[Avodah] Sholom Aleichem [was: Tinok Shenishba]

[Arie Folger]

RTK wrote:
> When we say, "Borchuni lesholom, malachei hasholom" we are NOT davening to
>   the angels!
<SNIP>
> When the man comes home from shul and his house looks nice and his wife and
>   kids look nice and the table is set and the food smells good, he sings
> Sholom Aleichem and says to the malachim, "Borchuni lesholom" -- "do your
> part, fulfill the promise of a bracha that my home will always be this
>  way."
<SNIP>
> I would also like to say that those individuals who mentioned that they
>  sing Sholom Aleichem but don't sing the third stanza are implicitly
> criticizing the behavior of thousands of rabbanom and roshei yeshiva who
> are gedolim meihem.

So you say. There are halakhic authorities that disagree. AFAIR, in Chaim 
Berlin, yevorkhuni leshalom was substituted for the usual text, because 
apparently Maharal had a problem with it. Now I never saw that Maharal and 
don't even know whether the song is old enough for this account to be true, 
but the minhag of saying yevorkhuni does exist.

BTW, others, such as some Sefardim and Bobover 'Hassiedim, skip the last 
stanza or change tzeitkhem to betzeitkhem, so as not to chase the angels out.

Kind regards,

-- 
Arie Folger
http://www.ariefolger.googlepages.com