Hallel

הלל

Visible layers

סדר הלל

Hallel

On the first two days of Pesaḥ (in Israel on the first evening and day); Shavuot; the entire festival of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simḥat Torah, Ḥanukka, Yom HaAtzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim, Full Hallel is said. On Rosh Ḥodesh and the last six days of Pesaḥ, Half Hallel is said. See laws 439–440.

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לִקְרֹא אֶת הַהַלֵּל.

Sephardi

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam
asher kideshanu bemitzvotav, vetzivanu likro et haHallel.

English

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has made us holy through His commandments and has commanded us to recite the Hallel.

Ps. 113

Hebrew

הַלְלוּיָהּ, הַלְלוּ עַבְדֵי יְהֹוָה, הַלְלוּ אֶת־שֵׁם יְהֹוָה׃ יְהִי שֵׁם יְהֹוָה
מְבֹרָךְ, מֵעַתָּה וְעַד־עוֹלָם׃ מִמִּזְרַח־שֶׁמֶשׁ עַד־מְבוֹאוֹ, מְהֻלָּל שֵׁם
יְהֹוָה׃ רָם עַל־כָּל־גּוֹיִם יְהֹוָה, עַל הַשָּׁמַיִם כְּבוֹדוֹ׃ מִי כַיהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ,
הַמַּגְבִּיהִי לָשָׁבֶת׃ הַמַּשְׁפִּילִי לִרְאוֹת, בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ׃ מְקִימִי
מֵעָפָר דָּל, מֵאַשְׁפֹּת יָרִים אֶבְיוֹן׃ לְהוֹשִׁיבִי עִם־נְדִיבִים, עִם נְדִיבֵי
עַמּוֹ׃ מוֹשִׁיבִי עֲקֶרֶת הַבַּיִת, אֵם־הַבָּנִים שְׂמֵחָה, הַלְלוּיָהּ׃

Sephardi

Halleluyah, halelu avdei Adonai, halelu et-sheim Adonai: yehi sheim Adonai
mevorach, me'atah ve'ad-olam: mimizrach-shemesh ad-mevo'o, mehulal sheim
Adonai: ram al-kol-goyim Adonai, al hashamayim kevodo: mi kaAdonai Eloheinu,
hamagbihi lashevet: hamashpili lir'ot, bashamayim uva'aretz: mekimi
me'afar dal, me'ashpot yarim evyon: lehoshivi im-nedivim, im nedivei
amo: moshivi akeret habayit, em-habanim semechah, Halleluyah:

English

Halleluya! Servants of the LORD, give praise; praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD now and for evermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting, may the LORD’s name be praised. High is the LORD above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, who sits enthroned so high, yet turns so low to see the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and the needy from the refuse heap, giving them a place alongside princes, the princes of His people. He makes the woman in a childless house a happy mother of children. Halleluya!

Commentary

… at every epoch and at every trouble – may it not come to them! – and when they are redeemed, they recite it in thanks for their delivery” (Pesaḥim 117a). That is why we say it on Yom HaAtzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim, the two most transformative events of modern Jewish history, in the faith that it is not human beings alone who shape the destiny of our people, but God working in and through His children.

Because of its association with history, Hallel is not said on Rosh HaShana or Yom Kippur, days dedicated less to national remembrance than to judgment, repentance and forgiveness.

מְקִימִי מֵעָפָר דָּל He raises the poor from the dust: A verse reminiscent of Hannah’s prayer after the birth of her child (1 Sam. 2:8). The religions of the ancient world were deeply conservative, designed to vindicate and perpetuate hierarchies of power. Judaism, believing that human dignity is the prerogative of everyone, was an ongoing protest against such inequalities. God’s greatness is evident in the fact that He can lift the poor and the needy to a place of honor alongside princes.

HALLEL Psalms 113–118 – known as the Egyptian Hallel because of the reference in the second paragraph to the exodus from Egypt – are among the earliest prayers written to be recited in the Temple on days of national celebration. They were sung as accompaniment to the Pesaḥ sacrifice, and early rabbinic sources suggest that they were said on the pilgrimage festivals: Pesaḥ, Shavuot and Sukkot.

By the Talmudic era, a shortened form (known as “Half Hallel”) was in use for Rosh Ḥodesh and the last six days of Pesaḥ. The Full Hallel was not said on Rosh Ḥodesh, because it is not a full festival, and on the last days of Pesaḥ because (a) the main event of the exodus took place on the first day, and (b) the miracle of the seventh day, the division of the Reed Sea, involved suffering for the Egyptians. According to the Talmud (Megilla 10b, Sanhedrin 39b), when the angels wished to sing the Song at the Sea, God refused, saying: “Shall you sing a song while My creatures are drowning in the sea?”

Hallel is a choral symphony of faith in the presence of God in history. The sages said that the prophets “enacted that the Israelites should recite it …