Shalom aleichem

 ( Greeting Words And Phrases ) 

Shalom aleichem (; , ) is a greeting in the Hebrew language. When someone is greeted with these words, the appropriate response is aleichem shalom (עֲלֵיכֶם שָׁלוֹם, ). The term is plural, but is still used when addressing one person.

This form of greeting is traditional among Jews worldwide, and typically connotes a Judaism. It is particularly common among Ashkenazi Jews.

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History Biblical figures greet each other with šālōm lǝkā (Shalom to you, m. singular) or šālōm lākem (plural).

The term (masculine singular) is first attested in the Scroll of Blessings for the First Month (before 30 BCE), a Dead Sea Scroll, where it is spelled, in their manner, with a final he.

The plural first appears in the Jerusalem Talmud (), always with a plural object. It occurs there six times and the response is to repeat . According to y. Sheviit 4:3, it was specifically a Jewish greeting at this time.

appears many times in the [[Talmud Bavli|Talmud]] () and [[Leviticus Rabbah]] (contested date), where the response is to repeat .
     

The inverted response (masculine singular) is first attested in the Midrash Abba Gorion (before 1050 CE), in the gloss on :

"What did Haman do when he passed by and Mordecai did not rise to greet him? He came from one side and made as if Mordechai had greeted him, saying ' ʿālēkā šālōm,' but Mordechai replied, 'the Yahweh says there is no šālōm for the wicked.'" —

The plural greeting and response became common among Ashkenazi Jews in the second half of the next millennium, as the use of plural forms to denote respect was imported from French language and German language.

In most communities, one says Shalom aleichem to three people who respond Aleichem shalom as part of the Kiddush levana ritual.

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In other languages Many other Semitic languages (the language family to which Hebrew language belongs), as well as some Indo-European languages, share cognates to this greeting.

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Semitic languages Among Arabs, the variation (, ) has been a traditional greeting since before the rise of Islam with the appropriate response (rtl=yes, ) first attested by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. Following the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century, it was established as a prevalent greeting among many non-Arab Muslims.

In Syriac language, the term (rtl=yes, ) is prevalent.

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Indo-European languages Similar greetings gained prominence with the rise of European Christianity. Within the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, bishops and priests initially use the liturgical greeting "peace be with you" (; ) during divine services. During the Mass, Catholic priests who are not bishops say "Dominus vobiscum" (), with "and with your spirit" being the appropriate response. Bishops and priests also use the somewhat similar greeting "the peace of the Lord be with you always" during the Mass. In the Orthodox Church, the greeting is always "peace be with you" during services.

Similarly, "peace be with you" is used within Anglicanism, particularly within the liturgies of the Episcopal Church and others in the Anglican Communion, with the "and also with you" being the appropriate response. In the liturgy of the Lutheranism, the greeting by the pastor is "the peace of Jesus be with you always" followed by "and also with you" as the congregation's response. Others, such as the Presbyterianism and the Church of the Brethren, have similar traditional greetings.

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Jewish songs The greeting inspired the traditional folk song Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, which was eventually translated to many languages and became popular in peace demonstrations abroad.

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See also

• Shalom, the Hebrew greeting for "peace"
• As-salamu alaykum, the Arabic greeting

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