Once upon a time, in the Land of Milk and Honey, there lived
two neighbors named Yaffa and Fatima. Although they came from different
religious backgrounds, in many ways their lives were similar. They both prayed,
although Yaffa prays in the synagogue and Fatima prays in the mosque. They both
harvested dates and sold them at the same market.
Even the words they used to greet each other sounded
similar. Yaffa says shalom and Fatima says salaam. The words mean
the same thing in both Hebrew and Arabic: peace.
You may be familiar with the Jewish folktale of the two
brothers and the Temple Mount. As the story goes, two brothers lived on
opposite sides of their family’s land. They were good friends and worked the
land together. One night, each had the same idea to help his brother by secretly
supplementing his grain supply. Three nights later the brothers collided in the
fields, each delivering bundles of grain to the other. They laughed and embraced
when they realize what they’d done. When King Solomon heard about the brothers’
generosity to one another he was inspired to build a temple on the spot where
the two brothers met.
Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam is a modern
retelling of the old tale. The two neighbors’ love for one another transcends
the cultural differences between them. They both have a deep desire to share
the fruits of their labor with each other. The moral of the story—human
kindness is universal – is an important one, especially in today’s world.
Yaffa and Fatima, while not siblings as in the original
story, are children of the same land, tending the earth side by side, eating
from the same trees, and feeling the same sun and the same rain.
Shalom and salaam come from the same (linguistic) roots.