What is Shalom

The Hebrew word SHALOM is understood around the world to mean peace. But peace is only one small part of the meaning of the word SHALOM. Here in Israel, even though we don’t have much in the way of peace, we use the word SHALOM on a daily basis. We use it to greet people with, and we use it to bid farewell to people. However, SHALOM means much more than peace, hello or goodbye.

Strong’s Concordance 7965 – Hebrew Shalom ….. A word study in the New King James version for SHALOM says: Completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord.

Shalom comes from the root verb Shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full. In modern Hebrew the obviously related word Shelem means to pay for, and Shulam means to be fully paid.

Sar SHALOM (Prince of Peace) is one of the descriptive names the Bible uses to indicate the ministry and personality of the Messiah: Isaiah 9:6 – The Son of God is completely perfect in all things.

Jeremiah told the Jewish exiles in Babylon to “seek the peace (shalom) and prosperity of the city… Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” As Christians, we too are pilgrims and exiles in this world (I Peter 1:1; 2:11); therefore, we must also seek the shalom of the city where God has placed us.

Shalom could be defined as “well-being, prosperity, health, fulfillment, completion,” with regard to one’s environment, one’s  own soul, and one’s relationships with his/her neighbor; but the Scriptures also make it abundantly clear that at the very heart of shalom is a reconciled relationship with God Himself through faith in the crucified and risen Messiah, Jesus Christ. For this reason, as we look at the shalom of our city, we put at the heart of our strategy the building of the Church of Jesus Christ, the community of shalom. Without healthy churches, we cannot develop truly healthy neighborhoods, from the perspective of biblical shalom.

The Hebrew term shalom is roughly translated to Romance languages as peace , from the Latin pax. Pax, in Latin, means peace, but it was also used to mean truce or treaty. So, deriving from the definition and use in Latin, most Romance terms simply use the word peace to mean such, and also provides a relational application (be it personal, social or political) – a state of mind and affairs. Peace is an important word in the Christian sacred scriptures and liturgy. Eirene, the Greek term translated to peace, also means quietness and rest. Yet, the importance and transcendence of peace in Christian doctrine and theology might be better understood from the meaning and use of shalom.

Shalom, in the liturgy and in the transcendent message of the Christian scriptures, means more than a state of mind, of being or of affairs. Derived from the Hebrew root shalam – meaning to be safe or complete, and by implication, to be friendly or to reciprocate. Shalom, as term and message, seems to encapsulate a reality and hope of wholeness for the individual, within societal relations, and for the whole world. To say joy and peace, meaning a state of affairs where there is no dispute or war, does not begin to describe the sense of the term. Completeness seems to be at the center of shalom as we will see in the meaning of the term itself, in some derivatives from its root, shalam, in some examples of its uses in Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and in some homophone terms from other Semitic languages.

The noun shalom means safe, for example, well and happy. On a more abstract application, its use points to welfare, for example, health, prosperity, and, peace. It the verb form shalam, though, that provides a deeper understanding of this term in theology, doctrine, and liturgy. Literally translated, shalam signals to a state of safety, but figuratively it points to completeness. In its use in Scripture, shalom describes the actions that lead to a state of soundness, or better yet wholeness. So to say, shalom seems not to merely speak of a state of affairs, but describes a process, an activity, a movement towards fullness. Using the King James Version as reference, James Strong lists the rendering of shalom and shalam, among others, as: •   To make amends •    To make good •    To be (or to make) peace •    To restore     •    Peace •    Prosperity •    Wellness •    Wholeness

The use of shalom in the Scriptures always points towards that transcendent action of wholeness. Shalom is seen in reference to the wellbeing of others (Genesis 43.27, Exodus 4.18), to treaties (I Kings 5.12), and in prayer for the wellbeing of cities or nations (Psalm 122.6, Jeremiah 29.7). Coincidentally, the root shalem, found in Jerusalem, means peaceful (yara to mean to lay or found). Yet, its transcendence lies in its relationship to truth and justice (Psalm 85.10, Isaiah 48.18, 22, 57.19-21). The wholeness of shalom, through justice and truth, inspires the words of hope for the work expected by the messiah, and to refer to its revelation as the time of peace (Haggai 2.7-9, Isaiah 2.2-4, 11.1-9), and to even grant this anointed one the title Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9.6, Micah 5.4-5a).

In the Christian Scriptures, the term eirene is employed to mean peace, but in its application, seeking for it the transcendence of its Hebrew counterpart, peace is better understood in relation to terms like grace (Romans 1.7), righteousness (Romans 14.17), and life (Romans 8.6). It is also employed in benedictions, like that in I Thessalonians 5.23 and Hebrews 13.20-21, perhaps making echo to prayers of peace common throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish benedictions (Numbers 6.22-27).

In expressions

The Word “shalom” can be used for all parts of speech; as a noun, adjective, verb, and as an adverb. It categorizes all shaloms. The word shalom is used in a variety of expressions and contexts in Hebrew speech and writing:

1. Shalom aleichem ( “well-being be upon you” or “may you be well”), this expression is used to greet others and is a Hebrew equivalent of “hello”. Also, for example; “shabat shalom!” The appropriate response to such a greeting is “upon you be well-being” (  , aleichem shalom). This is a cognate of the Arabic Assalamu alaikum. On Erev Shabbat (Sabbath eve), Jewish people have a custom of singing a song which is called Shalom aleichem, before the Kiddush over wine of the Shabbat dinner is recited.
2. In the Gospels, Jesus often uses the greeting “Peace be unto you,” a translation of shalom aleichem.
3. Shalom by itself is a very common abbreviation and it is used in Modern Israeli Hebrew as a greeting, to which the common reply is, Shalom, Shalom. It is also used as a farewell. In this way it is similar to the Hawaiian aloha, the (rather old-fashioned) English good evening and the Indian namaste. Also in Israel, especially among secular people, “bye” (English) and “yallah bye” (a mixture of Arabic and English) is popular. Shalom is also used by Jewish people around the world, and even by many non-Jewish people.
4. Shabbat shalom is a common greeting used on Shabbat. This is most prominent in areas with Mizrahi, Sephardi, or modern Israeli influence. Many Ashkenazi communities in the Jewish diaspora use Yiddish Gut shabbes in preference or interchangeably.
5. Ma sh’lom’cha “what is your well-being/peace?”) is a Hebrew equivalent of the English “how are you?”. This is the form addressed to a single male. The form for addressing a single female is Ma sh’lomech? For addressing several females, Ma sh’lomchen? For a group of males or a mixed-gender group, Ma sh’lomchem
6. Alav hashalom (“upon him is peace”) is a phrase used in some Jewish communities, especially Ashkenazi ones, after mentioning the name of a deceased respected individual.
7. Oseh shalom is the part of a passage commonly found as a concluding sentence in much Jewish liturgy (including the birkat hamazon, kaddish and personal amidah prayers). The full sentence is(Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleynu, ve’al kol Yisrael ve’imru amen), which translates to English as “He who makes peace in His heights may He make peace upon us and upon all Israel; and say, Amen.”
8. The word Shalom is widely used in popular Israeli songs such as “In Our Garden,” “Ratziti Sheteda,” and “Shalom Chaverim.”
9. U.S. President Bill Clinton ended his eulogy for Yitzhak Rabin with the words Shalom, chaver (Goodbye, friend).
10. The word ‘Lom (and occasionally Sh’lom) have been used (especially by Jewish teenagers) as the contracted forms of Shalom in street slang.

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