Shalom

20 Jun 2006

[m.; pl. “shelomim”]; peace, hello, goodbye, a “Name” of Hashem; peace (which is a positive quality, not just the absence of war) – therefore, a most appropriate greeting representing “hello” or “goodbye;” as in the Friday Night greeting sung to the two Angels who accompany each person home after Services in shul, “Shalom Aleichem, Malachei HaShalom!” “Greetings to you, Angels of Peace!” Or as in “Aharon HaKohen haya ‘Ish HaShalom,’ ” “Aaron the Priest was the ‘Man of Peace’,” for he would reconcile conflicts between husbands and wives, between estranged brothers and between feuding friends, and was therefore even more beloved to the People than was his brother, Moshe.