HaTov Shimkha

We close Birkhas Hoda’ah (“Modim”) “‘HaTov’ shimkha, ulkha na’eh lehodos — your Name is “The Good”, and it is pleasant to praise You.”

And yes, it does mean that Hashem’s name, the way we perceive Him, is “HaTov — The Good”. The more intuitive translation, that Hashem’s name is Good (good being an adjective), would have been “shimkha tov — Your name is Good” or “shimkha hatov — Your name which is good” (perhaps in contrast to other names).

Let’s think about that for a minute. What does it mean that Hashem’s name is “HaTov“? We all know that Hashem is Good, but when I stopped to think about the implications of saying that this is His name, the essence of how He shows himself with us… It was an epiphany.

And even though it’s notoriously difficult to share an epiphany, not just the idea but that feeling we’re facing the fully profound. But I hope to try anyway, as I think it’s an essential thought to bring into Yamim Noraim.

Ahavas Hashem — “HaTov” Shimkha!

Yir’as Hashem — “HaTov” Shimkha!

Qiddush hasheim, chillul hasheim “HaTov” shimkha!

When we speak of love, fear or awe of G-d, or sanctifying or desecrating His reputation in this world, we might think first and foremost of heaven and spirituality. But our primary focus should be “HaTov” — G-d as the One Who is good to us. What does it mean to relate to Hashem as “The Good”. If we really praised and worshipped, and indeed emulated, not the G-d Who can do anything, Who is beyond time and space… But the G-d Who created everything to have someone to be good so, Who runs the world with a synthesis of Compassion and Justice to maximize the good we receive.

What does it mean to have yir’ah for such a G-d, to love such a G-d, to make His Holiness manifest, or to desecrate it?

As Rav Shimon Shkop puts it:

For everything He created and formed was according to His Will (may it be blessed) only to be good to the creations. So too His Will is that we walk in His Ways. As it says, “and you shall walk in His Ways.” (Devarim 28:9)

שכל מה שברא ויצר היה רצונו יתברך רק להיטיב עם הנבראים, כן רצונו יתברך שנהלך בדרכיו כאמור ״וְהָלַכְתָּ֖ בִּדְרָכָֽיו״,

That is, that we, the select of what He made—should constantly hold as our purpose to sanctify our physical and spiritual abilities, for the good of the many, according to our abilities. In my opinion, this whole concept is included in Hashem’s mitzvah [of] “Be holy, [for I am Holy].” (Vayiqra 19:2)

היינו, שנהיה אנחנו בחירי יצוריו, מגמתנו תמיד להקדיש כוחותינו הגופניים והרוחניים לטובת הרבים, כפי ערכנו, ולדעתי כל ענין זה נכלל במצות ה׳ של ״קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ״.

The Midrash says about this verse: “Can it [truly] be ‘like Me’? This is why [the Torah] continues, ‘For I am Holy,’ (ibid) to teach that My Sanctity is above yours.” (Vayiqra Rabba ad loc)

דהנה במדרש ויקרא פרק כ״ד אמור על מקרא זה: ״יכול כמוני? תלמוד לאמר ׳כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י׳, קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם״,

Our holiness is in imitation of Hashem’s holiness, and our imitation of Hashem, “vehalakha bidrakhav” means acting with the middos we find in His behavior to us. So that qedushah is not primarily in prayer, even in Qaddish, Qedushah, or other tefillos that qualify as devarim shebiqdushah. It isour commitment to benefiting others. These tefillos that declare Hashem as Eternally Blessed are to connect us to Hashem and His Ways. Because haTov shimkha — Your name is “The Good”.

The Rambam (Yesodei haTorah 6:2) lists seven names that appear in Tanakh that are subject to the prohibition against erasing Hashem’s name. The Tur and the Rosh add two more. But the Rambam says that Y-HV-H is unique, it is the shem hameforash — Hashem’s proper name, rather than a descriptive label. Hashem is E-lokim, but the leaders of the Hittites are elohim. The name E-lokim refers to Hashem being the Source and Master of every force and potential in existence. But Sheim Havayah is His name in a more absolute sense.

Chazal note the sheim E-lokim is used in Tanakh when Hashem’s actions look to us like those of Someone who is acting out of Justice. Sheim Havayah is used when the actions show Rachamim — Divine Compassion and Empathy.

Literally, the ineffable name appears to be (we can’t be sure, since the vowels were lost) the causative form of “hoveh“, to exist. Hashem as the Source of our existence.

The possibly better known idea that the word is a contraction of “Hayah Hoveh veYihyeh — Was, Is, and Will Be”, to refer to Hashem’s Eternity is “only” a derashah. And as a contraction, it doesn’t simply say that G-d is Eternal in the sense of taking up all of the timeline, infinite in age. Rather, that He Exists in a way that doesn’t involve time, and therefore regardless of the “when” we are studying of the universe’s history, Hashem has equal access. And that is indeed a consequence of his being the Source of time too.

Included in the idea of Eternal is that Hashem not “only” created the universe at its beginning, but that every moment we continue to exist is a created moment, filled with things that are being continually created. If we think of a timeline in a book, Creation is the stamping out of the whole timeline. And, as the Tomer Devorah (ch. 1, middah 2) says, one of the most incredible things is that even as we use His Gift to sin, Hashem continues to give us the energy to move to do the sin, and even is Causing us to persist.

Hashem as Eternal is the ultimate expression of Hashem’s benefiting us.

The Source of our existence whose actions are compassionate. Sounds like a pretty intuitive definition of “Good”.

The Kohein Gadol, on Yom Kippur, would finish sprinkling the blood of the qorban on the mizbeiach and pray that Hashem would forgive us. He would close with the pasuq (Vayiqra 16:30):

כִּֽי־בַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֛ה יְכַפֵּ֥ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם לְטַהֵ֣ר אֶתְכֶ֑ם מִכֹּל֙ חַטֹּ֣אתֵיכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֥י יְ-הוָ֖-ה תִּטְהָֽרוּ׃

For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before Y-HV-H.

The Kohein Gadol would pronounce G-d’s name as written. And, as the machzor says, “When the kohanim and the nation standing in the courtyard would hear the sheim hameforash” — not as “Ad-noi“,denoting His Lordship, but the name Cause of All Existence Who Acts With Compassion– “leave the mouth of the Kohein Gadol they would bow, prostrate, fall on their faces and declare:”

בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד:

Blessed is the name of glory of His Kingship for ever!

Your name is The Good, and it is pleasant to praise you!

What does it mean to relate to Hashem as “The Good”, or as the Compassionate Cause of all existence? If we really praised and worshiped, and indeed emulated, not the G-d Who can do anything, Who is beyond time and space… But the G-d Who created everything to have someone to be good so, Who runs the world with a synthesis of Compassion and Justice to maximize the good we receive.

What does it mean to have yir’ah for such a G-d, to love such a G-d, to make His Holiness manifest, or to desecrate it?

HaTov Shimkha.

Ulekha na’eh lehodos.

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