My Nana didn’t say “Shalom” when I said goodbye to her this evening, she simply turned to me and with her ocker Melbournian accent said ‘Kol-aka-vod’. Although she said it with a similar intonation as “G’day mate” with a similar tone to that of Julie Andrews the day after her throat operation (because of her pack-a-day for 50 years), I could tell it meant a lot more than the literal meaning of those words - “Well done”, or literally “all of the honour”.
I could sense she was saying something along the lines of ‘my parents paved the roads of Israel in the 20’s, and my husband kept them safe in the 40’s, my daughter lived there in her 20’s and my son moved there with you in his 30’s and now you are going to enjoy the gift they built for you. They followed their dreams now you have to too!’
Even though her pearls of wisdom usually need to be censored for coarse language or mild vulgarities I really got that vibe from her. Her “Shalom” was more of a "I wish I wasn’t saying 'goodbye', but go in 'peace' and prosper!"
