Shalom aleichem
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
Shalom aleikhem (or sholom aleikhem) (Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם shālôm ʻalêḵem; Yiddish: שלום־עליכם sholem aleykhem) is a greeting version in Hebrew, literally meaning "peace be upon you". The appropriate response is "aleikhem shalom", or "upon you be peace".
This form of greeting is traditional among Jews throughout the world. The greeting is more common amongst Ashkenazi Jewish. It is post Biblical and occurs only 6 times in the Talmud; all occurrences are from the Jerusalem Talmud. Only the plural form is used even when addressing one person. A religious explanation for this is that one greets both the body and the soul, but Hebrew does occasionally use the plural as a sign of respect (e.g. a name of God is Elohim אלוהים literally gods).
[edit] Other languages
Several languages share cognates to this greeting. The Arabic language variation is used by Muslims throughout the world: (السلام عليكم) as-salāmu ʿalaykum.
Aramaic and classical Syriac use ܫܠܡܐ ܥܠܝܟܘܢ Shlomo ʻlaikhon which means "peace be upon you". A more widely used variation is ܫܠܡܐ ܠܟܘܢ meaning peace for you.
