Shemoneh Esrei 61 - Sim Shalom: A Powerful Plea

שים שלום טובה וברכה [חיים] חן וחסד...  -  Establish peace, goodness, blessing, [life], graciousness, kindness…

We ended last week with the following quote from Rabbi Goldfinger:

“In Sim Shalom, we proclaim that our primary goal in tefilah is not to receive, but to use the expression of our bakashos to draw Hashem closer to us as we move closer to Him.”

We now focus more on the specific wording of Sim Shalom:

The word “ שים –sim,” which means “to place,” seems to appear often with the word “shalom.” One of the more famous instances of this is in Birkas Kohanim, where the Torah says “v’yaseim l’cha shalom.” Why not simply ask to give us or bless us with peace? The Gemara (P’sachim 27b) discusses the use of the word “ ושמו –v’samo” in the pasuk “ ושמו אצל המזבח –v’samo eitzel ha’mizbei’ach,” indicating that it means to place it (the ashes from the previous day’s burning of the korbanos) “b’nachas, kulo, she’lo y’fazeir” (gently, in its entirety, so that it does not scatter). There are many degrees of “peace” and different ways that peace can manifest itself. Peace between two nations or even two individuals can come to alleviate suffering of conflict. We ask that it come b’nachas, from a serene, calm place without suffering or conflict. Peace can be a state of partial reconciliation, a form of truce where the fighting stops but the parties are still distanced from each other. We ask for peace that is whole (kulo) and that is not scattered (she’lo y’fazeir). We ask for a peace that unites the parties totally. We ask for complete harmony with Hashem, our fellow man, and ourselves, in our quest for sh’leimus to be closer to Hashem. This is the meaning of “sim.” [based on the Chasam Sofer, quoted by the sefer Nafshi Cholas Ahavasecha]

There are items we desire and we therefore label them as “good,” though in truth they are really not good for us. For example, one may say, “This is really good ice cream,” but ice cream is really not “good” for our weight and health, so it is not inherently good. When we ask for “ טובה –tovah,” we are asking for true good that we need in order to achieve the sh’leimus we seek; we ask for the “good” that will bring us closer to Hashem. This “good” will be unique to each individual. We ask for an abundance of that tovah – “brachah.”

חיים – “chayim” refers to eternal life. We seek sh’leimus through an abundance of tovah that will bring us eternal life [as suggested by the Sh’lah], an existence when we will be closer to Hashem. Next, we ask for  חן – “chein” – favor in the “eyes” of Hashem – as the pasuk says: “V’Noach matza chein b’einei Hashem” – and chein in the eyes of our fellow man (“viy’chuneka” in Birkas Kohanim means finding chein in the eyes of Hashem according to the Ramban, and it means in the eyes of man according to the S’forno).