Shalom Aleichem

I see friends shaking hands, saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying, "I love you"

(from What a Wonderful World, written by Bob Thiele and George Weiss)

The first couple of minutes of meeting up with people has become rather fraught these days, usually complete with an exaggerated silent dance of hands and pretend hugs while we try and figure out whether the person opposite is or isn’t shaking hands/hugging/touching elbows/using the namaste greeting.

Most, if not all, will slow down, and assess the person opposite or even ask first, what the preferred greeting is. It is a difficult time, as we want to greet others, but also be mindful of their boundaries and our own as well; masks, no masks, indoors or outdoors, hand sanitizers, and sometimes also the vaccination status of the other person/oneself.

The old “Hello, how are you” doesn’t feel quite adequate at the moment. I rather like the  Shalom! Mah shlomcha?of modern Hebrew, which is normally translated as “ “Hello! How are you?” but literally means “What is [the state of] your peace?” which feels much more apt at the moment, and contains a recognition of the fluctuating boundaries and worries that we are currently living with. Whether you are out and about or one of the many who again has to self isolate at home, whether you’re hoping to go abroad to visit relatives or just hoping for a trip to the nearest beach sometime this summer.

The classic shalom aleichem “peace be upon you” is also a good greeting in that it offers a wish or blessing of peace upon the other, something that is not quite clear in our usual greeting formulas, and not something we normally do outside of a liturgical moment. And the best bit? When you respond by reversing the greeting to  "aleichem shalom" "to you, may there be peace".