good
At a glance
In short
Tov is good, the plain and general word. Noam (adjective naim) is pleasant, goodness felt as beauty that draws a person in; Rabbi Bedersi (Chosam Tochnis) defines it as yofi. Shapir / shefer is fine or fitting, goodness in the sense of well done, proper, meeting the standard. Bedersi defines it as tov, and in the Gemara shapir is primarily the adverb "well". Bedersi's split is read two ways, and neither reading is in his own words. Rabbi Klein, who freely admits he is probably reading too much into Bedersi, takes noam as subjective, personally felt goodness and shapir as objective goodness. Rabbi Shaul Goldman holds that even if both are subjective they name different qualities: noam is attraction and desirability, whatever its basis, and shapir is plain positivity, which need have no pull in it. Tov and naim appear together in one pasuk (Bereishis 49:15).
Distinctions
Tov (טוב)
Root ט-ו-ב. The hypernym. Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (Meturgeman): Targum often renders tov as shapir in two kinds of place, approval, something "good in his eyes" (Vayikra 10:20; Bamidbar 24:1; some Targum texts read takin), and physical beauty (Bereishis 6:2; Shmuel I 8:16, 9:2; Melachim I 20:3), where it also tends to render yafeh (Bereishis 12:11, 29:17, 41:2) as shapir.
Noam (נעם), naim (נעים)
Root נ-ע-ם.
- Rabbi Pappenheim (Yerios Shlomo): from the biliteral ע-ם, which also gives im, "with": a person tends to bond with what he finds pleasant, so noam is the pull toward a thing one wishes to join; in Cheshek Shlomo he reduces it further to ע, movement.
- The Vilna Gaon: naim/noam is visual appeal, as against matok, sweet, which is gustatory appeal. Rabbi Pappenheim argues against him that these words name no physical property at all but the transcendental pleasure one derives from enjoying something sweet, so that matok and areiv are the physical and naim the sublime.
- Rav Hirsch (Bereishis 5:30): the pleasant thing arouses and moves a person toward a goal.
- Ibn Janach and Radak (Sefer HaShorashim) define both noam and shapir as yofi.
- Menachem Ibn Saruk (Machberes Menachem) defines shapir as noam and noam as hadar, beauty.
- Bedersi, in Chosam Tochnis, the first known book that tries to distinguish Hebrew synonyms: noam is yofi, beauty. Rabbi Klein, saying it seems to him that Bedersi means this and admitting he is probably reading too much in: subjective goodness, felt personally, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the way the yefas toar need be beautiful only in her captor's eyes (Kiddushin 22a; Sifrei Ki Seitzei 211; Ibn Ezra to Devarim 21:11).
- Rabbi Goldman, in personal correspondence with Rabbi Klein: noam is attraction and desirability, whether grounded in objective features such as symmetry, color and form or in wholly subjective ones.
Personal names carry the root: Naomi, wife of Elimelech; Naamah, daughter of Lemech (Bereishis 4:22) and also a wife of Shlomo (Melachim I 14:21, 14:31; Divrei HaYamim II 12:13); Naaman the Aramean general (Melachim II 5:2-27); the Arabic Naim and the Modern Hebrew Noam.
Shapir (שפיר), shefer (שפר)
Root ש-פ-ר: beauty, improvement, goodness. Iyov 26:13, "by His breath the heavens were made shifrah", suggesting an act of perfecting, making them splendid and orderly. Biblical Aramaic shefar (Daniel 3:32, 4:24, 6:2) is a king's approval, "it seemed good". Talmudic shapir is primarily "well", "properly" (ati shapir, shapir ka'amar), affirming that an argument is correct or that a thing meets the standard.
- Rabbi Moshe Shapiro: a shiphal form of פ-א-ר, the shin marking an action that produces pe'er, glory. (A popular folk etymology ties the old Jewish surname Shapiro or Shapira to shapir, though historians presume it more plausibly comes from the German town Speyer.)
- Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 5:1, 49:11), on the interchange of shin and sin and of beis and peh, connects shefer/shapir with sefer, a book, a composite of sub-parts brought together coherently, mispar and sofer, number and counting, and shover, breaking. He surmises that shefer is beauty as the overall property of a thing of many parts brought together in an orderly and pleasing way, and so differs from yofi: shefer is inward beauty, the harmonious working together of the parts, yofi the outward, superficial beauty others perceive.
- Bedersi: shefer is tov. Rabbi Klein, on the same admittedly strained reading of Bedersi: objective goodness, a value recognized regardless of the beholder.
- Rabbi Goldman: plain positivity, "good" or "fitting", with no necessary appeal or elegance; a strong logical argument is not always elegant, an elegant insight is not always practical, and good advice is shapir even when it does not resonate and is hard to accept.
Naftali's imrei shefer (Bereishis 49:21) is read by Midrash Shocher Tov (Tehillim 81:4) as spreading Torah, which Rabbi Klein compares to the English gospel, from Old English god spell, "good message"; by Sotah 13a through sefer, "book", on the interchange of shin or sin with samech, to which Midrash Aggadah adds that the blessing is for Naftali's Torah students to be especially clever. The Targumim and Midrashim variously give good tidings, thanksgiving and berachos to Hashem, agricultural fecundity, song, verbal cleverness, and even the shofar, which together suggest to Rabbi Klein that Naftali is the quick and persuasive communicator.
Why Torah mastery went to Yissachar and not Naftali
Yaakov gave Yissachar and Naftali essentially the same berachah, that they excel in Torah, and the only difference is the word: na'eimah for Yissachar (Bereishis 49:15, read of Torah by Bereishis Rabbah 98:12, with the Zohar Vayechi 242b making "rest" the Written Torah and "the land" the Oral Torah) and imrei shefer for Naftali (49:21). Yet in practice it is Yissachar who is more associated with mastery of Torah: Klal Yisrael consulted the children of Yissachar for their depth in Torah (Divrei HaYamim I 12:33), Targum Yonasan (to Bereishis 46:13) has his descendants wise men and masters of calculation, and the poskim generally came from Levi or from Yissachar (Yoma 26a). Rabbi Klein's answer, on his own reading of Bedersi: Yissachar experienced Torah as subjectively good, felt as beautiful and pleasant on a personal level, rather than as an objective value held at arm's length; he frames the lesson in terms of a "growth mindset," intrinsic motivation over extrinsic validation. Rabbi Goldman carries the contrast back to the tribes' origins: Yissachar came of Leah's deliberate transaction with Rachel over the dudaim (Bereishis 30:14-18), earned reward through effort, while Naftali came of Rachel's prayers and struggles and of her giving Bilhah to Yaakov (Bereishis 30:3-9), following the precedent of Sarah and Hagar.
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ט-ו-ב
Good; also rich and full, and fair to look at; to do well; and the noun, goodness.
Good
מַה־ טֹּבוּ אֹֽהָלֶיךָ יַֽעֲקֹב (Bamidbar 24:5), how good are your tents, Yaakov; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־ טוֹב (Bereishis 1:4), Hashem saw the light, that it was good; הֲטוֹבָה הִוא אִם־רָעָה (Bamidbar 13:19), is it good or bad; צַדִּקִים וְטֹבִים מִמֶּנּוּ (Melachim I 2:32), more righteous and better than he; and הֱטִיבוֹתָ כִּי הָיָה עִם־לְבָבֶֽךָ, you did well that it was in your heart.
Rich, and fair
וַנִּשְׂבַּֽע־לֶחֶם וַנִּֽהְיֶה טוֹבִים (Yirmiyahu 44:17), we had our fill of bread and were good, which he glosses as עשירים ומלאים, rich and full. כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה (Bereishis 6:2), that they were good, he glosses as יפות, beautiful, and שֶׁבַע פָּרֹת הַטֹּבֹת (Bereishis 41:26), the seven good cows, as שמנות ויפות, fat and fair. So too בָּחוּר וָטוֹב (Shmuel I 9:2), a young man and fair, and וְאֵין אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל טוֹב מִמֶּנּוּ (Shmuel I 9:2), no man of Yisrael fairer than he, which he glosses as fair of appearance, as Targum Yonasan renders שַׁפִּיר, fair.
The noun
טוֹבָתִי בַּל־עָלֶֽיךָ (Tehillim 16:2), my good is not upon You, and without the heh וְהָיָה הַטּוֹב הַהוּא (Bamidbar 10:32), and that good will be. When it is bound the cholam turns to a shuruk: וְרַב־ טוּב לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yeshayahu 63:7), great goodness to the house of Yisrael, טוּב הָאָרֶץ תֹּאכֵֽלוּ (Yeshayahu 1:19), you will eat the good of the land, and אֲנִי אַֽעֲבִיר כָּל־ טוּבִי עַל־פָּנֶיךָ (Shemos 33:19), I will pass all My goodness before you.
Which pointing is which
One can also say that טוֹב with the cholam is an adjective and טוּב with the shuruk a noun, the same whether bound or standing alone, and he calls this the right account, since מִבְחַר וְטֽוֹב ־לְבָנוֹן (Yechezkel 31:16), the choice and the good of Levanon, is bound and still keeps the cholam.
מַה־טֹּבוּ אֹֽהָלֶיךָ יַֽעֲקֹב (במדבר כד, ה), מַה־טֹּבוּ דֹדַיִךְ מִיַּיִן (שיר השירים ד, י). והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִל] הֱטִיבוֹתָ כִּי הָיָה עִם־לְבָבֶֽךָ (דברי הימים ב' ו, ה). והתאר טוֹב לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים (קהלת ז, כו), וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב (בראשית א, ד), טוֹבָם כְּחֵדֶק (מיכה ז, ד), הֲטוֹבָה הִוא אִם־רָעָה (במדבר יג, יט), צַדִּקִים וְטֹבִים מִמֶּנּוּ (מלכים א' ב, לב). וַנִּשְׂבַּֽע־לֶחֶם וַנִּֽהְיֶה טוֹבִים (ירמיה מד, יז), כלומר עשירים ומלאים. כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה (בראשית ו, ב), יפות. שֶׁבַע פָּרֹת הַטֹּבֹת (בראשית מא, כו), שמנות ויפות. וכן בָּחוּר וָטוֹב (שמואל א' ט, ב), וְאֵין אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל טוֹב מִמֶּנּוּ (שם), פירוש יפה מראה. וכן תרגם יונתן שַׁפִּיר. והשם עַל כָּל־הַטּוֹבָה אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה י"י לְיִשְׂרָאֵל (שמות יח, יט), טוֹבָתִי בַּל־עָלֶֽיךָ (תהלים טז, ב), ובלי ה"א וְהָיָה הַטּוֹב הַהוּא (במדבר י, לב). ובהסמכו ישוב החולם שורק וְרַב־טוּב לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל (ישעיה סג, ז), טוּב הָאָרֶץ תֹּאכֵֽלוּ (ישעיה א, יט), אֲנִי אַֽעֲבִיר כָּל־טוּבִי עַל־פָּנֶיךָ (שמות לג, יט), זֵכֶר רַב־טוּבְךָ יַבִּיעוּ (תהלים קטה, ז). ויש לומר כי טוֹב בחולם שם תאר וטוּב בשורק שם דבר ובין בסמוך ובין במוכרת אחד הם והוא הנכון, כי מִבְחַר וְטֽוֹב־לְבָנוֹן (יחזקאל לא, טז), סמוך והוא בחולם.
נ-ע-ם
To be pleasant; pleasantness is a known sense, of the kind that is beauty: pleasant words, ways of pleasantness, the one pleasant in Yisrael's songs.
Pleasant
נָעַמְתָּ לִּי מְאֹד (Shmuel II 1:26), you were very pleasant to me; וְשָׁמְעוּ אֲמָרַי כִּי נָעֵֽמוּ (Tehillim 141:6), they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant; וְדַעַת לְֽנַפְשְׁךָ יִנְעָֽם (Mishlei 2:10), knowledge shall be pleasant to your soul.
Its nouns and its adjectives
נְעִמוֹת בִּימִינְךָ נֶֽצַח (Tehillim 16:11), pleasant things at Your right hand for ever; כָּל־הוֹן יָקָר וְנָעִֽים (Mishlei 24:4), all precious and pleasant wealth; וּנְעִים זְמִרוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל (Shmuel II 23:1), the one pleasant in Yisrael's songs; הַנֶּאֱהָבִים וְהַנְּעִימִם (Shmuel II 1:23), the beloved and the pleasant; נִטְעֵי נַֽעֲמָנִים (Yeshayahu 17:10), pleasant plantings; דְּרָכֶיהָ דַרְכֵי־ נֹעַם (Mishlei 3:16 in his edition), her ways are ways of pleasantness; and וּבַל־אֶלְחַם בְּמַנְעַמֵּיהֶֽם (Tehillim 141:4), and let me not eat of their pleasant things. The sense of pleasantness is known, of the kind that is beauty.
A second reading in Mishlei
כִּֽי־ נָעִים כִּֽי־תִשְׁמְרֵם בְּבִטְנֶךָ (Mishlei 22:18), for it is pleasant that you keep them in your belly, can also be read from נָע וָנָד (Bereishis 4:12), moving and wandering: that is, if you do not keep them in your belly, they will soon be on the move and go off.
נָעַמְתָּ לִּי מְאֹד (שמואל ב' א, כו), וְשָׁמְעוּ אֲמָרַי כִּי נָעֵֽמוּ (תהלים קמא, ו), וְדַעַת לְֽנַפְשְׁךָ יִנְעָֽם (משלי ב, י). והשם כִּֽי־נָעִים כִּֽי־תִשְׁמְרֵם בְּבִטְנֶךָ (משלי כב, יח). והקבוץ ושׁניהם בַּנְּעִימִים (איוב לו, יא). וקבוץ הנקבות נְעִמוֹת בִּימִינְךָ נֶֽצַח (תהלים טז, יא). והתאר כָּל־הוֹן יָקָר וְנָעִֽים (משלי כד, ד), וּנְעִים זְמִרוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל (שמואל ב' כג, א), הַנֶּאֱהָבִים וְהַנְּעִימִם (שמואל ב' א, כג). ומשקל אחר נעמן נִטְעֵי נַֽעֲמָנִים (ישעיה יז, י). והשם במשקל אחר דְּרָכֶיהָ דַרְכֵי־נֹעַם (משלי ג, טז). ומשקל אחר וּבַל־אֶלְחַם בְּמַנְעַמֵּיהֶֽם (תהלים קמא, ד), ענין הנעימות ידוע בענין היופי. ויש לפרש כִּֽי־נָעִים כִּֽי־תִשְׁמְרֵם בְּבִטְנֶךָ מן והיית נָע וָנָד (בראשית ד, יב), כלומר אם לא תשמרם בבטנך מהרה יהיו נעים וילכו להם.
ש-פ-ר
To be fair, as the Targum renders יְפֵה תֹאַר by שַׁפִּיר; the shofar; and אֶשְׁפָּר, a portion of meat, which may be a fair portion.
Fair
אַף־נַֽחֲלָת שָֽׁפְרָה עָלָֽי (Tehillim 16:6), my inheritance is fair to me, and הַנֹּתֵן אִמְרֵי־ שָֽׁפֶר (Bereishis 49:21), who gives fair words. The Targum of יְפֵה־תֹאַר (Bereishis 39:6), fair of form, is שַׁפִּיר בְּרֵיוָא, fair in appearance, and so in Aramaic מִלְכִּי יִשְׁפַּר עֲלָיךְ (Daniel 4:24), let my counsel be fair in your sight.
The heavens in Iyov
Like them is בְּרוּחוֹ שָׁמַיִם שִׁפְרָה (Iyov 26:13), by His wind the heavens were made fair. As to its form, either the beis of ברוחו is added, or the heh of שפרה is; or the word is of four letters, on the pattern of מְתַֽחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז (Yirmiyahu 22:15), vying with the cedar. Some explain שִׁפְרָה as He spread them like a tent, from שַׁפְרִירוֹ (Yirmiyahu 43:10), his tent, the heh standing in place of the doubled letter, as בָּֽזְאוּ נְהָרִים (Yeshayahu 18:2), rivers have plundered, is like בזזו.
The shofar
שׁוֹפַר תְּרוּעָה (Vayikra 25:9), a shofar of teruah, and שֽׁוֹפְרוֹת הַיּֽוֹבְלִים (Yehoshua 6:4), the shofros of the yovel: the word is known. כַּשּׁוֹפָר הָרֵם קוֹלֶךָ (Yeshayahu 58:1), like the shofar raise your voice: as you would blow on a shofar, so raise your voice.
A portion of meat
וְאֶשְׁפָּר אֶחָד (Shmuel II 6:19), and one אֶשְׁפָּר: the alef is added, and the word means a portion of meat. It may be drawn from the first sense, that is, a fair portion. Chazal (Pesachim 36b) made it a word compounded of three, saying אחד מששה בפר, one of six in a bull.
אַף־נַֽחֲלָת שָֽׁפְרָה עָלָֽי (תהלים טז, ו). הַנֹּתֵן אִמְרֵי־שָֽׁפֶר (בראשית מט, כא), תרגום יְפֵה־תֹאַר (בראשית לט, ו) שַׁפִּיר בְּרֵיוָא. וכן בארמית מִלְכִּי יִשְׁפַּר עֲלָיךְ (דניאל ד, כד). וכמוהם בְּרוּחוֹ שָׁמַיִם שִׁפְרָה (איוב כו, יג), והבי"ת במלת ברוחו נוספת או תהיה ה"א שפרה נוספת. או תהיה בן ארבע אותיות בשקל תחרה מן כִּי אַתָּה מְתַֽחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז (ירמיה כב, טו), כן יאמר משפרה אשפרה, ישפרה, תשפרה, נשפרה, כמו וְאֵיךְ תְּתַֽחֲרֶה (ירמיה יב, ה). ויש מפרשים שִׁפְרָה נטה אותם כאהל מן וְנָטָה אֶת־שַׁפְרִורוֹ [שַׁפְרִירוֹ] עֲלֵיהֶֽם (ירמיה מג, י), שפירושו אהלו ותהיה ה"א שפרה במקום אות הכפל כמו בָּֽזְאוּ נְהָרִים (ישעיה יח, ב) שהוא כמו בָּֽזְזוּ כן שפרה כמו שפרר. שׁוֹפַר תְּרוּעָה (ויקרא כה, ט). כַּשּׁוֹפָר הָרֵם קוֹלֶךָ (ישעיה נח, א), פירוש כמו אם תתקע בשופר כן הרם קולך. שֽׁוֹפְרוֹת הַיּֽוֹבְלִים (יהושע ו, ד), ידוע. וְאֶשְׁפָּר אֶחָד (שמואל ב' ו, יט), האל"ף נוספת ופירושו חלק מן הבשר. ויתכן שיהיה נגזר מהענין הראשון כלומר חלק יפה. ורבותינו ז"ל שמוה מלה מורכבת משלש תיבות שאמרו (פסחים לו, ע"ב) אחד מששה בפר.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Vayechi: Good and Pleasant," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 11 January 2025.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Sweet and Pleasant," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 27 January 2018.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Nitzavim/Vayelech/RH: The Shofar's Horn," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 17 September 2022.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Nitzavim/Vayelech/RH: The Shofar's Horn," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 24 September 2022.
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 4:22, 30:3-9, 30:14-18, 46:13, 49:15, 49:21; Melachim I 14:21, 14:31; Melachim II 5:2-27; Divrei HaYamim II 12:13; Tehillim 16:6; Iyov 26:13; Daniel 3:32, 4:24, 6:2; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur, Meturgeman, on Targum to Vayikra 10:20, Bamidbar 24:1, Bereishis 6:2, 12:11, 29:17, 41:2, Shmuel I 8:16, 9:2, Melachim I 20:3; Rabbi Pappenheim, Yerios Shlomo and Cheshek Shlomo s.v. נעם; Rav Hirsch to Bereishis 5:30, and to 5:1 and 49:11; the Vilna Gaon on naim and matok; Ibn Janach and Radak, Sefer HaShorashim s.v. שפר and נעם; Machberes Menachem; Bedersi, Chosam Tochnis s.v. שפר / נעם; Rabbi Moshe Shapiro; Bereishis Rabbah 98:12; Zohar Vayechi 242b; Midrash Shocher Tov to Tehillim 81:4; Sotah 13a; Midrash Aggadah to Bereishis 49:21; Kiddushin 22a; Sifrei Ki Seitzei 211; Ibn Ezra to Devarim 21:11; Divrei HaYamim I 12:33; Yoma 26a; Targum Yonasan to Bereishis 46:13; Rabbi Shaul Goldman in private correspondence with the author.