Sim Shalom: peace

Peace is one of God's names

The Gemara (the rabbis' teachings and arguments, recorded about 1,500 years ago) says Shalom is itself a name of God. Its proof is Shofetim 6:24, where the judge Gideon builds an altar and names it "Hashem is Peace." One teaching draws a law from this: you may not greet a friend with "shalom" in a bathhouse. So the last blessing of the Amidah ends by asking for something that is also one of God's names.

Almost every word has a verse behind it

Abudarham (a Spanish commentator on the prayers, writing around 1340) matches the opening words to Tanach. "Peace" comes from the priestly blessing: "and give you peace" (Bamidbar 6:26). "Grace" comes from "Hashem gives grace and honor" (Tehillim 84:12). "Kindness" comes from "He extended kindness to us" (Ezra 9:9). "Compassion" comes from "as a father has compassion for his children" (Tehillim 103:13). The opening is stitched together from lines the Tanach already had.

Why the Amidah ends by blessing the people

Abudarham says the Amidah prayers were set up to stand in for the daily offerings in the Temple. After each offering, the kohanim (the priests) blessed the people. So each Amidah ends with a blessing for the people too, and this is it. The Birkat Kohanim prayer tells the story of the priests' blessing and the Gemara that links it to Sim Shalom.

The Book of Life line is at least 1,000 years old

In the Ten Days of Repentance you add a line asking to be written "in the book of life." The Ve'al Kulam prayer tells where the picture of a book comes from. The Tur (a law code from the 1300s) reports that rabbis in Babylonia before 1040 already ruled on this line. Machzor Vitry, a French prayer book from about 1100, has: life, blessing, peace, a good livelihood. Mateh Efrayim (a guide to the High Holiday laws, 1800s) lists "good decrees, rescues and comforts" as an addition some make.

Peace is the bowl that holds blessing

A teaching of the Sages says the only vessel that can hold blessing is peace. The Maharal of Prague (a major Jewish thinker who died in 1609) explains it. A blessing is extra good, added on top of what you already have. But a person who is missing something is not whole, and cannot take more in. Peace is the wholeness that has to come first. Now read the opening line again, and notice which word comes first.

השלום נחשב כמו הכלי מקבל כל ברכה כי בשלום הדבר יושלם וכאשר אין שלום הוא חסר

Bless us all as one

The Tanya (the main book of Chabad Chassidut, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi) is talking about love between Jews. It says God does not rest in a damaged place, and it applies that to disunity among people. Then it points to a line of this prayer: "Bless us, our Father, all of us as one, with the light of Your face." Now read "all of us as one" again.

קוּדְשָׁא־בְּרִיךְ־הוּא לָא שַׁרְיָא בַּאֲתַר פְּגִים... בָּרְכֵנוּ אָבִינוּ כּוּלָּנוּ כְּאֶחָד בְּאוֹר פָּנֶיךָ

Most of the Amidah is the back view

Sod Yesharim (a book by Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzin, a Chassidic leader in Poland in the 1800s) starts from what God told Moshe: "You will see My back, but My face will not be seen." It says that through most of the Amidah we stand, so to speak, behind God. The real face to face meeting comes in Sim Shalom, after all that distance. Now read "the light of Your face" again.

הרי שעיקר הזווג פנים בפנים נעשה דוקא בברכת שים שלום שהוא אחר הפירוד שמקודם שהיה בבחינת וראית את אחורי

Walking out of the King's room

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) describes the last blessings of the Amidah as rooms in a palace, and Sim Shalom is the last room. When you leave, it says, go like someone leaving the King's company, and make yourself small. But be glad, because you are first in line for the blessings that flow down. Then God tells those above: write this person down among those who "think about His Name."

קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא קָרֵי לְפָמַלְיָא דִּלְעֵילָּא, וְאָמַר לוֹן, כְּתוֹבוּ לְהַאי בַּר נָשׁ פְּלַנְיָא, מֵאִינּוּן דְּאִקְרוּן חוֹשְׁבֵי שְׁמוֹ

One light, and you take what you need

The Be'er Mayim Chaim (a Chassidic Torah commentary by Rabbi Chaim of Czernowitz, first printed in 1820) says God's blessing is really one thing, even though it goes by many names, like light, watching over, or flow. When it comes down into the world, each person takes from it what they need. One takes children, another takes life. That is why, at the end of all our requests, we ask for just this: "Bless us, our Father, all of us as one, with the light of Your face." Now read the line again.

ורק הוא שולח ברכתו לעולם מאור פניו יתברך וכל אחד לוקח מברכה זו כל אשר יצטרך לו זה בנים וזה חיים

Do I say Sim Shalom or Shalom Rav?

Sim Shalom, at every Amidah. Siddur Sefard prints it at Mincha and Maariv too. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) says our custom is Sim Shalom in every Amidah, weekday or Shabbat, and cites the siddur of the Ari (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the great Kabbalist of Safed, 1500s). The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, from around 1900) says the same: the Ari's siddur always has Sim Shalom, and the Sephardim follow it.

Why does my friend's shul say Shalom Rav at Mincha?

That is the Ashkenazi custom. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law) says Sim Shalom is for the morning and for any time the priests' blessing paragraph is said. Otherwise you say Shalom Rav, a different peace blessing, in its place. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, from about 1900) spells it out: Shacharit and Musaf, and Mincha only on a public fast day. A person fasting alone says Shalom Rav.

Why do some Ashkenazim say Sim Shalom at Shabbat Mincha?

The Rema records that some do, because of one line in it: "by the light of Your face You gave us ... a Torah of life." On Shabbat afternoon we read from the Torah. The Aruch HaShulchan gives the reason for the usual custom: "by the light of Your face" is not said at Mincha and Maariv, which he calls a time of judgment. By that logic, he adds, Shabbat, Yom Tov and Rosh Chodesh would suit Sim Shalom at those prayers too.

I said the wrong one. Do I start over?

No. The Mishnah Berurah rules that if you said Sim Shalom at the other prayers, or Shalom Rav at Shacharit, you did your duty. Chayei Adam (a law code by Rabbi Avraham Danzig of Vilna, early 1800s) says the same. The Biur Halacha (longer notes printed with the Mishnah Berurah, by the same author) adds: in the morning, if you notice while saying Shalom Rav, before the closing "Baruch atah Hashem," it may be right to go back to Sim Shalom. At night, if you said Sim Shalom, it seems there is no need to go back.

Ten Days of Repentance: I forgot "In the book of life." Do I go back?

Usually not. The Mishnah Berurah explains that the extra lines for the days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur come from the Geonim (Babylonian sages of the early Middle Ages), so if you forget them, you do not go back. The Rema applies this here once you finish the blessing. But if you remember before you say God's name in the closing line, you may go back and say it. Chayei Adam adds: if you remember afterward, say it right after "bashalom," before Yihyu Leratzon. Siddur Sefard prints his note.

Is this line different on Yom Kippur at Neilah?

Yes. Neilah is the closing prayer of Yom Kippur. Where the line says "may we be remembered and written," the Mishnah Berurah says to say "remembered and sealed" instead. His reason: at Neilah the verdict written on Rosh Hashanah is sealed. The Sefard machzor (holiday prayer book) prints it that way. The line added to the thanks blessing just before changes the same way: "write ... for a good life" becomes "seal ... for a good life."