Sim Shalom, Structure and Meaning
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5775
One day in shul a congregant goes over to his or her Rabbi and asks – Do you think that God really hears our prayers? I mean I ask and daven for so many things, but I don’t get them, do you know that God is listening?
The rabbi responds, I am certain that God hears everything and is always listening to your prayers. The real question is – are you listening to your prayers?!
Do you understand the words that you are saying? Do you know what they really mean? Do you know what you are asking for?
In that spirit, I would like to look at the Beracha of Sim Shlaom, the last beracha in our shemoneh esreh that we recite every morning.
At first glance it seems like a blessing for peace. We should concentrate every day on peace in Israel and the world, because that is the theme of the blessing and that is what we desperately want.
All of that is true and correct, but there is so much more and I believe a peace that if we don’t fully appreciate, we might not warrant the peace that we so urgently desire.
In addition – you would want to ask, why in Minhag Ashkenaz do we only say Sim Shlaom in the morning and Shalom Rav in the afternoon and evening.
Why do we say that Sim Shlaom at Mincha on a fast day?
I will answer the last question first because it is interesting and not relevant to the beracha perse, and then will try and explain exactly what the beracha means.
If you look at the words of the blessing you will notice that it seems to include many words of Birchat Kohanim, the priestly blessing. Look at it later but for now, please take my word.
The priestly blessing was not recited in the afternoon and thus we don’t recite Sim Shlaom in the afternoon. Instead we recite a beracha that is not borrowed from Birchat Kohanim.
Why was there no priestly blessing in the temple in the afternoon?
Because we were afraid that the kohanim would return drunk from lunch and it is forbidden to duchan drunk.
What day do you not have to worry about drunken kohanim? A fast day.
In addition to the relationship to birchat kohaim there is another difference between Sim Shlaom and Shalom Rav. Shalom Rav is missing an important section of Sim Shlaom and I would argue that it is the middle section which contains the secret to peace.
Shalom Rav is a simple and straightforward request for peace. Place great peace upon us for you are the king of peace, please bless your nation with peace.
Sim Shalom is more than that. It begins with
שִׂים שָׁלוֹם טוֹבָה וּבְרָכָה, חֵן וָחֶֽסֶד וְרַחֲמִים, עָלֵֽינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמֶּֽךָ.
Place peace and mercy upon your people
And it ends with
וְטוֹב בְּעֵינֶֽיךָ לְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּכָל עֵת וּבְכָל שָׁעָה בִּשְׁלוֹמֶֽךָ.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, הַמְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּשָּׁלוֹם.
A blessing for peace for your people.
The beginning and end are very similar to Shalom Rav.
Here we find a middle section with two parts:
בָּרְכֵֽנוּ, אָבִֽינוּ, כֻּלָּֽנוּ כְּאֶחָד בְּאוֹר פָּנֶֽיךָ
Bless us our father, all of us as one with the light of your countenance
כִּי בְאוֹר פָּנֶֽיךָ נָתַֽתָּ לָּֽנוּ, יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ, תּוֹרַת חַיִּים וְאַֽהֲבַת חֶֽסֶד, וּצְדָקָה וּבְרָכָה וְרַחֲמִים וְחַיִּים וְשָׁלוֹם,
Because with your countenance you have given us a Torah of life, love of chesed, righteousness, blessing mercy, life and peace.
These are words that hopefully we say every single day of our lives and twice on shabbas.
What do they mean?
Why ask God to bless us as one?
What does it mean that God has given us a Torah of life, love of chesed, righteousness, blessing mercy, life and peace?
I would suggest the following. It is nice to want peace and desire it and even pray for it. But it is not enough. Wishful thinking will not bring about peace. Maybe we have to deserve it, we have to work towards it and then God will deliver it.
How do we do that?
כֻּלָּֽנוּ כְּאֶחָד – for us to blessed as one we need to be as one. We need to work to achieve achdus, Jewish unity. We need to look past the differences in ideology and observance and realize that as Jews, we all share a common fate and destiny and learn to get along and love each other. When we are as one, at peace, God will bless us with peace.
Maybe that is what “God has given us a Torah of life, love of chesed, righteousness, blessing mercy, life and peace” means. Maybe we are not asking that God treat us with attributes; rather we are thankful that God has given them to us and we must act with them. We have to appreciate that Torah is our life and love kindness etc. and when we act in that manner we will be deserving of peace!
Read that way, the middle part of the blessing is the way to bring about the blessing.
I hope that is something that we can think about and work on every morning as we recite this blessing!
