Shalom

For Tala and Jayda, in preparation for your visit to Israel, let's explore a Hebrew word each day. We begin with the word "Shalom". The same word is used for "Goodbye" and "Hello", because beginnings and endings are one and the same, birth and death being passages that share more similarities than differences. The central meaning of "Shalom" is Peace. Peace in a positive sense, not just a lack of division or trouble, but a palpable, created substance. The Arabic word for this is "Salam", the same word. To ask someone, "How are you?", you ask "Ma Shlomcha?", "How is your Peace?" From the same root as Shalom, we have "Shalem" which means "Whole". So "Ma Shlomcha?" could mean, "How whole are you? Are there broken places? Cracks in your sense of completeness? Inconsistencies? How is your wholeness? What needs mending?" Let each of us mend our broken parts, create wholeness in ourselves. Broken, we use people to fill our broken places. Whole and wholesome, we reach out with logic and love. And create peace. Shalom. And let us be there for one another, for it is from our brokenness that we connect. Shalom. Hello, Goodbye, and Peace.