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I've heard that there is a connection between "שלום" - "peace" and "שלם" - "complete".

Does anyone know what the source of that is? Thank you so much.

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2 Answers 2

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They share the same Hebrew root (shoresh) - Shin Lamed Mem. So there's a connection between them etymologically. Same shoresh is found in the word לשלם, meaning "to pay" i.e. to "make someone whole".

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One source could be culled from the Gemoro in Kiddushin 66b:

בעל מום דעבודתו פסולה מנלן אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל דאמר קרא (במדבר כה, יב) לכן אמור הנני נותן לו את בריתי שלום כשהוא שלם ולא כשהוא חסר והא שלום כתיב אמר רב נחמן וי"ו דשלום קטיעה היא

The Gemara continues its analysis of the baraita. From where do we derive that the service of a blemished priest is retroactively invalid? Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: As the verse states with regard to Pinchas: “Wherefore say: Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace [shalom]” (Numbers 25:12), which means that he receives the covenant when he is whole [shalem], but not when he is blemished and lacking a limb. The Gemara comments: But shalom is written, rather than shalem. Rav Naḥman says: The letter vav in the word shalom is severed. According to tradition, this letter is written with a break in it, and therefore the word can be read as though the vav were missing.

(Translation and added notation from Sefaria)

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