Noach - Dimensions of Divine Harmony (Yeshayahu 54:1-55:5)
וְכׇל־בָּנַיִךְ לִמּוּדֵי ה’ וְרַב שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיִךְ
And all your children shall be disciples of Hashem,
And great shall be the peace of your children.
(Yeshayahu 54:13)
The blessing of peace is woven throughout our tefillot — concluding the Shemoneh Esrei, punctuating Birkat Kohanim, and echoing in countless verses and prayers. We yearn for a world of ultimate peace — a time and space where harmony prevails, and all dwell together beneath a shared canopy of understanding and unity.
Our Haftorah, with its tone of consolation, supports this vision: וְרַב שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיִךְ — peace will be rav, abundant and far-reaching among your children. Yet in his Iyunei Haftorah, Rav Avraham Rivlin, longtime Mashgiach of Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, offers a subtle and profound insight. He reads rav not as “much,” but as “many.” Can peace, he asks, be many?
If peace can be many, it suggests multiplicity — that peace exists not as a single, static state but in many forms. Rav Rivlin explains that peace is multi-dimensional, composed of layers and levels of harmony: between nations, within communities, among friends, and inside the human heart. Each form of peace demands balance — a careful dance between differing needs, values, and goals.
True shalom emerges when we acknowledge and honor the presence of the many — when we forgo the narrowness of self and make space for the other. The rav — the multitude of perspectives and desires — becomes absorbed into the wholeness of shalom.
Today, as we continue to pray for shalom, this vision feels especially urgent. The call for וְרַב שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיִךְ is not only for vast peace but for many peaces — the restoration of calm to broken hearts, safety to our children, unity within our people, and quiet strength for those who defend our land. Each layer of shalom brings us closer to the wholeness we seek, where the many become one — where the harmony of heaven touches the struggles of earth, and peace, in all its forms, is finally complete.