[Avodah] sim shalom to shalom rav

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Nov 05, 2025 at 06:08:01AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> I have been comparing sim shalom to shalom rav and was wondering about the
significance of the ordering of the words (shalom, tova...) and why the
> phrase aleinu val kol yisrael is found in sim but not in rav? Who is that
> referring to? Thoughts?

I cannot tell you what Chazal meant, but I can share what I think about
when saying it (the times I am thinking).

R Dovid Lifshitz zt"l taught us that "Shalom Rav" is a specific kind of
peace.

"Shalom rav le'ohavei Sorasekha ve'ein lamo mikhshol." Shalom rav is the
peace obtainable by someone who is refined, and has no mikhsholim. Inner
peace and sheleimus being extended to become being at peace - shalom.

And so for a while I prefered saying Shalom Rav, for which I had a kavanah,
and kind of frustrated in the morning.

Then I realized something:
    Sim (1) Shalom (2) Tovah (3) uVrakhah (4) Chain (5) veChessed
    (6) veRachamim

We ask for 6 things. But our "ki" for asking them involves Hashem having
already given us 7:
    ... nasata lanu (1) Toras Chaim (2) veAhavas Chessed (3) uTzdaqah
    (4) uVrakhah (5) veRachamim (4) veChaim veShalom.
In addition, the first two of the 7 are clearly about sheleimus, not
external shalom.

Leaving me to believe Sim Shalom is asking Hashem to give us external
peace, and thus 6 items like the directions in space. Why? Because You
already gave us the path to inner sheleimus. Which goes beyond the 6
of the externals, or the days of the week. The 7th, the Maharal writes
in Gevuras Hashem is the unreachable internal, the middle point between
the object's six sides.

So that Sim Shalom and Shalom Rav are both asking for the opportunity
to become shaleim and from there to achieve shalom.

(Like the way being fractured internally cost us two uprisings against
Rome. Or, if I were dare to get more political, 7.10... What is true
for Jewish society is true for the individual.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 What you get by achieving your goals
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   is not as important as
Author: Widen Your Tent      what you become by achieving your goals.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF            - Henry David Thoreau