Talk:Shalom

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The person who just added a "cleanup" tag on this article, can you please justify your move? What in the article bothers you? Is this something you cannot simply change, instead of adding this tag? Or does it relate to the irrelevant (in my opinion) religious statements made in this article? If it's this last issue, can you please state your position in this issue - so that we can make a decision and change the article accordingly?

Nyh 21:13, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

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An anonynous (not logged in) contributor has been adding statements like "Unlike in English, this can additionally refer to The Peace (of God)." to this article. I'm a native Hebrew speaker, and I simply don't understand what this refers to. What is "The Peace", and what does it have to do with God? Not only I, as a native Hebrew speaker know of this meaning, two Hebrew dictionaries I referred to also say nothing of this sort. Sure, the word "Shalom" *is* used in some religious expressions. For example, "Shabat Shalom" is a blessing meaning "peaceful sabbath". "Alav Ha-Shalom" means "the calmness is upon him" (i.e., deceased, dead), "Ose Shalom Bi-Meromav" means "He who created peace in the heavens" (referring to God). But, in all these phrases, "Shalom" simply has the literal meaning of peace, and it's not an additional meaning.

This is why I am removing that additional supposed meaning. If you want to add it again, please explain your addition here.

Nyh 08:07, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

An anonymous user (probably the same one) now added the following sentence which I removed again:

There could be seen an important difference between "peace" as like in the human understanding and The Peace of God, which humans are powerless to originate (4. Mose 6, 24-26; John 14,27; Phillipian 4,7).

Again, I don't understand what this has to do with this article. This notion has nothing to do with the Hebrew word "Shalom". If it's a common (in some circles) meaning of "peace" in English, why not talk about this in the "Peace" article, not the "Shalom" article? Please use this page to explain your position instead of engaging in an edit war.

Nyh 08:30, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

Well i am not the owner of this page but tried to enrich it with the ideas of Gods Shalom, as the given bible verses might be interpreted. For myself, i am not seeking war, but the shalom. So i will not change it anymore. However, everything will be sincerely clarified at last jugdement day.

Waxman22 - Just thought I would add something to help clarify on this point. The primitive root for shalom is shalam. It's original usage had to do with a covenant of peace made between man and God. That root meaning is left out of the wikipedia etymology. It should probably be added that the "completeness" or "fulfillment", referred to in wikipedias etymology, was originally in reference to completing or fulfilling an oath or covenant of peace made with God. This word originally conveyed a deeper type of peace; a complete peace, or peace with God. Even though many people use this word for something of less meaning today, we should try not to forget where the word came from...especially when providing its etymology. I hope that helps.

[edit] Arabic cognate

3345345335534 contends that the Arabic cognate of "shalom" is "assalamu alaikum":

Salaam in this context means the greeting, NOT one of the 99 names for God. However, the Salaam link in the see also section leads to the disambiguation page. [1]

I would contend that the Arabic cognate of Shalom as it is described in the opening paragraph (foremost "peace" and a greeting) is not "assalamu alaikum". The latter does not have the meaning of "peace" but only that of greeting; I assume that if the salaam would be extended to compare to the use of "shalom" in Hebrew, one would find very similar material that is NOT specific to greeting, but is also relevant to its other uses. The majority of this article, indeed, does not refer to its use as a greeting. The current opening text of the Salaam article is very comparable to this one's, and I'm sure it can be extended to be very similar to this article. jnothman ^talk 23:35, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

The assertion that "assalamu alaikum" is the Arabic cognate of Hebrew "shalom" demonstrates a fundamental failure to grasp the difference between "translation" and "cognate". (And even as a translation, it's still weak, since the translation for assalamu alaikum into Hebrew is shalom `aleikhem, not just "shalom".) Tomer^talk 07:53, 21 February 2006 (UTC)