Peace as Paid-in-Full
The one Hebrew word that everyone knows is shalom (שָׁלוֹם). It’s nearly always translated as peace or as a colloquial greeting between Jews.
The English word peace has its origin in the Latin pax – peace – coming from the genitive singular “paces”. The term “Pax Romana” denotes a period of calm and relative prosperity just as the “Pax Americana” came to mean so many centuries later. And so we associate peace with tranquility and an absence of war.
Shalom comes from the root shin, lamed, mem (שָׁלֵם) and means “whole”, “in agreement with”. This makes sense given our conceptions of peace. What’s interesting is that the root also forms the verb sheelam (שִׁלֵּם) which means to pay or repay.
Since the root means whole it’s sensible that a derivative word would mean to pay. In a transaction, there is an exchange of goods or services for some sort of payment or exchange. In this sense, when one makes a payment, the transaction is completed; the agreement is carried through, wholly. Both sides are content.
Since shalom contains both elements of wholeness and payment, it carries with it an element that is extraneous from the English peace. In Hebrew, the accounts must be settled. All must be rectified.
At the end of World War II, peace existed because the Germans and Japanese had no option to continue the war. They were devistated. In a sense they paid their due for the war but etymologically there isn’t the association of the pax with payment. (The Latin word for money pecunia comes from an earlier word associated with cattle).
In the Arab-Israeli conflict, the word shalom’s association takes on a more significant meaning. This isn’t a conflict where one side can pummel the other into submission; the warfare of the previous centuries is no longer viable. Whatever shalom settlement comes out of this conflict must be considered on both an “absence of war” state but also a sense of settled “payment”. If there is lack of violence without settled accounts, the violence will become cyclical, flare-ups will no doubt quickly eat away the calm.
It’s not possible to satisfy everyone – there will always be injured parties and opponents to shalom – but in order for there to be some sense of peace it is important to understand and engage the full etymological weight of shalom.