Elul 4: Shabbat Shalom

“Peace I ask of thee O River. Peace, peace, peace. When I learn to live serenely, cares will cease. From the hills I gather courage. Visions of the day to be. Strength to lead and faith to follow. All are given onto me. Peace I ask of Thee O River. Peace. Peace. Peace.”

It’s an old Girl Scout song. One we used to sing just before Taps. It was always calming and hopeful. Maybe I will have strength to lead, if I can just be like a river. Maybe the river will bring peace. Since I loved canoeing, I was frequently on a Michigan river, where I would draw inspiration. Just ask my family about car trips up north. As we go over each river I proclaim, “I canoed this river.” Maybe this song is a prayer. Maybe this feeling of peace will descend again. Maybe. Maybe.

The night is falling. Shabbat is coming. Quickly. Too quickly. And as “the sun on the treetops no longer is seen, we welcome the Sabbath, the bride, the queen….”

We won’t be ready. We are never ready. The house won’t be ready. The chicken won’t be ready. Quickly, quickly. Just one more email, really. Then I’ll put my computer down.

The rabbis in Tzefat used to go out into the fields, dressed all in white to welcome that Sabbath bride, that Sabbath queen. With it came that chance to take a deep breath and pause. They would sing L’cha Dodi. “Come my beloved to greet the bride, the presence of Shabbat…Come in peace, Shabbat bride.”

Peace.

Peace is like the river. Deep like a river.

The greeting for Shabbat is Shabbat Shalom. Sabbath of peace. I will never get there either.

There is another story told about the song Shalom Aleichem that many families and some synagogues sing on Friday night. It welcomes the Shabbat angels. “Shabbat angels? you ask, “are angels even Jewish.” The word in Hebrew for angel is malach and it carries with it a sense of messenger. Abraham was visited by three angels, then later his hand was stayed by an angel and Isaac was spared. Jacob wrestled with an angel. Angels appear throughout the Torah.

The song Shalom Aleichem is based on a Talmudic story: “Rabbi Yosi ben Yehuda taught: “Two ministering angels–one good, one evil–accompany every Jew from the synagogue to his home on the Sabbath eve. If they find the candles burning, the table set, and the bed covered with a spread, the good angel exclaims, ‘May it be God’s will that it also be so on the next Sabbath,’ and the evil angel is compelled to respond ‘amen.’ But if everything is disorderly and gloomy, the evil angel exclaims, ‘May it be God’s will that it also be so on the next Sabbath,’ and the good angel is forced to say ‘amen.'” (Shabbat 119b)

The song asks the angels of peace to “Come in peace.” But the last verse is “Go in peace.” Debbie Friedman, of blessed memory asked how, before Shabbat really even begins, can we ask the angels to depart in peace? Shortly before her death she composed a new version of Shalom Aleichem which includes another verse that asks the angels to “Return in peace.” This beautiful, haunting, easy to sing melody is being used not only at Shabbat tables to begin Shabbat but also at havdalah ceremonies that mark the end of Shabbat. Debbie never had the opportunity to record it formally, but here is a clip of her teaching it. http://sjnm.huc.edu/media/Debbie%20Friedman%20Shalom%20Aleichem.mp3

So here is what is remarkable. It had been a hard week. The world news is not good, raising our anxiety levels. There were too many meetings at night. Too many nights up past midnight. Too much work to do. Too much writing to do. Too many heated discussions about buying a car or a house or both.

But when my family paused and worked as a team, a sense of calm and peace descended on the house. We cleaned. We cooked. We set a beautiful table with flowers on it. You could say that mopping the floor, at least for me, brought peace. At least for the moment. So I hugged my daughter and kissed my husband and said I was sorry for the added angst I had brought into the week. So Friedman may have it correct. May the angels of peace come in peace, exit in peace and then, return in peace. Again and again and again. May it be so.

One thought on “Elul 4: Shabbat Shalom

  1. A lovely piece of writing — I couldn’t help but smile when I read that Girl Scout song. We sang it at Camp Chickagami.

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