Today, in the middle of the checkout line at Marshall’s, of all places, my daughter asked me how to say “I love you” in Hebrew.

She’s currently in kindergarten at a Hebrew day school (where I also teach), and spends a good chunk of her day in immersive Hebrew language class, so, this actually isn’t an unusual experience for us. I myself don’t know Hebrew very well at all, outside of what prayers I’ve memorized and a few words and phrases. So, I told her honestly that I don’t know how to say “I love you” in Hebrew. What a good question.

Then she asked me, “Is it Shalom Aleichem?”

Blanking on the accurate translation at the time, I simply told her no, that wasn’t it, because I know that Shalom means peace. “Shalom Aleichem” is a song we usually sing on Shabbat. She got distracted by something else after that, and it was only when we started to sing “Shalom Aleichem” tonight in services and I looked at the translation in our prayer book that I remembered our little exchange in the store.

Shalom Aleichem translates to, “peace be with you.” In Arabic, the phrase is very similar, Salaam Alaikum, translating to the same message.

Does it mean, “I love you?” Gosh, what a mic drop.

What would the world be like, do you think, if when we said Shalom Aleichem, or Salaam Alaikum, when we wished each other peace, it was indeed a message of love, a way to say that we care and we hope for only simchas, only blessings for each other? What if those words were a beacon signaling open hearts and minds, lighting a path forward from such prolonged darkness?

What if when we wished each other peace, we all truly meant it, and what if we lived it?