Another Shalom Aleichem Question

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  • September 8, 2015 4:04 pm at 4:04 pm #616318
    WolfishMusings
    Participant

    Why do we say “Shalom Aleichem” to a single person? Why not “Shalom Alecha?”

    The Wolf

    September 8, 2015 4:19 pm at 4:19 pm #1099518
    technical21
    Participant

    You’ve got to include all the alter egos:)

    Wikipedia says that you’re greeting both the body and the soul, but there’s no source… could be sketchy.

    September 8, 2015 4:33 pm at 4:33 pm #1099519
    golfer
    Participant

    Using the plural form of ‘you’ is a form of respect. You will also hear the plural form of ‘you’ used by speakers of French (vous instead of tu), German, Yiddish, to denote respect to the one being addressed.

    September 8, 2015 5:01 pm at 5:01 pm #1099520
    WolfishMusings
    Participant

    Using the plural form of ‘you’ is a form of respect. You will also hear the plural form of ‘you’ used by speakers of French (vous instead of tu), German, Yiddish, to denote respect to the one being addressed.

    Is that true in all cultures/languages?

    It certainly doesn’t seem to be true in Hebrew where the singluar is used to address all manner of people to be respected and even HKBH Himself.

    The Wolf

    September 8, 2015 5:18 pm at 5:18 pm #1099521
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    Apparently, in the times of the Gemara, they said shalom alecha.

    http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/shas.aspx?mesechta=21&daf=73b&format=pdf

    Since it’s a more modern innovation, it might very well be borrowed from other cultures.

    September 8, 2015 5:45 pm at 5:45 pm #1099522
    Joseph
    Participant

    Since it’s a more modern innovation, it might very well be borrowed from other cultures.

    Our Shalom Aleichem is a modern innovation? Any shaichos to/imitation of the Arabic Salaam Alaikum, which the proper response to is Alaikum Salaam?

    September 8, 2015 5:48 pm at 5:48 pm #1099523
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    Perhaps it came from there. Perhaps from Kiddush Levanah.

    September 8, 2015 5:52 pm at 5:52 pm #1099524
    Joseph
    Participant

    What is your source that it is a modern innovation as opposed to a continuance of the same (or similar) greeting mentioned in the Gemora?

    September 8, 2015 6:32 pm at 6:32 pm #1099525
    WolfishMusings
    Participant

    Perhaps from Kiddush Levanah.

    I doubt it. I’d be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that it’s in Kiddush Levana because that was the standard greeting. Had the standard greeting been “Shalom Alecha,” then that would have been in KL.

    (Unless, of course, you were meant to say SA to a group of people in KL and not individually to three people as we do now.)

    The Wolf

    September 9, 2015 7:06 pm at 7:06 pm #1099526
    screwdriverdelight
    Participant

    http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=46539&st=&pgnum=533&hilite=

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