Shalom aleichem

This article is about the greeting. For the Yiddish writer, see Sholem Aleichem. For the Jewish liturgical poem, see Shalom Aleichem (liturgy).

Shalom aleikhem (Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם‎ shālôm ʻalêḵem; Yiddish: שלום־עליכם sholem aleykhem) is a greeting version in Hebrew, meaning "peace be upon you". The appropriate response is "aleikhem shalom", "upon you be peace".

This form of greeting is traditional among Jews throughout the world. The greeting is more common amongst Ashkenazi Jews. It is first found in Bereishit (Genesis) 43:23 and occurs six times in 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).

Other religions

Many religions share cognates to this greeting.

The related Muslim variation as-salāmuʿalaykum, is used by Muslims of innumerable lingual and ethnic backgrounds. (In Arabic السلام عليكم) As-salāmu alaykum and its variants are used by Muslims outside of the Arab world in Indonesia, Central Asia, Iran, Sahel Africa, East Africa, and many other places. Aramaic and classical Syriac use Shlam 'lekhon which means peace for you.

Within the Catholic Church, "Peace be with you" is the initial liturgical greeting by a bishop at the celebration of Mass, while priests who are not bishops say "The Lord be with you." The response is "And with your spirit." A somewhat similar greeting used within the Mass by bishops and priests is "The peace of the Lord be with you always."

See also