Chavera Tova – A Good Friend

What is succinct, foreign, and makes funny sounds? A brief lesson in Hebrew! Thank you for humoring me. That’s what a friend does, and we love a good friend. The Hebrew word for friend is “chaver” if male, and “chavera” for a female friend.  The “ch” is a soft guttural sound pronounced in the back of your throat. “Tov” (pronounced with a long ‘o’) means ‘good’ and if being used in the feminine would be written as “tova.”  Finally, when putting the two together, the adjective follows the noun in Hebrew, which is opposite to our English syntax.  All that to say…A good [female] friend is “Chavera Tova.” 😊

What does it take for us to value the significance of ‘chavera tova (Ecclesiastes 4:9)?’ For me, because I let the busyness of life get in the way, it takes a ‘brick to the head’ moment which usually occurs in the presence of a very special relationship. There are two precious women who model a friendship I admire and covet. Privileged to call them friends, both have been instrumental in my life. One is a family member through marriage, and the other I consider to be family.  The special relationship they have with each other, and lessons learned from their friendship is the focus of this week’s post.

The blessing God gives women through other godly women is beautifully observed in their connection. These two have forged a decades-long bond through highs and lows, celebrations and tragedies, and sickness and good health. They’ve raised their families together, attended graduations, weddings, baptisms, celebrated holidays and so much more. Along with the highs, there have been ample lows. These women have stuck by each other through it all .

I read a blog recently on the 10 Benefits of Raw Honeycomb. A light-bulb (aka, brick to the head) moment moved me to see that these are also benefits from a close friendship. The list of 10 is provided in the table below, each with an Asiram-twist (that’s my name backwards) on how these honeycomb benefits relate to friendship.

The fragrant honeycomb of friendship shared by these two women inspired the revision of a poem written years ago, called “Beautiful You.”  I dedicate this to them and to all the honeycomb friendships out there.

When God gifts us with a good friend, we are strengthened to persevere and keep on target during difficult times (Proverbs 12:26). We are sharpened, becoming more effective servants of the Most High God (Proverbs 27:17). They speak truth into our lives (Proverbs 27:9) . Acquaintances come and go, but a loyal, true, and loving friend stands by our side, even through tough times (Proverbs 18:24).

Wrapping this up, there is one last part to build on to our Hebrew lesson. To change from singular to plural, “im” is added to the end of the noun and adjective (e.g., chaverim tovim) in the masculine; ‘ot’ is added to both in the feminine. On that addendum, I leave you with “le’hitra’ot chaverot tovot” – See you later, good friends!