Go in peace – Mikketz
The final words of the sidra are, “Go in peace to your father” (Gen. 44:17).
The phrase, “Go in peace” has become a widely used farewell wish. When people part from each other they pray and hope that God will protect both of them on their way home – an understandable sentiment when we bear in mind how difficult and uncertain travel was in those days and somehow still is despite all the improvements in modes of transport.
No wonder the characteristic Jewish greeting both on arrival and departure is Shalom!
There are three criteria of shalom found a little earlier in the Book of B’reshit when we read, “And Jacob came shalem to the city of Shechem” (Gen. 33:18). Rashi tells us in his commentary that you are shalem, complete, if you are complete in body and have no injuries; complete financially, with your possessions intact; and complete intellectually, with your mind and memory unaffected by where you have been and what you have seen.
Go in peace, safely and complete!
