The Talmud in tractate Shabbat 119B states:
Two ministering angels accompany a person on Shabbat evening from the synagogue to his home, one good angel and one evil angel. And when he reaches his home and finds a lamp burning and a table set and his bed made, the good angel says: May it be Your (Hashem) will that it shall be like this for another Shabbat. And the evil angel answers against his will: Amen. And if the person’s home is not prepared for Shabbat in that manner, the evil angel says: May it be Your will that it shall be so for another Shabbat, and the good angel answers against his will: Amen.
This is the basis for the Shabbat song called “Shalom Aleichem (Peace be with you).” It goes: (English translation)
שלום עליכם- Peace be with you, ministering angels, messengers of the Most High, Messengers of the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He.
בואכם לשלום- Come in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High, Messengers of the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He.
ברכוני לשלום- Bless me with peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High, Messengers of the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He.
צאתכם לשלום- Go in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High, Messengers of the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He.
We sing this song because if angels are visiting our home it is only proper that we greet them, bless them, and ask for their blessing. What’s odd is that shortly after they arrive we tell them to depart, as we say in the final stanza,” צאתכם לשלום-Go in peace”!
One answer given is that we are addressing different sets of angels. We are always accompanied by angels. The angels that accompany us during the week are replaced by angels of a higher order for Shabbat. Thus, in the first stanza of,”בואכם לשלום-Come in peace,” we are greeting the Shabbat angels. In the last stanza of,” צאתכם לשלום-Go in peace,” we are taking leave of the weekday angels.
Rabbi Shimshom Pincus (1944-2001), of blessed memory, offered an amazing answer based on a concept in this week’s parsha. On one hand this answer may be difficult to grasp but on the other hand is an unbelievably uplifting understanding of Shabbat.
When describing the Yom Kippur service and the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) entering the Kodesh KaKadoshim ( the Holy of Holies, the holiest area of the Tabernacle) the Torah states:
וְכׇל־אָדָם לֹא־יִהְיֶה בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד בְּבֹאוֹ לְכַפֵּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ עַד־צֵאתוֹ
Nobody else shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to atone in the Holy until he comes out. (16:17)
The Zohar (the foundational work of mystical thought known as Kabbalah) states that not only are people excluded from entering, even angels may not not enter then! At this point it is only the Almighty and the Kohen Gadol becoming one.
Rabbi Pincus offered that on Shabbat our home becomes like the Holy of Holies! It’s a time and place when it’s just us and the Almighty becoming one just as the Kohen Gadol did on Yom Kippur. Therefore there is no place even for angels. So as soon as they arrive, they fulfill their mission and leave.
What an amazing way to approach the holy Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak