Pray and Mean It #9 -- Sim Shalom -- Grant Peace
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Thanks and best wishes – Cantor Jack Chomsky, Congregation Tifereth
Israel, Columbus Ohio
Pray and Mean It 9
This is the 9th installment in this series.
With שים שלוֹם (Sim Shalom), we come to the last b’rachah of the
Amidah -- as we complete the shell which is almost unchanging as the
beginning and ending of the Amidah. (As previously noted, the daily
Amidah has 19 blessings; the Shabbat or Festival Amidah has 7. Each
begins and ends with essentially the same 3 blessings -- leaving 13 in
the middle that we will discuss in subsequent weeks.)
שים שלוֹם -- Sim Shalom -- is, for better or worse, possibly the best
known paragraph of the Amidah. I say this because, as the “prayer for
peace” it is both too well known and not enough known. What do I mean
by this? It is far too easy to say “let us pray for peace” and really
DO nothing about it. Peace is not a simple matter. Shalom, after
all, is from the same root as shalem -- full. So we know that the
Jewish idea of peace is not merely a lack of war -- but a fullness of
every good possibility in the universe. God is not going to supply
this for us on God’s own. We must be very active partners in this
process, and I believe that the text indicates this quite clearly,
though it also feels to me that this has escaped our notice much of
the time.
First, here’s the text. . .
שִׂים שָׁלוֹם בָּעוֹלָם טוֹבָה וּבְרָכָה
חֵן וָחֶֽסֶד וְרַחֲמִים עָלֵֽינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמֶּֽךָ.
בָּרְכֵֽנוּ, אָבִֽינוּ, כֻּלָּֽנוּ כְּאֶחָד בְּאוֹר פָּנֶֽיךָ,
כִּי בְאוֹר פָּנֶֽיךָ נָתַֽתָּ לָּֽנוּ, ה' אֱ-לֹהֵֽינוּ,
תּוֹרַת חַיִּים וְאַֽהֲבַת חֶֽסֶד, וּצְדָקָה וּבְרָכָה וְרַחֲמִים
וְחַיִּים וְשָׁלוֹם,
וְטוֹב בְּעֵינֶֽיךָ לְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּכָל עֵת וּבְכָל
שָׁעָה בִּשְׁלוֹמֶֽךָ.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', הַמְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּשָּׁלוֹם.
Sim shalom ba-olam tovah uvrachah,
Chen vachesed v’rachamim aleinu v’al kol yisrael amecha.
Barcheinu avinu kulanu k’echad b’or panecha,
Ki v’or panecha natata lanu, Adonai Eloheinu,
Torat chayim v’ahavat chesed, utz’dakah uv’rachah v’rachamim v’chayim
v’shalom,
V’tov b’einecha l’vareich et amcha Yisrael b’chol eit uv’chol sha-ah
bishlomecha.
Baruch Atah Adonai, Ham’vareich et amo Yisrael bashalom.
Grant peace everywhere -- goodness and blessing,
grace, lovingkindness and mercy to us and unto all Israel, Your
people.
Bless us, our Father, all of us as one with the light of Your face;
For by the light of Your face You have given us, Adonai our God,
the Torah of life, and love of kindness, and righteousness and
blessing and mercy and life and peace; And may it be good in Your eyes
to bless Your people Israel at all times and in every hour with Your
peace. Praised are You, Adonai, who blesses Your people Israel with
peace.
Issue #1 -- Who is this peace for? The most traditional version of
the text is merely Sim shalom tovah uvrachah etc. (Grant peace,
goodness and blessing etc.) 20th century versions of the text have
included (among others) Sim shalom baolam tovah uvrachah etc. and Sim
shalom tovah uvrachah baolam etc. In other words, Grant peace [baolam/
everywhere], goodness and blessing [baolam/everywhere] etc.
Other additional accommodations in some places have been made to give
the text a more universal quality. But there’s no getting around
where it ultimately leads: Praised are You, Adonai, who blesses Your
people Israel with peace. It simply was not intended as a universal
prayer. That’s okay -- as a people we have always certainly had our
hands full hoping for just a bit of peace for the people (not to
mention the land) Israel. It’s especially okay if we are aware of the
incorporation of the more universal language as a reminder that we
need to be mindful of having aspirations for peace for all. We can’t
change the past. We can change the future.
Issue #2 -- In my experience, it has been quite common for rabbis,
after the recitation of the silent Amidah, to read the translation of
Sim Shalom aloud. This is understandable -- but gives the sense that
this “prayer for peace” is either the culmination or a summary of the
Amidah. One could probably make a reasonable argument on behalf of
either, but the usual effect is just to get into our heads “Grant us
peace” as the only thing we’re taking away from the Amidah -- and a
failure to connect with the sublime road map to peace that follows --
unless one reads the entire paragraph with feeling and conviction.
Barcheinu avinu kulanu k’echad b’or panecha -- Bless us our Father --
all of us as one in the light of Your face. What a beautiful
expression! And it’s just getting warmed up! (More about that in a
moment.)
Let’s wrestle for a moment with avinu (our Father): this is a word
that is at once intimate
and at the same time potentially distancing (in a negative way). Our
human fathers are
among the most important figures in our lives. And talking to God in
this personal way
can be a beautiful thing. At the same time, we need be conscious of
the masculinity
inherent in the language. There are times that I will alter the
gender in my mind when I’m
praying. Bless us our mother is a) as powerful an image, b) even
more powerful, or c)
distracting. Your choice -- your experience. You need to find your
personal balance in this
matter. Even if you wouldn’t choose to put more of the feminine in
your God language, you
ought to be understanding of those for whom it is important. And if
you’re someone to whom it’s
important, I hope that you would be understanding of those for whom
it is jarring and
uncomfortable. At any rate, we’ve got to face the fact that God our
parent is not an
improvement on God our father. At least not in our generation.
Back to what we were getting warmed up about. . . Ki v’or panecha
natata lanu. . .The text repeats the imagery of the light of God’s
face (which is also a reference back to the birkat kohanim -- the
priestly blessing which is recited during the repetition of the Amidah
just before Sim Shalom). It uses the repetition of this imagery as a
hinge -- because in the light of Your face You have given to us torat
chayim, v’ahavat chesed utz’dakah uv’rachah v’rachamim v’chayim
v’shalom. These are the ample tools that God has given us to achieve
peace: The Torah of life, and love of kindness and righteousness and
blessing and mercy and life and peace. Although much of this can be
understood as the stuff that God can bless us with, it seems to me
that it’s more importantly a list of things that God has placed into
our hands in order to enable us to bring peace into the world.
You have given to us
Torat chayim Torah of life -- or laws of life
Ahavat chesed Love of kindness -- or love of lovingkindness
Tz’dakah Righteousness -- often rendered (confusingly) “charity”
B’rachah Blessing
Rachamim Mercy
Chayim Life
Shalom Peace
We could write pages about each of these qualities -- what they mean
-- how we achieve them. But the genius of Sim Shalom is just to lay
them right out there for us in glorious simplicity -- every morning,
every day.
It’s hard for me not to feel uplifted and cheered in reciting this
litany of good work. I find that, when I focus on these words, I do
feel literally lifted up.
As we finish the Amidah, it’s marvelous to refill our intellectual,
emotional and spiritual tool box!
One should note also that the list ends with shalom. Which, of
course, was where the discussion began! Shalom is at the same time
one of the tools in the box and the end point of using those tools!
May we be workers who will bring peace into God’s world. May God
grant us the strength and the wisdom to understand how to use those
tools.
If you wish to respond, you may e-mail me at Cant...@aol.com.