Hello everyone,

Today in the gym, all junior high school students gathered together for the first time in a long time. It is nice to see things the way they should be. Mr. Yamauchi touched upon the tragedy in Israel this week, and talked about the word “Shalom”. The word Shalom means peace, and as I was listening to his talk, a memory from deep within my mind bubbled up.

When I was a boy at church on Sundays, the children all left church after the first half to go to Sunday school. There we would do crafts, read books, and sing songs. One of the songs was called the “Big Bam” song. It is a super simple song, because the only words are “Bim”, “Bam”, (which don’t mean anything) and “Shabbat Shalom”. Shabbat means “the day of rest”, which is usually Sunday. Shalom means peace or happiness. So “Shabbat Shalom” means to have a peaceful day of rest.

I haven’t thought about that song in many many years, but thanks to Mr. Yamauchi’s talk, I immediately remembered the song and the tune. I was singing it under my breath all day. Sometimes having a song stuck in your head is annoying, but not today.

Here is a version I found on Youtube that is close to what I remember. Give it a listen, and peace be with you.