May 1 2022, 11:24 PM, updated 4y ago
Shalom aleichem is a spoken greeting in Hebrew, meaning "peace be upon you". The appropriate response is aleichem shalom ("unto you peace") The plural form "עֲלֵיכֶם" is used even when addressing one person.
This form of greeting is traditional among Jews throughout the world. The greeting is more common among Ashkenazi Jews.
History
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalom_aleichem
Biblical characters greet each other with šālōm lǝkā (šālōm to you, m. singular) or šālōm lākem (plural).
Šālōm ālēkā (šālōm upon you, m. 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 šālōm ălēkem first appears in the Jerusalem Talmud (c. 400 CE), always with a plural object. It occurs there six times and the response is to repeat šālōm ălēkem.
Šālōm ālēkā appears many times in the Talmud Bavli (c. 500 CE), where the response is to repeat šālōm ālēkā.
The inverted response ālēkā šālōm (upon you šālōm, m. singular) is first attested in the Midrash Abba Gorion (before 1050 CE), in its gloss on Esther 3:5:
Arabic variation
The related Arabic variation as-salāmualaikum ("peace be upon you"), is used by Muslims of many language and ethnic backgrounds. The appropriate response is Wa alaikumus-salaam ("and unto you peace", . As-salāmu alaykum and its variants are also used by Arabs of different religions as a greeting. Aramaic and Classical Syriac use Shlama 'allāwkhon , which means "peace on you".
Quote
0.0166sec
0.60
5 queries
GZIP Disabled