By Marco Del Monte
The parashah of Naso contains one of the most elevated texts in the Torah: the Birkat Kohanim - Priestly Blessing. After blessing the people with protection, light, and grace, the berachah concludes with the words: “Veyasem Lechà Shalom”, “and grant you peace.”
Even the Amidah, the most solemn prayer, closes with the Berachah of Sim Shalom, Grant peace, and furthermore this final blessing in turn concludes with the words:“He who blesses His people Israel with Peace.” Why do all these blessings end with Shalom? The answer is in the Mishnah (Uktzin 3:12): “HaKadosh Baruch Hu found no vessel to contain the berachah other than Shalom,” and so too the psalm cited in the final part states: “The Lord will bless His people with peace” (Psalms 29:11). Shalom shares its root with “Shalem” complete, and with Shilem to pay. Complete, because true peace is the integration of diversity, Payment, because peace has a price: giving up a part of the ego to make room for the other.
And even more: the Talmud (Shabbat 10b) teaches that Shalom is one of the Names of Hashem, which cannot be pronounced in an impure place: where there is no holiness and union with Hashem, there is truly no Shalom.
Right in this Parashah we find the law of the Sotah, the woman suspected of infidelity.
To verify the truth and restore Shalom Bayit, the Name of G-d is written on a parchment and dissolved in water. Rashi explains: “The Name that may never be erased is here erased – to make peace between a man and a woman.” Hashem teaches us: family peace is worth even more than His Name.
And so… how much more ought we to sacrifice ourselves for peace? The Midrash (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:4) tells a very touching story about Shalom:
A couple married for ten years without children went to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Halachah permitted them to separate, but Rabbi Shimon said: “Just as you were joined in joy, so part with a banquet.” During the banquet, the husband, overcome by the despair of the situation, got drunk, but before doing so told his wife that she could take all the most precious objects in the house with her. The wife agreed to take the most precious thing she would find with her. And so she had her husband, fast asleep, carried to her father's house. Upon waking, he asked: “Why am I here?”. And she:“You are the most precious good to me.” They returned to Rabbi Shimon who, deeply moved, blessed them, and they finally merited a child.
The Berachah arrived only when true Shalom was revealed. But now let us draw closer to the text like a microscope revealing new worlds within matter: All this is a Mashal, a Parabola. The wife is us, Am Yisrael, The groom is HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Sometimes we distance ourselves from Him. The bond weakens. But when we return, and say to Him with sincerity:“You are the most precious thing I have”,
Shalom is rebuilt, and only then can the Berachah arrive. Because every Berachah – children, parnassah, Torah, Geulah – needs a vessel. And that vessel is only one: Shalom.
It is no coincidence that it is said the berachah for the whole week comes from Shabbat, the day on which the world stops to re-establish peace between Heaven and Earth, between soul and body, between man and his Creator, between the Jew and himself. The day on which the Song of Songs is sung, the day on which Boi Kallah is said, the unique day on which Shabbat Shalom is wished, and this is the wish for all of us, Shalom!
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.