This morning, before leaving home to do my radio show, I got a call from my father in Jerusalem (where he's lived for the last 16 years). In Israel, it was shortly before the begining of the Sabbath at sundown, and he wanted to tell me a brief story appropriate to the idea of "Sabbath Peace" (Shabbat Shalom).

   It turns out that during the current war, more than 400,000 Israelis from the north of the country have been forced to flee from the daily barrage of Hizbollah rocket attacks. They have scattered across the rest of that small nation, out of range of the death-dealing terrorists, welcomed to temporary accomodations by volunteers among their fellow citizens. Jerusalem has absorbed more than 40,000 of these refugees, and my father and his wife, Yael, are currently hosting five children.

  This hospitality in the City of David, however, created a problem for some of the young guests. According to long-standing tradition, at sunset on Friday night, as the dusk settles and the city enters its indescrible Sabbath peace, the air raid sirens sound everywhere -- letting even the non-religious know that Shabbat is on hand. Unfortunately, some of the kids staying in Jerusalem after rocket attacks in the north had developed horrible associations with sirens: to these children, the sirens meant that Katyusha rockets were on the way. Last Friday, many of the young people wad sought refuge on the capital, began crying upon hearing hte Sabbath sirens-- exactly the opposite of the desired impact.

  So this Friday, instead of sirens, the city authorities welcomed the Sabbath by playing a few bars of "Shalom Aleichem" (Peace be with You), the traditional song which Jews sing around the Sabbath table to welcome the joy and renewal of the day. It's that traditional melody, by the way, that I use to conclude my radio show every Friday, coming back from the break for the last segment of the week. The words convey a mystical but direct message--

    "Peace Be With you, ministering angels/Angels from on High, from the King of Kings/ The Holy One, Blessed be He."

    As Israel accepts the new UN ceasefire in Lebanon, may peace be with all the citizens of Israel, and all the people of good will in Lebanon (who deserve better than the Hizbollah killers holding them hostage), and the leaders of the United States who continue to work tirelessly to bring a peace that lasts, sustains, and nourishes, while defending us here at home from the designs of evil-doers.

. Shabbat Shalom.