Page 27 - Shalom: The Peace That Comes From Being Whole

CHAPTER 6

םלש SHELEM:
TO PAY, TO RESTORE,
TO MAKE WHOLE AGAIN

Without the benefit of diacritical markings
(dots, etc.) used below letters in the Hebrew
Bible, it is challenging here to tell apart the
word we will now discuss םלש shelem (pay),
and the root word from which it comes
םלש shalem (whole). They look exactly alike
in Hebrew. There is a slight difference in
pronunciation. The fact that they look exactly
alike emphasizes the idea that one can restore
another to wholeness by payment of monies
or goods.
Our word means, according to Mr.
Horowitz, “to pay for something, carries the
meaning to restore or make whole again.”
It clearly carries the idea that if you pick up
an apple at a farmers’ market, you must pay
the farmer so that he will be whole again. If
someone accidentally kills the farmer’s cow,

25