LIFE and TOV have Good Numbers & an Invitation for You

In the Hebrew alphabet, each letter has a numeral equivalent. For instance, the letter Aleph, which begins the alphabet equals 1, next letter Bet equals 2 and so on. There are a number of people who believe that the sum total of words or sentences have some hidden spiritual meaning or code.

The word "Life" in Hebrew, CHAI, equals the number 18. The letter CHET is 8 and the smallest letter YOD is 10=18. The name CHAIYIM( the plural of CHAI), literally means "Lives." Many of you who seen Fiddler On The Roof remember the song " To Life, L"CHAIYIM", which is the well known toast. An important part of a Jewish prayer service is called SHEMONAH ESREI, (or Amidah, because it's recited while standing) contains 18 blessings. When someone donates or gives money as a gift it is usually CHAI, $18 or double CHAI, $36 and so on. You can sum up the Jewish view of Life and Living from Fiddler, "One day it's honey cake, next day a stomach ache, drink L'CHAIYIM To Life!"

Judaism is a tradition that draws on a rich past, works for a positive future but is focused on the present. The work that Jim Myers and I are doing, teaching the TOV Standard, providing a means to examine our MEMES and to form collectives, teams of people with shared values and commitment, to address issues that need to be addressed and to take the actions needed to solve the practical problems our Political, Financial and Religious institutions cannot!

The word TOV also has good numbers! (TOV Standard are words thoughts and actions which Protect Life, Preserve Life, Make Life More Functional and Increases the Quality of Life) TET is 9, VAV is 6, BET/VET is 2. TOV equals 17. Tens and Sevens. Ten Plagues, Ten Commandments, Ten Generations from Adam to Noah another Ten Generations to Abraham. Seven Days of the week, Seven Days of Creation, Seven Blessings in the Jewish wedding ceremony. My own life seems to go in seven and ten year cycles. So, doing TOV strengthens and validates CHAIYIM, Life.

I saw a tee shirt recently that really hit the mark. It said, "TO CHANGE, WE MUST BE SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED!" Are You Sick and Tired of the WAY IT IS? We have the power to see what COULD BE. IT'S TIME FOR TOV!

Many of you know that I have been working on making TOV a Reality in lives for a long time. An important part of my work has been the founding of the TOV Center. I have been giving hints of what it will be doing as have been putting the pieces together. In the next few weeks I will be telling you much more as we launch the first phase of the TOV Center’s work.

We are in still in the construction phase of our website (still editing, all of the links are not live, new pages will be added & different browsers may create different looks), but I want to share two very important pages with you today: WHAT IS TOV & WHY TOV.

Many of you know me and know I care about and do my best to help people by doing TOV and have been doing it for a very long time. The TOV Center will help me help many more people. I hope you will join with me by becoming a Founding Member of the TOV Center and making a year-end contribution. My goal is to have the first 100 Lifetime Members join with me before the end of 2015, during this prelaunch period. I hope you will be among that group. If, that level isn’t possible for you at this moment, join at a level that works best for you. My primary goal is for us to be members of the TOV Team together – at any membership level! As I said above, the website is in a prelaunch mode right now, but a temporary Membership page is now online – CLICK HERE (you will recognize the role of “18” in membership levels).

I am really looking forward to receiving your email -- telling me you have become a fellow member of the TOV Team and are committed to the TOV vision – doing actions that Protect Life, Preserve Life, Make Life more Functional and Improve the Quality of Life!

Let’s Do TOV & Choose Life Together!

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor