Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut | Rabbi Jeremy Perlow | April 14th 2026

Okay, first of all, I want to welcome everyone back. It's wonderful to be back in person. I think there's something very special about having this energy in the room. Everyone's here, everyone's present. I think it really brings the sheer and it brings the Torah that we learn together to life. And it's wonderful to have this opportunity. I also want to acknowledge the fact that today I want to talk about a topic which I think we're very fortunate to talk about. And that is the fact that we have the opportunity to potentially, we'll see at the end of the year, sing Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut. So as we know Yom Ha'atzmaut is a very special day for the Jewish people. It's a day that we haven't had for thousands of years and all of a sudden come 1948 history has changed. And Baruch Hashem, this is the beautiful shaila that we get to deal with today. And as we see as we're going to go through the sources, it's a very hot topic. There's a lot of lot to say, lot to discuss. And I think what's very clear though is that everyone agrees to it. It's there's an there's an obligation that we have to give gratitude to Hashem for what's happened. I think that's it's it's it's a given. I think it's something we have to take for granted and we have to appreciate the special gift that Hashem gave us. And acknowledge the fact that we're living through unprecedented times. We're living through history. We're living through niflaot. And we have to acknowledge that in whatever form that we feel is appropriate. So let's start. Excuse me, Yom Ha'atzmaut is my weekly birthday. Ah. I'm 80 years old and I have some children. And even though some of my children don't acknowledge the holiday, it still is Yom Ha'atzmaut. Okay. So we have to give her a happy birthday to Rosanne come next next Tuesday evening. You say it, my children don't call me. Everyone make sure to call Rosanne. Okay, let's begin. Taanit 28 Bais, the first source we have here. This is the Gemara here describes for us there's 18 days on the Jewish calendar that we go ahead and recite Hallel. 18 days. Amar Rabbi Yochanan Mishum Rabbi Shimon ben Yotzadak, Shmona Asar Yom. There are 18 days Bashana Yaki Gomer Ben that an individual that was going to become important later in an individual completes the Halel the and then we're given the four lists. We have eight days off what Sukkot very good. We have eight days of Hanukkah throughout the 16 already so only two left. The Yom Tov Rishon shall Pesach the first day of Pesach The Yom Tov shall atzeres right which is what's atzeres? Shavuot very good. Okay so we have one day of Pesach but only one day of Pesach? The other days no Halel Very good the rest of the days of Pesach we don't finish the Halel. We have all the days of Sukkot interesting for Sukkot we have every single day we complete the Halel for Pesach only the first day then we have Shavuot okay and then we have also at the very end we have the eight days of Hanukkah the most blessed in the Jewish history. So the Gemara here asks in source number two doesn't make sense. My Shana the Hag when it comes to Sukkot then I'm reading in Kol Yom why is it then Sukkot we say the Halel every single day? When my Shana the Pesach don't read in Kol Yom but in Pesach we don't it's a double standard. Either we should have one day of Halel on both we should have seven days of Halel on both. Why are we distinguishing? The Hag the Gemara answers the Hag Halukin the Korbanot the Pesach in Halukin the Korbanot. When it comes to Sukkot Hag there's a different number of Korbanot brought each and every day of Sukkot and therefore each and every day had a special degree of sanctity a special a special number of Korbanot and therefore it's deserving of a special Halel on that day. Whereas Pesach is one big holiday you have the one set of Korbanot brought at the beginning it's the same throughout the Hag. Okay. So follow up question then the Gemara asks what about Shabbos? Shabbos the Haluka hotel. When it comes to Shabbos, every single Shabbos. Right, we don't bring the number the regular carbon tamid, just the carbon tamid. We bring additional offering as well. So why don't we say hallel then? Every Shabbos, imagine every single Shabbos we sing hallel. Beautiful, no? No. Lo yikrei moed. Shabbos is not called a moed. We don't we do not use the term moed when it comes to Shabbos. Rosh chodesh yikrei moed. What about Rosh Chodesh then? Rosh Chodesh is called a moed. Lema, why don't we say hallel then? No. Lo ikdish ba'asiya malacha. There's no prohibition of malacha on Rosh Chodesh. So if you're keeping track, how many requirements do we have so far to recite the hallel? Let's go through. Ah, we're going to discuss that in a second. Excellent. Right, so keeping track so far, how many conditions do we have to recite the hallel so far? It has to be called a moed. It has to be ikdish ba'asiya malacha. We're not allowed to perform malacha on that day. Okay? Yishtaven in the side of pasuk jump down. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Those meet the two conditions, right? It's called a moed. And what else? We're not allowed to do malacha. So Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, why don't we say the hallel then? The Gemara answers, jump down to where it says the Amar Rabbi Avahu. Okay, first words on the line the Amar Rabbi Avahu. Amru malachei hashareis lifnei Hakadosh Baruchu, the angels said before Hashem, Ribono shel Olam, master of the world, bifnei ma ein Yisrael omrim shira lifnecha b'Rosh Hashanah uv'Yom Kippurim? Why do the Jewish people not sing shira? They should be singing. They should be enjoying the day. Ah, very good. So the Gemara says, the Gemara says, Amar Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, efsher malchei hashareis amrim shira lifnei Hakadosh Baruchu b'Rosh Hashanah uv'Yom Kippurim, v'Sefer chayim v'Sefer meis p'suchim lifanav, v'Yisrael omrim shira lifanav? Is it possible the king is going to be sitting on his throne of judgment, and the books of life and the books of death are open in front of him, and the Jewish people are going to be singing Shira? It's the time of the day of judgement. It's not appropriate. So Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are not allowed. So that's our third our third criteria. Ah, what about Hanukkah then? As we asked before, right? I Hanukkah so I have a little hockey game at home now. You don't have either of these issues. The answer is Mishum Nissa. There's a special power of Hanukkah because of the miracle that happened then. And therefore, we see even though Hanukkah is not called a Moed. We don't find it called a Moed in the Torah. And there's no prohibition of Halacha. When it comes to Hanukkah, we can and we should we're obligated to recite the full Halel. Hold on to that. Purim, what about Purim? What? We have the Golem. Ah, so we get to Purim we get to Purim. We see there's actually three answers to this question. Purim the Golem asks the Ecanissa was also a miracle on Purim. And yet we don't recite the Halel on Purim. Why is that? The Golem gives three answers. The first answer of Yitzhak said if he she ain't on Rim Shira on Nissa but it's all right. We do not sing Halel when it comes to miracle that happened outside the land of Israel. Ah, good good that's the Golem's next question. So Machi Flor of Nachman Yitzhak Yitzhak Mitzrayim when we left Egypt that happened in Eretz didn't it? And yet we sing Shira on Pesach as we just mentioned. It's the the Nissa Eretz too. We are meaning in Halel. So the answer is Kitanian. As we taught in the Braita at Shalom Israel Eretz who sure called Eretz so the Mashira. Before the Jewish people entered Eretz Israel for the first time as a nation all the way into fitting to say Halel. However, Misha Nissa to the Eretz once we entered Eretz Israel from that time onwards below who sure called Eretz so the Mashira. It has to be that the miracle happens specifically in Eretz Israel. If it happens outside from the time that the Jewish people entered Eretz Yisrael, you cannot sing shira. So fine, so we have one answer why we sing hallel why we do not sing hallel on Purim. But we're going to see two more answers now. Rav Nachman, last paragraph, second to last paragraph, Rav Nachman amar kri'ata zuhi hallelah. When you read the Megillah, that qualifies as a hallel. So we do. The question's not a question. We do recite hallel on Purim, it's just in a different form. It's through the Megillah. Rava amar bishta mahatam hallelu et Hashem v'lo et Paroh. He said, I understand when it comes to when it comes to Pesach, we thank Hashem that we're no longer we're we're Hashem's servants and we're no longer servants of Paroh. However, hacha, when it comes to Purim, that's not correct. Why? Hallelu et Hashem, what do you mean? V'lo et Achashverosh? We were still Achashverosh's servants even after we had the miracle of Purim. And therefore the redemption was not yet complete. Akati avdei Achashverosh anan. And when we read the Haggadah, we mentioned the Haggadah by mistake, but we did mention the Haggadah just now. When we read the Haggadah, we acknowledge the fact that if not for the fact that Hashem took us out, we would still be servants to Paroh in Egypt. When it comes, however, to Purim, even after the miracle, even after the miracle took place, it wasn't a full redemption. So therefore we were not allowed to sing hallel at that time. Okay, so let's go ahead. So what we saw so just to summarize so far, we saw so far two tracks in the recitation of hallel. Two tracks. Track number one, we mentioned three, sorry, four conditions regarding track number one. Number one, it has to be called a holiday. It has to be that we're not allowed to perform melacha on I have It has to be the miracle took place, that that that it was not a day of judgment. And finally, it has to be that the miracle took place inside the land of Israel. Those are the four conditions in track number one. So, according to track number one, can you say hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut? No. Right, we're not we're allowed to do more on Yom Ha'atzmaut. It's not called a moed in the Torah. Right? Um it did happen in Eretz Yisrael. It happened in Eretz Yisrael. And it's not a day of judgment. But, the other two conditions were not meeting. So, track number one, can you sing hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut? No. But, track number two, is what we're discussing. Track number two is we saw from Hanukkah. Hanukkah doesn't meet these conditions, but there's a special miracle that happened in Eretz Yisrael, and for that reason we were allowed to sing hallel. And not only that, we were required to sing hallel. So, track According to track number two, are we allowed to sing hallel? Should we sing hallel? Well, sounds like it. If how if in fact it was a neis. Let's Let's discuss what we're talking. But, if in fact there was a neis that happened on Yom Ha'atzmaut, then we would be obligated obligated according to this Gemara to sing hallel. So, that's where we're holding so far. Now, if you look at the next source, source number three, the Gemara in Pesachim describes a little bit about the background of hallel. Nevi'im she ben Adam tiknu hallel Yisrael. It's specifically the Nevi'im that instituted that we should always say hallel. She'u omrim oto al kol perek u'perek. We should say it each and every break in our lives. Al kol tzarah vetzarah. In every single situation of distress, shelo tavo aleihem. Pause for a second, turn the page. We didn't finish the source yet. Turn the page over to Rashi, who defines for us what that means. Source number four, al kol tzarah vetzarah shelo tavo aleihem, vishnam al Yehuda ve'Yisrael. The Gemara here is speaking we call lashon saginahor. It doesn't want to speak negatively about the Jewish people, that things should bad things should happen. So, it says, "The nakkesh kol mash im chas veshalom tavo tzarah aleihem." If God forbid something a tragedy strikes the Jewish people or you see and receive from it we sing Shira because of that here's the keyword Guula. If there's a situation of Guula then we go ahead and recite the Hal. Kigon Hanukkah. An example he brings is Hanukkah. Hanukkah is an example of a Guula. If you look back at the end of the source here says or rimotan oto algulatan. We sing Hal whenever we're in such a situation of Guula. So now we have the burning question, how do you define Guula? What qualifies something as a situation of Guula of redemption? So many of us might be inclined to say it's when we're in danger and received and you see Rashi's wording actually it sounds a little bit like that cuz Rashi said that a tragedy shouldn't strike or you see and then receive from it. So according to this if that's the definition of Guula then it's very clear that's our obligation. If you look however what we have to do and I always try and do it's one thing to give our own definition but better yet is that we can use the Torah's definitions for Guula. Where in the Torah do we find the term Guula being used? Okay so these are good examples, good. Okay I can think of many actually there's many examples much many more than two but those are good. Okay so another example I'll throw at you we have by Shmita right the pasuk says Guula titanu right which means what has to happen in the Shmita year? It goes back right we don't use the land we have to let the land by to rest where we're not using it right it goes back to its pristine state before we were using it. And similarly, you have by the concept of the when our ancestral lands are restored to us, similarly, the word goel is also used there. So, the term geulah implies specifically land going back to its ancestral heritage. Another example, eved ivri. Right? Eved ivri, the Torah says geulah tiyelo. When he goes back after serving his master for all those years, right? Comes the yovel year, right? The pasuk says geulah tiyelo, it will be a year of geulah. So, when he goes back also. So, we see that the term There's more examples, too. I'm not going to go through too many right now. I'll give you one last one, actually. There's the the Gemara uh states "B'Nissan nigalu, b'Nissan atidin ligael." That in Nissan, the Jewish people were once redeemed, and in Nissan, which we are in right now, will once again be redeemed. So, Nissan is the month of redemption. What's redemption? So, we have to figure out. So, putting all these together, I think we can start to develop a definition that geulah implies a restoration of independence or a restoration or in in the case of land, of the ancestral land, going back to its source. So, you think about that. What does that mean for us as Jews on Yom Ha'atzmaut? We're going back to our source. We're going back to our home. That's the definition of geulah. So, accordingly, everything we've seen so far is pointing us in the direction that there was if we assume that there was a miracle that happened on Yom Ha'atzmaut, and we assume that this is a geulah, that we're going back to our ancestral home, and we're giving you the proper definition of geulah, so far everything we've seen has been pointing us in the direction that we should in fact recite the hallel. Now, there's a burning question which we have to address. We've talked about again the requirement of a nes. That was the term that we used with the Gemara, we used the term of a nes. That is what we saw by Chanukah. There has to be the a nes. So, who does the miracle have to happen to? Now, if I have a personal miracle that happens to me, all the Jewish people going to sing Hallel? No. What about if some of the Jewish people have a miracle that happens to them? Does that mean warrants the the entire Jewish people sing Hallel? Ah, so we have to think about it. Well, I'll tell you what, let's look at the sources here. You look at the source number five. This is the from the Meiri. The Meiri says here on the Gemara we just read, he says "Kol Yisrael We know even an individual She'era tza'u tzara v'nigal, who goes through a situation of tragedy and is redeemed, he mana rasha'i v'kol ha'olam as well. The Meiri writes interesting word. He says you're permitted to establish your own independent Hallel. B'oto Yom b'chol shana, every single year on that day. Ela, the Meiri says "She'eino m'varech The Meiri says, however, if it's a personal it's personal salvation that you experienced, you are not allowed to say a bracha on that Hallel. Ela, v'chein atin b'chol tzibur v'tzibur. And he says the same applies to even groups of people. If it's a group of people, but it's not the entire Jewish nation, says the Meiri, are you allowed to say a bracha on that Hallel? No. So, accordingly, it has to be according to Meiri, a miracle that happens to the entire Jewish nation. So, what what does it mean the entire Jewish nation? If there was a Jew living in China, if there's a Jew living in South Africa, who aren't in Israel right now with us, are they really benefiting from this miracle? Are they really a part of this miracle? So, you could say yes, right? There's what to discuss, right? I think it definitely affects all of us, that's for sure. It affects the entire arm, that's 100% sure. Uh so, that's one question. But, let's assume let's assume you want to say the answer is no, let's just say it. Let's just say it. For argument's sake. Is there any reason then that we would not be allowed to say Hallel with a bracha, let's see. So says the Magen Avraham, he disagrees strongly with this this Meiri. Why? Cuz he said that if an individual the Meiri wrote that if an individual experiences a salvation, you're not allowed to sing Hallel with a bracha. Says the Magen Avraham, not correct. You holy you're with talking about skama over here. You can even excommunicate someone. You can go so strongly against someone but by last so Purim be Yom she nasa bo nes. If an individual experiences a miracle and they're not going to sing they're not going to sing to Hashem, they're not going to do anything about that special day, they're going to go out with their wives as if nothing happens, he says you could put that person in cherem. He goes so far to say excommunicate such an individual. We have to sing shira. We have to take action. He says not only this, he says we're required to do this. And if you look in the Shulchan Aruch also, they do not record the Meiri's position. They record the position of the Magen Avraham that even an individual who experiences a salvation is required to sing Hallel on that day. Not reshus. You're it's not that it's permitted. You're required to sing Hallel on a day which you personally experienced a miracle. It doesn't say anything about the bracha. So not in the not in the Magen Avraham, correct. He doesn't say about the bracha. Good good point. Correct, we'll have to come back to that. Yeah? So he says so he says even individuals involved in this miracle, he says, right? You holy ear, the people of the city can go ahead and excommunicate this this person, right? He says The the context is either a group, remember, either a group of people or an individual as long as it's not all of Klal Yisrael. That's what he's saying. Right, so his wording is or you can read again where he says "You're holding beneath ear." I think that's where the confusion may come. He says "You're holding beneath ear." The people of the town can go ahead and come over here and that they can go ahead and institute a ban, here and away him. Now I'll buy my career him. I think that's also where you're confused. Away him is in the plural. But he's referring here in the context only give you one line. He's referring to a group of people. Right, he's referring to a group of people and those who come after them are so pouring the whole of seven days. So So again, as we mentioned, either an individual or a group of people, they can be treated like an individual for this purpose, do not recite the full Hallel with the bracha we were saying before. In the West, the In the West, the it happens to all of the Jewish people. And that was the wording that we saw. Okay, let's see now in the Tosafot here in source seven. This very interesting Tosafot here. Uh I I sort of jumped the gun just now with my last comment that I made. If you're listening very carefully, I jumped the gun. It's based on this Tosafot here in Sukkah. Okay, Tosafot here is discussing. He says he has the following question. V'ein tomar. You might ask the following. How do not you have Yom she Yachi go over by the hall? If you recall the very first source that we learned today, we said that there are 18 days that an individual, Yachi, finishes, completes the Hallel. So he asks, "Am I not cut Yachi the mashma about going with a few in the whole of the year?" He says, "Why is it that we use the term Yachi here?" It seems to imply that it's Zibur really could sing Hallel every single day. They wanted. What What's going on here? Why are we focusing on an individual? asks Tosafot. Yesh Omar. There's no issue here. I saved you a whole bunch of reading, okay? Yesh Omar. The a few Zibur she ain't sham kol Yisrael. Yachi kari l'hu. That even if Zibur, if you don't have the entire Jewish nation there, they're considered an individual. And he goes ahead and he brings proofs for this. And he One of the proofs he brought was the Rashi that we mentioned. But Nachman next bull parts Nachman Yachid to he lay call Israel ain't going remote to Ella the Elohim Yamin. So if you're talking about an individual experienced a salvation, he can only sing the full the full Hallel on these specific 18 days. A value Gullah call Israel but the entire Jewish people experience redemption on remote tile or tile lay one. Then you can sing Hallel forever. So So it's very interesting topic here. So with Aaron Soloveitchik said, you see from here again that you need all of call Israel to be involved in the miracle. And And you see that if an individual experiences a miracle, it's not going to be enough to warrant the the recitation of the full Hallel. Okay. Jumping ahead, you'll notice here the Gamara we're going to go now from a little bit of a different angle. The Gamara in Megillah is almost the exact same Gamara, except it adds in one important line, which we do not have in the in source number two from the Gamara in Arachin. Almost very similar Gamara. I left out most of the parts that we don't need, okay? But I I just left the part that's new, that's relevant here. The Gamara in Megillah ends up Yud Daled Amud Aleph tells us as follows. Tanna Rabbanan, our Rabbis taught us Rabbi Imma Shmuel and Imma Shmuel and Yael need to know Imma Israel. There are 48 male prophets and seven female prophets who prophesied for the Jewish people. Below Picho below who to you on Machshaka to be a Torah. They did not add, they did not subtract from that which was written in the Torah, chutz mi mikra Megillah. The only thing that they added is huge discussion of this means, not our topic for today. The only thing that they added was the reading of the Megillah. So how did they know that they were allowed to add the recitation, the reading, of the Megillah on Purim? My Darush I'm Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba, I'm Rabbi Yoshua ben Korcha. He said as follows. Uma they made a call before him. Uma me avdut le cheirut and me shira. If when it comes to a situation where we went from slavery to freedom and we sing shira, what's that a reference to? Pesach, yetziat mitzrayim. We sing shira there. We went from slavery to free to freedom. Then, m'meitei l'chaim. If we go from death to life, lo kol sh'kein? All the more so we should sing shira. How could it be that we go from a situation where we just become free, we sing shira? We're not going to sing shira if we get you know our lives back? Of course we should sing shira. And that's why the gemara asked there the question, so why is it that on Purim we don't recite the hallel? And the gemara goes ahead and it gives those three answers that we mentioned before. But you see something very important from this kal v'chomer. That if someone's life is saved, if an individual's life, sorry, if the tzibbur's life, according to Tosafot, right? If a tzibbur, the entire klal Yisrael's lives are saved, then certainly we have to sing shira. It's an obligation. That's the starting point. You said to sing shira, and shira doesn't necessarily mean hallel. You can also do benching or whatever. Ah, okay, so we'll have to talk about that later, other approaches. In this gemara though, we're talking specifically about hallel. Because the word in the context of the gemara is talking about all the days we recite hallel. But you're right, there are other forms of things that we're going to have to discuss as well. Which is the appropriate form of praising Hashem. Okay. So again, so source number nine, we mentioned this before, one of the conditions for reciting hallel is we can't still be ser- servants to anyone else. So we said we can't be servants to Achashverosh. So Rashi there in source nine says, "Akati avdei Achashverosh anan, d'lo nigalu ela m'meitei." Interesting. So even though our lives were saved on Purim, even though our lives correct, even though our lives were saved on Purim, uh we were still servants of Achashverosh. However, when it comes to Yom Ha'atzmaut, there's more to say, right? We have a Jewish government. It's a beautiful thing. Now, there might be some who say, "Well, it's not a religious government. We're not running the the the uh Eretz Yisrael bihalacha." So, okay, maybe that's a what to discuss, but at least it's a Jewish government, right? You have to agree to that. So, it we're not we're not talking about Ahasuerus here. Okay? So, uh in that regard, I think it was there's a we It seems again, it seems all the things are pointing in the direction so far that we should be saying Hallel. Uh again, it's a miracle probably happens to all of Klal Yisrael. Probably you could say the full Hallel even. Uh if you look though, now we're going to see though why perhaps we have to be very cautious about this. Go ahead, look at source number 10. You're going to see sources number 10 and 11 tell us how much we're really playing with fire here and how we have to be very careful whether we recite Hallel or not. The stakes are very high. Why? Look at the Gemara in Shabbat daf kuf yud chet amud bet. Am Rabbi Yosi. He Yosi Rabbi Yosi used to say, "Yehi chelki im gomrei Hallel bechol yom." May my portion be placed with those who recite the Hallel every single day. Wow. Rabbi Yosi thought it's a beautiful thing to say Hallel every day. Any, is that really true? V'ha amar Mar, "Hakorei Hallel bechol yom, anyone who reads Hallel every single day, harei zeh mechareif umegadef." He's considered almost like a blasphemer. He's doing something terrible to say Hallel every day. So, the Gemara answers, "Ki chaim anan beP'sukei d'Zimra." What are we referring to when Rabbi Yosi said, "I want to go ahead and have my portion with those who recite the Hallel every single day?" Not the Hallel that you and I call Hallel. We're talking about the Hallel of P'sukei d'Zimra. I want to say P'sukei d'Zimra every day. It's a beautiful thing to come to shul on time, to recite praises. You have a whole section of praises before we go ahead and we daven Shmoneh Esrei. It's a beautiful thing. I want to be there. I want to be with those who are saying P'sukei d'Zimra every day. But to say Hallel every day, the Gemara says it's considered um Gadif. It's almost like blasphemy. So actually the next source says explains a little bit what this means. He says Shivi Marishonim Tziknu Lamark Prakim Mashebach L'daya. Can I mean our original prophets they went ahead and they instituted we should sing Hallel at specific times to praise Hashem, to give thanks to Hashem. V'zeh Kor Atemid, but this person who's reciting Hallel every single day B'lo Itot, not the right time? O Zamer Shir U'Mitzvo Tzeis. It's like he's making a mockery of the institution of the sages. He's going ahead and he's taking something which is meant to be unique for a specific time, a specific venue, and he's going ahead and he's doing it everyday. He's almost like making a mockery of the sages takana. So again, so to recite Hallel every single day not appropriate. I'll tell you for this reason Rabbi Soloveitchik has a huge discussion. A lot of people were confused about Rabbi Soloveitchik's shita was what was his opinion about the recitation of Hallel. So many people think that he would said to recite it, the full Hallel. Now if you want to know a little bit of the history, I'll tell you. The the Chief Rabbinate of Israel came out with a with a psak that everyone should go ahead and recite the full Hallel without a bracha. That was the psak of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Now people asked Rabbi Soloveitchik what he felt, what he felt was appropriate. They asked him, "The Chief Rabbinate came out with this psak, what do you think is appropriate?" And he responded "Hem Amru V'Hem Amru." Now if you know a little bit about Gamara terminology, usually this phrase is used in a totally different context. It literally translates to they said and they said. What does mean they said and they said? It means they usually means that the Chachamim can make a rule and therefore they can make exceptions to the rule as well, that they have the authority to do that. So Rabbi Adler, maybe many of you know from Wednesday or Monday morning program, so Rabbi Adler was a talmid of the Rav and And asked him what he meant by this. And Rav Auerbach said that what he meant by this was he asked him directly, "What did you mean by that, Rabbi Auerbach?" And he said, "What I meant was is that they went ahead the Chief Rabbinate of Israel made it to come for all the Jewish people. He said, "Who am I to go ahead and and start putting my my nose in?" So, he deferred to the Chief Rabbinate. He thought that was the proper thing to do. And as a public policy, he wrote for the RCA Rabbinical Council of America, he said that we should go ahead and follow the the that the Chief Rabbinate gave their p'sak. We should respect the p'sak and we should go ahead and do what they said as a public policy. That's what he said. So, many people are familiar with this opinion of the Rav. If you know also in his school in Maimonides, he had a school in Boston, that's also what they did there. They recited the full Hallel without a bracha. That's what they did in that school. That was his public policy. Now, if you know a little bit more about the Rav's teachings, so I'm a talmid of Rav Schachter. Rav Schachter was a talmid of the Rav. So, Rav Schachter often quoted in shiur and he also writes this in his blog, he quotes about Rav Rabbi Soloveitchik's opinion. He said if you asked him if he you give shiur, what he told told his talmidim was actually not that. What he told his talmidim was this Gemara that we just learned. He said he said where even though there's a very he says, "If you ask me, I love Eretz Yisrael more than anyone else. And people who think that because of the fact that I do not recite the full Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut, think it's because I don't love Eretz Yisrael, they're gravely mistaken." He felt very strongly about this. He says, "But he felt that according to the rules, we'll see a few more in a second, according to the rules regarding reciting Hallel, he felt we were not allowed to recite the full Hallel, certainly with a bracha." He felt. He was very opposed to bracha. He said, "If someone in the community said the full Hallel, he would go ahead and he would say it with them. But he would never recite a bracha and if the chazzan got up and said a bracha, he wouldn't say Hallel at all." Because why? Because he felt that if you you the bracha, that turns what you're doing and just thinking Hashem, it turns what you're doing into an institutionalized practice. You're saying that we have to we're commanded to sing Hallel. And he felt that we're not commanded. There's certain days we're commanded to, and there's certain days we're not commanded to. And he said, once you institutionalize it, and you do it with a bracha, he said, that's certainly wrong. That's not what the chief rabbinate said to do. And he said then he wouldn't say Hallel then. And he actually spoke about this one time when someone got up and they said Hallel with the bracha. And he did not say Hallel that day. And he spoke about it later, and he gave shiur that same day. And if you look at his his drashos from every year he used to give a drasha this year for for for his his father passed away, a yahrtzeit shiur. And in the drasha he actually he can hear it the recording of it. If you want to hear directly, he said that he holds that you do not recite the full Hallel. If people he did recite the half Hallel. That was his personal practice. Uh he didn't think it was an obligation, as I mentioned. We'll see why he was saying the half Hallel soon. But again, he cited this Gemara. The Gemara in Shabbos tells us we're not allowed to recite Hallel every day. We have to be very careful with when we institute Hallel. That is the opinion of the the true opinion of the Rav. But again, as a public policy, he followed the chief rabbinate, he deferred to them. He thought you can rely on them, it's appropriate. And the people who want to say Hallel, the full Hallel without a bracha, he thought is uh inappropriate practice. And again, Rav Schechter also he does this often. People ask him questions about what the policy should be in Eretz Yisrael. And he says, I'm not opposed to Eretz Yisrael. He says, you have rabbais in Eretz Yisrael who know much better what's going on. He says, let them decide. He defers. He defers. It's a I think it's a beautiful quality, it's a beautiful middah. That even if you might have your personal opinion, to understand that there's that bigger picture. It's a beautiful thing I think we can learn from this Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Schechter. They both have this. They defer. They are able to say there's a bigger picture here, bigger picture going on in Klal Yisrael. I have my personal opinion, but I respect the other opinion, and as public policy even, he made the public policy not his personal opinion. It's very interesting. Okay, let's move ahead. We'll see now we want to script I mentioned that this we're playing with fire here. If you look at source number 12, to think the person can just sit around and not do anything is also not appropriate. The Gamoran Sanhedrin tells us, look at this it's looks like a typo it's not. Okay, the first word in source number 12, "L'marbe misra ushalom in kids." Notice the letter the second letter in the first word, what letter is that? It's a mem sofit. It's a mem but it's a mem sofit. I think this is the only place as far as I know, this is the only place in all of Tanakh we have a sofit letter in the middle of a word. Okay, "L'marbe misra ushalom in kids." Amar Rabi Tanchum, "Darash Rabi Papa al tziporei mipnei mah?" "Kol mem she'em tziva patuach v'zeh satum." Why is it every single mem we find in the Tanakh, it's always it's always open and this one is closed. Why do we have a sofit letter here in the middle of a word? "B'iksha Hakadosh Baruchu es Chizkiyahu Mashiach." He answers, "Hashem wanted this moment in Jewish history in the book of Yeshayahu. Hashem wanted to make Chizkiyahu Mashiach with Sancheirev Gog U'Magog." He wants to make his enemies, Chizkiyahu's enemies, Sancheirev, Gog U'Magog. We know Gog U'Magog will be destroyed before the coming of Mashiach. Meaning Hashem was ready to bring Mashiach early. Imagine, today we would be singing already in the month of Mashiach. We wouldn't be sitting here in Bnei Brak and eating tzitzit. We'd be dancing in the Beit Hamikdash celebrating. Hashem wanted to bring Mashiach earlier in Jewish history. "Amar Rabi Nachman lifnei Hakadosh Baruchu, Ribono shel Olam, Master of the world, U'Mah David Melech Yisrael she'amar kama shirot v'tishbachot lifanecha. David, King of the Jewish people, sang so many praises before you and you didn't make him Mashiach? What else did he do Mashiach? Chizkiyahu she'asita lo kol hanisim ha'elu. But Chizkiyahu who went ahead and he performed all these miracles for him. V'lo amar shira lifanecha tasimeni Mashiach? You're going to make Chizkiyahu Mashiach if he didn't sing any shirot before you, he didn't sing even one song? How could he do that? B'chach nistatim. That is why the mem is closed. Hashem wanted to bring make Chizkiyahu Mashiach. He wanted to bring about the full Geulah. But he was prevented for one reason. Chizkiyahu failed to sing shirah. When Hashem does a nes for us, when Hashem does a miracle for us, how could we not? How could we not give some form of thanks? Even if it's not the full hallel. Some form of thanks. We're going to sit there quietly, we're not going to do anything? That's why the mem is closed. Now, many of you may be wondering, I I for myself wonder often, we know and for those who are worth Ziony like myself, when we sing uh on Shabbos, we sing Avinu Shebashamayim. And in that prayer we refer to the state of Israel as reshit tzmichat g'ulateinu, which means it's the beginning of the sprouting of our redemption. Which means we acknowledge this is not the full redemption. There are Jewish people who unfortunately are still not safe. We're still not 100% batuach. As much as we Hashem is protecting us, as much as we have an amazing defense IDF and so many soldiers and all Jews across the globe are davening for us, but we're still not 100% safe. We haven't yet experienced the full Geulah. We don't have a Beit Hamikdash. So, are we allowed to sing shirah now? You look at the Gemara Megillah tells us very interestingly, you know, there's 19 brachos in the Shmoneh Esrei. Which bracha in the Shmoneh Esrei discusses Geulah? Which number? Which one discusses redemption? Very good. Number seven. The seventh bracha of the Shmoneh Esrei, Esrei, we end up Baruch Ata Hashem, Ga'al Yisrael. We thank Hashem that he that he went ahead and redeemed, sorry, Go'el Yisrael. Hashem is redeeming the Jewish people. Like we say Go out, Israel, before we start Modim. That's for the Yetziat Mitzrayim. Go out, Israel. Hashem is redeeming, in the process of redeeming us. So, the Gemara asks, U mar U mar G'ulah b'shvi'it. Source 13. Why did they go ahead and decide to institute as the seventh bracha, the bracha of G'ulah? Amar Rabbah, meitoch atidin l'ga'el b'shvi'it. Rabbah explained, because the Jewish people will soon be redeemed in the seventh year. We have a tradition that the Jewish people will experience the G'ulah specifically in the shmita year. L'fi sh'at G'ulah b'shvi'it. Therefore, we went ahead and we instituted this bracha of G'ulah should be in the seventh bracha. V'ha amar Mar b'shishi b'shisha kolot. We know b'shishi kolot, then the sixth year of the shmita cycle there will be voices. In the seventh year, b'shvi'it, milchamot. In the seventh year, there will be wars. And only b'motza'ei shvi'it, ben David ba. Only at the very conclusion of the seventh year, meaning the eighth year, only then will Mashiach come. Meaning right after the shmita cycle, after after the shmita year. So, then we should really what bracha should be the bracha of G'ulah? The eighth bracha. But we have a Refa'enu there. We don't have the bracha of G'ulah in the eighth bracha of the Shmoneh Esrei. Answers the Gemara, milchama nami atchalta d'G'ulah hi. The wars that we fight in the seventh year, that is also the beginning of the redemption. So, is the redemption complete? No. But is it can still call it redemption? Yes. It's atchalta d'G'ulah. We are living through a time, I believe, of atchalta d'G'ulah. We're go- we're living through a time of the beginning of the sprouting of the redemption. We're still fighting, we're still at war, and yet it's the beginning of the sprouting of the redemption. So, the question is now, so therefore what? Are we about then to go ahead and sing Hallel at the of the sprouting of redemption. Is that enough? Meaning it's a Geulah. But, is it enough of a Geulah to warrant the recitation of Hallel? Says the Yerushalmi, source 14, they quote here, this is about the the doubt cosos. We're moving over back to I know we just finished Pesach. I don't want to scare everyone. We're going back to Pesach for a little bit. Mat nitzeem, where we with the fourth cup, the gomer al Hallel, we complete the Hallel with the fourth cup, right? We're al Hallel al Yocar al Sheer. Right? So, we have Hallel at the Seder, another time we sing Hallel, and we sing Hallel specifically with the fourth cup. Says the Gemara, K'tiv b'fi rosh Yisrael b'nadiv am baruch Hashem. The pasuk says, that we went ahead and we experienced these issues of praots, these these issues of of difficulties for the Jewish people, the pasuk says nonetheless, b'nadiv am baruch Hashem. We should go ahead and praise Hashem. Those who volunteer, have a volunteering spirit, should go ahead and praise Hashem. He not rosh am. The Gemara explains now what this means. K'she Hakadosh Baruchu oseh lachem nisim, when Hashem performs for you miracles, you omrim shira. You have an obligation to sing shira. The Gemara responds, "Hachi van? What do you mean? Harei Geulat Mitzrayim, look what happened. The Jewish people experienced an exodus. The Jewish people experienced leaving of Egypt. Do we sing shira for leaving Egypt?" What's the answer? What's the correct answer? Answer really is no. When do we sing shira? Why do we sing shira? When did the Jewish people in Mitzrayim sing shira? They didn't sing shira when they left Mitzrayim. They sing shira only at the conclusion, when the enemies drowned. That's when they sing Az Yashir. When they left Egypt, there was no shira. The shira only happens when they saw their enemies drown. They saw their enemies wash up on the sea. Az Yashir Moshe u'Vnei Yisrael. So, the Gemara answers, so you see Shniya hi Sh'hechiyanu That was different because that was the beginning of the redemption. So, you see again, the rule is that when it comes to a Geula, we don't know what this means. Let's jump to source 15. We'll see in a second what that means. Shniya hi it's different. What does it mean it's different? The Bayit Moshe explains, Yetzmiat Mitzrayim Sh'hechiyanu The beginning of the redemption that we had at the Exodus, that was different. V'chol amar, that means V'chati lo hava al atchalta d'Geula Sh'lo nigalu l'gamrei. That was only considered the beginning of the redemption, they were not fully redeemed. Ad sheshak'u Mitzrim b'yam, until the Egyptians sank at the sea. Right? K'dichtiv Bayom hahu Hashem save us on that day Yisrael the Jews from the hands of the Egyptians Sh'ar ha'yam lo sharu mamash v'yom amru shira. So, until that day, until the the Egyptians drowned, we were not allowed to sing shira. They did not sing shira. So, says Rav Ovadia Yosef for the Sefardim, Rav Ovadia Yosef paskens for this reason, he says the Jewish people right now we're not living in a situation where we're totally secure. We're still like those Jews who just left Mitzrayim. Yes, says Rav Ovadia, it's the beginning of the starting of our redemption, but we're not fully redeemed yet. We're still not 100% secure in our land. Says Rav Ovadia for this reason, he thought we're not allowed to sing the full Hallel on uh Yom Ha'atzmaut. So, again, so it's an it's an issue. Some pasken like this Gamara in the Yerushalmi, like Rav Ovadia, and therefore felt they were not allowed for this reason to sing the full Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut. So, if that's the case, is there anything we can do? If you hold, again, not everyone agrees with this. Some hold you do say the full Hallel, some hold even with a bracha, most hold not with a bracha, okay? I don't want to go through with some of the shita with you at the end, but most hold we just say Hallel. Some may say full Hallel, some may say half Hallel, but most do not say a bracha. But, even if you don't say the full Hallel, is there anything we can do as a compromise perhaps? Is there any other form of sheer that might be appropriate? So, we have one interesting suggestion here in source 16. The Gemara in Taanit tells us an interesting story about Rav. Rav, he wants Eikha Rabbah he visited Babel. Rav didn't live in Babel. But, he visited Babel, he wanted to see what was going on. And he got very excited when he was davening with them so beautiful in the shul. He's sitting there in shul. And the chazzan was the kakar Hallel b'rish yarchei. But, then he saw what's going on? They're singing Hallel on Rosh Chodesh b'rish yarchei. We know there's 18 days we sing the Hallel. Rosh Chodesh is not one of them. Why are they singing Hallel? And he thought Savar Rav Sukeinu. He thought maybe I should stop them. He's about to go up to the chazzan and say, "What are you doing? What are you doing? It's Rosh Chodesh. It's not Yom Tov. It's not Pesach, the first day of Pesach. It's not Sukkot. It's not Chanukah. What are you doing?" He's about to stop him. And then, he wanted the chazzan to come and go into Duki. He saw that they went ahead and they skipped certain paragraphs in the Hallel. What do we call that? Half Hallel. Colloquially we call it half Hallel. And my ah, shma mina meaning of the day and he says, "This must be their custom." They're not saying Hallel as an obligation. They're saying Hallel as their custom. Saying a half Hallel is considered a custom. It's considered a minhag. It's not an obligation. Right? It's an interesting question why. Sefardim actually, maybe you know, Sefardim do not recite a bracha when they recite the half Hallel. So, Rosh Chodesh, Sefardim, Sefardim. Sefardim. I don't know about Temani, but Sefardim do not recite a bracha when it comes to the half Hallel that they're reciting on Rosh Chodesh. Ashkenazim do. It's an interesting question why. We hold as Ashkenazim you can even say a bracha on a minhag. Okay, not for right now. But, Ashkenazim hold you can say a bracha on a minhag. It doesn't have anything to do with the question about Yom Ha'atzmaut, but just a side point to you. We hold in general about minhagim we for many minhagim, not all, that you say the bracha. Okay? Um but for this reason he saw that they were saying hallel and so the Gemara doesn't say one way or the other and for this reason he did not stop them. He let them go ahead and he said it must be this is their custom. And he did not stop them when they went ahead and recited the half hallel. If you turn over to the last page, you'll notice here we have the two final sources. We have a sheet from the Chasam Sofer. The Chasam Sofer once was uh is discussing here the Kriah Yom Tov Yom Sheini. What should we go ahead and make it a holiday when someone experiences a a personal salvation? So we mentioned before a couple sources about this in Magen Avraham and uh others. He says here, he says when you experience a personal miracle who kal v'chomer d'oraita you have a biblical obligation to sing hallel with you and I d'i d'ati. In my personal opinion he says it comes out accordingly if he's there Yom Kippurim, we may Chanukah d'oraita. It comes out something astonishing. Even Purim and even Chanukah, when we go ahead and we sing praises to Hashem whether it's the formal hallel that we do on Chanukah or the less formal hallel that we do on Purim, whatever that might be, the Megillah, etc. He says d'oraita, it's a biblical obligation even though the holiday itself is only rabbinic. He says ach mal asu bahem im yishlach manot o l'hadlik nerot o mal asu zecher acher zehu d'rabannan. Every other mitzvah we have on those days is d'rabannan. But the hallel, that's biblical. Oveir v'eino oseh shum zecher b'Chanukah u'Purim. If a person goes ahead, he doesn't do anything to remember Chanukah, he doesn't do anything to thank Hashem for the Purim, oveir al mitzvah d'aseh d'oraita. He violated the biblical uh commandments. Ach oseh shum zecher l'Yemot HaMashiach kol panim b'Yom Echad b'Yemei Chanukah, a filu l'hadlik nerot v'lo shalach manot u'Purim u'Megillat Eino oveir al d'rabannan. If you violate any other mitzvah, you didn't light the Chanukah candles, okay. So you violated a rabbinic mitzvah. It's not good. But, you violated only a rabbinic mitzvah. Just as on Pesach, we have an obligation to go ahead and tell the story with our mouths, right? That's considered a biblical obligation. When it comes to a time, a situation where our lives are saved, we have a biblical obligation to go ahead and sing some form of praise. Now, what does that mean? What does the Chasam Sofer actually hold? So, again, he's not talking about Yom Ha'atzmaut. He's talking about in general. If a person experiences a personal salvation, you have an obligation to do something. And to not do anything, he says, you may be over a biblical prohibition. Very interesting. Now, it's interesting because if you know a little bit more about the Chasam Sofer, he was very opposed for a different reason to establishing new holidays. Right? So, he felt on a personal level, a person should sing shira. But, to establish a new holiday, he was very opposed. Even, which might be shocking for many of us, even Lag Ba'omer. The Chasam Sofer was very weary about starting Lag Ba'omer. He didn't think it was appropriate. He thought, how could we go ahead, make a new holiday in the Jewish calendar? Now, everyone celebrates Lag Ba'omer. Who doesn't celebrate Lag Ba'omer? But, he felt we can't add to the Jewish calendar. We have 18 days, the Gemara tells us. And to add anything else, he felt wasn't appropriate. But, to not do anything, also not appropriate. We have to sing shira, a biblical mitzvah. If you want, we'll conclude with this, the last source on the source sheet here. Okay, we have This is a piece from Rav Shalom Rav Meshulam Rath. Okay, those who know, he wrote this work Kol Mevaser. He was an amazing and very brilliant Torah scholar. He had smicha when he was only 12 years old. Rav Kook called him the Gadol Ha'dor. He was one of the first prominent rabbis to join the Mizrachi. And uh he wrote his files. He says, I'm not going to read you the whole piece here, but he quotes a little bit from the Magen Avraham that we saw. And he says, probably about five or six times in this piece, he mentions the word nice. Nice, nice, nice. And he says here that if we go dafka of a if we go from death to life, we have an obligation. He felt not just to sing Hallel, but he thought even the last four words in the first paragraph, "Hova alenu Yom Tov." We have an obligation. This obligation is upon us to establish this as a Yom Tov. Wow. He says it's appropriate that we made this day, the 5th of Iyar, the the day that we're going to celebrate is that was the primary miracle happened on that day. "She'at Sanu Me'avdut Leherut Al Yedei Hazharat Ha'atzma'ut." We went from slavery to freedom through the announcements of the declaration of independence. So, he felt I skipped over I skimmed it, but he felt, based on the Hatam Sofer that he recorded, that you should go ahead and recite Hallel with a bracha. He went so far as to even say you say Shehecheyanu. I think he's the only one who says this. I haven't seen anyone else. Maybe there are others. But I think he's the only one who said you can say Shehecheyanu. He goes very, very far. Most don't hold they say Hallel with a bracha. Most don't hold they say Shehecheyanu. But again, he felt that you could even say Shehecheyanu. Um So, it's very interesting. So, you have again this this spectrum here just to give everyone a little bit of perspective. We have on the one hand, we have those like like Rav Meshulam Rata, went ahead and said Hallel with a bracha with Shehecheyanu. And then we have others who didn't say anything. Uh Rav Soloveitchik a little bit in the middle, said say half Hallel, a little bit of a compromise. Like a conservative approach, which is appropriate. You have the Chief Rabbinate went ahead and said you say the full Hallel without a bracha. Many different opinions. I'll conclude with a couple of interesting stories. You have uh very quickly, Rav Hai Gaon, who many know on Pesach, it's the one time we go ahead with instituted. It's in the Haggadah. We sing Hallel, but without a bracha. Says Rav Hai Gaon, why do we do that? He says cuz if you think about it, what are we trying to accomplish? If you say Hallel with a bracha, it means that it's an institutionalized Hallel. But if you sing Hallel without a bracha, what does it mean? It means you're experiencing something. It's something which comes that's a natural Hallel. It comes from within. It's spontaneous. Says Rav Says Rav Hai Gaon, So now it's in Haggadah. Now it's in Haggadah. So perhaps maybe it's not, but the experience that we're supposed to have that I felt as if I'm personally leaving Egypt. That's the obligation of the Haggadah at the Seder. I feel as if I'm personally leaving Mitzrayim. And now I jump into Hallel. It's a spontaneous Hallel. Says Rav Hai Gaon, that's why we go ahead and we sing Hallel without a bracha. And again, so those who want to follow Rav Hai Gaon again prior to our situation is appropriate. Rav Schachter, very interestingly, in the YU Beit Midrash, for those who know, he went ahead, he his he followed his practice, but he would always sing Hallel, he felt you have to sing Hallel, but he would they would always do the Hallel the half Hallel, like Rav Soloveitchik, on Hey Iyar, which may or may not have always coincided with the day that the Israeli Rabbinate does, the Chief Rabbinate here in Israel, as we know, they they push it off where they do it earlier so that to avoid issue of chill Shabbos. So but he always does Hey Iyar, he felt we're not allowed to change the date, that was his personal opinion. I think most Jews thought I think most Jews follow the Chief Rabbinate since Rav Soloveitchik made his public opinion that he gave. And we have to think about again whatever you're going to do, I think it's important just to conclude with this idea, we have to give some form of shira, to give some form of thanks. Whether it's a full Hallel, a half Hallel, something else that we're going to do, for those who don't want to say anything, to say personal paragraph of Tehillim, a personal thanks to Hashem, maybe it will have extra kavana during modim, to think about the miracles that we're living through as we go through history today.