Hubbry Logo
search
logo
Shalom
Shalom
current hub
2229341

Shalom

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Shalom

Shalom (Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם šālōm) is a Hebrew word meaning peace and can be used idiomatically to mean hello and goodbye.

As it does in English,[citation needed] it can refer to either peace between two entities (especially between a person and God or between two countries), or to the well-being, welfare or safety of an individual or a group of individuals. The word shalom is also found in many other expressions and names. Its equivalent cognate in Arabic is salaam, sliem in Maltese, Shlama in Neo-Aramaic dialects, and sälam in Ethiopian Semitic languages from the Proto-Semitic root Š-L-M.

In Hebrew, words are built on "roots", generally of three consonants. When the root consonants appear with various vowels and additional letters, a variety of words, often with some relation in meaning, can be formed from a single root. Thus from the root sh-l-m come the words shalom ("peace, well-being"), hishtalem ("it was worth it"), shulam ("was paid for"), meshulam ("paid for in advance"), mushlam ("perfect"), and shalem ("whole").

Biblically, shalom is seen in reference to the well-being 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).

The meaning of completeness, central to the term shalom, can also be confirmed in related terms found in other Semitic languages. The Assyrian term salamu means to be complete, unharmed, paid/atoned. Sulmu, another Assyrian term, means welfare. A closer relation to the idea of shalom as a concept and action is seen in the Arabic root salaam, meaning, among other things, to be safe, secure and forgiven.

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

In Judaism, shalom is one of the underlying principles of the Torah: "Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are shalom". The Talmud explains, "The entire Torah is for the sake of the ways of shalom". Maimonides comments in his Mishneh Torah: "Great is peace, as the whole Torah was given in order to promote peace in the world, as it is stated, 'Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace'".

In the book Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, Christian author Cornelius Plantinga described the biblical concept of shalom:

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.