that males have two hashlamot – brit and a wife – explains more things. A brit includes preparing the boy to eventually live a married life in sanctity. Also, already at the brit, we look ahead to his completion: “Just as he entered the brit, so may he enter Torah, chupa, and ma’asim tovim.” Torah is called tov (Mishlei 4:2) and completes a person; finding a wife is called “matza tov” (ibid. 18:22); after these two, a man is ready for ma’asim tovim.

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