My favorite word I'd like to write about today is
Shalom.
In a very broad sense, it means "peace" in Hebrew.
Like a lot of my favorite words, though, it conveys so much more in itself than can be expressed with any one English word.
In addition to expressing the concept of peace, it can be used as a greeting, ("I greet you in peace"), a well-wish, ("peace to you") or a salutation, ("go in peace").
Peace is a deceptively complex concept. Once upon a time a little boy - 5 or 6 years old - in my daycare asked what "peace" meant...
I think he'd heard the word in a Christmas song..."
Peace on Earth..."
I had never tried to put the notion in simple terms before. I heard myself offering an explanation like, "Peace is when everyone is getting along and
no one is fighting." It occurred to me that I could not explain what peace was, without defining it as what is
wasn't - a
lack of conflict, and that seemed so sad. In fact, I had to remind him about a movie we had seen recently with soldiers fighting in a war.
Maybe it is more in the connotation than in the definition, but although "
shalom" means "peace" it is a far more vivid, active word...a verb as opposed to a noun, if you will.
If you happen to click through to Wikipedia from the word shalom above, you may notice the peace poster featuring the Hebrew "shalom" and the Arabic "salaam." It occurs to me that these two words which both mean "peace" sound and appear very similar...Just an observation.
I bid all my readers "
shalom."
