Saying Hallel on Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim: With or without Bracha By Rabbi Hershel Billet

what I didn't hear it the whole thing about the plug is the ego as I mentioned earlier it's a great to have Rabbi Billet with us Rabbi Billet was uh for many many years one of the mo the r of one of the most prominent congregations in North America and uh Mar it's a great to have him here and he's always available with us to to help out and it's he has a lot of T to share and we're excited to have him here so okay now that that that puts me on the spot because I don't have much to say now I I'm I'm substituting today for Rabbi golden uh who I understand is in the states and hopefully he will return ASAP uh uh to give his classes um so I'll I'll begin with two anecdotes one anecdote was um I I studied at Wu and my two re in Wu my first two years I had rabstein and then I had the r for seven years RAB Sal and one of the issues always comes up in any Yeshiva even in yu was what happens on uh y supposed to say Hal not supposed to say Hal Hal with a Hal without a so I remember um uh sometimes after this year was over we used to walk Rabbi salvic to uh a um it ended after the cafeteria closed in Wu so we used to go to a um a kosher Del a dairy delicates and which was across the street from the main building of yiva University and it was called I think uh it wasn't called delicious Dairy it was called we called it the greasy spoon whatever it was called we called it the greasy spoon I I also remember uh you know this just reminded me that when when I graduated Yu the the Geniuses who did our yearbook was one of the worst yearbooks could ever have did the yearbook in three parts and they did articles on uh on an article on eating at Yu and they wrote about this restaurant that the potato progan tastes like they got a loop job at the nearest Shell station we came there after R after Shear with r solvic and the the owner who was a holocaust Survivor was livid and he he says Rabbi solvic and he goes those B I'm not going to finish the word look what they wrote about me those and Rabbi solvic says calm down calm down no one reads the earbook anyway and then then he said then the guy goes back in privately says no you know when you say something it's true it's not Lush and Har so um in any event um um we were stand so um we standing outside of the greasy spoon and someone asked RAB Sal about the saying of Hal on Yas and Rabbi salic said in my opinion if you should say Hal you should say it without a br and I remember uh one year Raj came to speak at Yu and he spoke on the subject of and he said that I went over this entire she the r was at the at the at the shear of Raji and RAB said I went over the she with Rabbi salic and I wouldn't give the shear unless Rabbi salvic was comfortable with what I had to say now RAB vaj also has a lengthy one of his response to literature and and he may may also be in about the saying of and don't forget that was for 10 years the chief Rabbi of Med Israel faric Chief Rabbi so I'm going to just um relatively briefly uh give you a a a review of some of the literature on this and tell you a few more things and um and uh that will be the the class now you know that when you come to holidays that aren't found in the uh in the Bible or in the talmud and you're going to create a new holiday generally speaking it's a it's it's a it's a problem of you know of bosf you know possibly uh creating an an unnecessary holiday but let's say it's legitimate to celebrate certainly it's legitimate to celebrate the Miracles and it's legitimate to say thank you to God for things that at least we believe is was a very important thing for the Jewish people and a miracle in our time uh but if you're going to introduce a prayer there has to be some basis for it you just can't put prayers in you know off the top of your head and one of the important prayers is is Hal right and Hal is what is said in this country with a Braha I will tell you that uh in the beginning until R Goran became the chief Rabbi it was said without a braa which means and when R Herzog and r and Ruel and R and R Nim were were the chief rabbis it was said without abah and R gorin introduced the idea of Hal with AB if you know anything about Raj and R gorin you know you know that whatever one said the other said otherwise so raaj was of the opinion that it should be said without AA as was the I mean I have to say as was the tradition of both as kazik and Chief rabbis until rorin rorin was the contemporary and the chief Rabin of raaj so one of the major sources of Hal is found in the and it's found this is found in other places as well um so uh what it says over here is uh it's the top of the page says in the name of there are eight days means to say the entire Hal it means to to say on for example we skip we skipped two paragraphs that's called in in the lingo it's not it's not really actually half but it's a an abbreviated Hal as opposed to the Hal that we say on the entire holiday of sukus the entire holiday of kanah uh the first day of P we say as well we say as well that's called Hal and on R KES we say What's called okay so he says there are 18 days when an individual says the entire without skipping any paragraph the eight days of suus now they're really seven days of suus but the eighth day is that's 168 days of that's 17 that's 18 and in the diaspora because you know we have two days of two first days of p and we have nine days of suus which we call in the diaspora right so n days of 21 soar wants to know why is sukus different from PES sukus and PES are both both the long holiday so to speak where there's a y at the beginning and a at the end and in between so why is is why is different why is p different that we don't say it every day now P we say every day but after the first day of PES we only say we only say half of Hal we don't say the whole Hal right so the says every day of su if you familiar you recall the mus of of suus every day of suus is a different carbon mus the numbers of animals that we bring are different every day and since every day has a different carbon every day has the status of a new Y and hence the yto requires P once you brought the carbon on the first day of P the carbon the sacrifice is the same for the rest of pesak so it's you don't it's not a new holiday every day another reason that PES is different that this is Jewish morality um the but this this only really would refer to the seventh day of PES Mar says that God says to the angels the Angels started singing when the Egyptians were drowning at the sea right and God says to the angels how could you sing when these the Egyptians are drowning you know are you allowed to sing when's helicopter went down I mean maybe but these are human beings you can't you can't so therefore we we limit the because we want to acknowledge that uh the Egyptians died anyway so now the gamar wants to know okay fine so you're saying that the Hal is a function of a special carbon different than every other day of the year so shabas so we should say Hal chabas because the carbon the sacrifice that was brought on chabas is different from the sacrifices that are brought every day of the week so maybe we should say Hal so the says you only say Hal on a mo a mo is a holiday which is dependent upon the the the new moon Roes those are Mo uh the the holidays that depended upon based in declaring a new month that's called the mo shabas is not a mo chabas is a fixed day in time since the creation of the world chabas is the seventh day of the week but it does it doesn't have a particular date it's the seventh day of the week so shabas is not a mo R KES roses roses is in the par is in the chapter of the Torah of the mo of the festivals so so Roes which is calledo let's Sayes so theor say says there's no full the prohibition to do work that exist on does not exist ones you're allowed to do ones now might be that women have a custom a practice something that they they they limit what they do I mean I don't think that that happens too much today but in any event you are allowed to do technically what would be called M for you're allowed to do on R KES and so and and and and the the prohibition of gives more character more Fest a more festive character to the day so roses doesn't have it the song what's the song Here how does interpret the song the song should be like the day in which the holiday the festival is Sanctified that's why there's also a practice to say Hal on the night of PES as well um you know some people say it in sh but even if you don't say it in sh you say it during the ha you say Hal during the ha right so um and and R KES is not attached to a festival is an independent day so what about they're part of the the the chapter in the Bible of the of the festivals and there is a Prohibition to do say so says because we have the tradition that we got from RAB AB the angels of of of of the Angels who served God and the angels of Grace said before God why don't we why don't we um why don't we say and the answer is the answer is um is it possible that Jews they're going to be judged they're trembling before the the court the Heavenly Court they're going to be judged for life and death how can they sing you know they're they're it's very scary I don't expect Shir uh the rambam just incidentally that's not the subject of the sh has a slightly different version he says why don't we say they are not days of extra Joy so some you know they the was is but they are days of sim just not and so for the V rash Yip are very happy holidays and truthfully for all of us is if the if the result of the Reckoning is is good for us all right there's no there's no prohibition to do and and it's not a mo and we say so the says the Hal of Kaneka is a different Hal than the Hal of the festivals the Hal of the festivals have to do with the sanctity of the day and with the prohibition to do to do the what's you know prohibited acts but the the of Kan is a function of the miracle the it's a function of the miracle um soar says what about p p was also a miracle right um okay so be patient um e you could have been one of the rabbis of the Tet so the gorra says um says you don't say a miracle that happened in happened in Persia that's outside of what so did and sukot happened in the in the in the in the desert after that's true and the ask that question and you could say the same thing about uh we we don't say how on suus because of the because of the miracle of the sukus we say how on suus because it's a festival so sukus is in a different category but but which is I mean answer number one is that it's okay to say because it happened in in the diaspora but once the Jewish people entered the land of Israel you no longer say Hal on a miracle that happened in hence is an exception to the rule that's answer number one right says that on we do say Hal except what's the Hal of reading of the Milla and there are actually opinions there are two two different kinds of one found in the one found in the that one opinion says what happens if you don't have a Milla what happens you so here we say what's the Halm the reading of Milla so what happens if you don't have a mcgilla so some people say you supposed to say Hal some people say you're supposed to say Hal and some people say there's even an opinion that says if P him for what it can happen today but War pm to fall on chabas you should say how on PM instead of carrying the mill but anyway uh so the so the the um the second answer is that we do say Hal but the reading of the Milla is the and the third answer is when it comes to what do we say at the beginning of Hal Hallelujah Halu so who says halem but by implication the say those who aren't don't say Soo if you're alsoo then you can't say Shir because you're enslaved to a a human being only when you're independent and you're enslaved only to godem do you say Halu and so in the Jewish people were rescued from H but they didn't go back to the land of Israel where did they remain they remained in Persia and may be Jews who never went back at all he says so it's it's we're still we're the Servants of we can't say we're not independent we we're not under our own government who says the reading of the is the reading of thear so how could you even read how could you say Shir read Milla for for so the says once we went into the diaspora once the Jewish people you can't say while you're living in the land of Israel but once they were exiled in the time of of um what was his name not s after s they were taken to the 10 tribes were taken to to Asher and and the and the rest of the Jewish people were taken to uh to to B and we went we were in Exile it come came we go back to the original het that we could say Hal on a miracle in and that's Pur okay so that that that that is this and we'll see what we we we you know if you're going to if you're going to make a statement about HAL today you have to have a talmudic precedent the question is do we have a talmudic precedent which would allow us to say Hal on on another day so now the gor tells a story about roses this this is it's not necessary for the class but I figured once we're doing it let's just be complete tells a story r r was the nephew of raia he was a student of his uncle and he was also a student of Ruda anasi who was aana and who was the redactor of the mishna so the gar sanedrin tells a story that going to B ra who was AAL was both a student and a colleague of RI asks R to give he says can he do can he give you know in terms of let's say so he gives him he be a judge in a in a Bas and do M type of questions you know civil law he says y so got a got so um and technically the actually says in the in some places that ran even though RAV was the first of the he had the authority he had enough Authority that he was allowed to argue with the rabbis of the mishna so he walks into sh in B kinu and he sees an unbelievable thing he's horrified reading in his lifetime R never saw and they never said Hal in is I mean that's clearly the implication of the he didn't understand why are they saying Hales such a it was such a violation that ra wanted to stop them you know and why would he want to stop them well maybe he he thought it was a and maybe he thought that we're not supposed to overpraise God either says anyone who says Hal every day is you know you can't take God for granted you have to you have to that we pray to God every day but to say special sh to God you know let's not overdo it let's just when when something wondrous happens so that's when we'll acknowledge it so he he wanted to stop them then he saw that they were skipping they were skipping a and lanu they were skipping the paragraphs on Roes it's a Min it's a custom if it's a custom F and then thear has a discussion about an individual let say if I'm saying H at home I didn't go to sh maybe I shouldn't say Hal and you know that the rambam actually says that ones is a and you know by this the r has a that you're not supposed to make a and actually if you go to TOS they don't say because it's a and they follow the the we Sayes so sometimes it's good to be AI so you can get off the hook on the bra you can get off the hook on kitten and I know that the asazi Jews are always Bing that but I just remind you that if you're AI you have to sayos early in the morning the entire so there's the there are the pluses and the minuses of of both just just remember that all right so we saw that they it's a okay to in right says but the eight days of P you do not say the entire he says why do we say how all eight days of KH it's the same thing as suas eight days of KH eight days of suas no he says because Kaneka every day was a new Miracle let's say the first day was a miracle that they found the oil the oil should have been burned out the next day they they was still oil another miracle so eight for eight days that they had oil it was a miracle so every day was a special y because it was a ace every single day um every day of was a as well because the change of the number of carbonos like said before so the fact that the the the number of animals that were brought for a sacrifice each day of sukus is different it creates it establishes the status of of a of a new holiday all right only the first day of PES so that's that is the the to okay then there's another to which is important for our um situation so anyway when we're talking about um we're talking about days like Kaneka and and purm in theory we're talking about a different kind of Hal than the Hal that we're talking about for PES andus the Hal of those day the Hal of those days is because it's yum and also roses the Hal of those days is because of a Minh and what what is the Hal of Kana andm it's it's a function of a miracle in Pur we don't say Hal but and the explained the reason but on we do okay so I'm just I just quoted a little piece of it when there's a where all the Jewish people aren't present they're called they said that you know has to be said for those great days when things don't happen to them so the only days you say Hal full Hal is when all of Israel is present or when the Torah tells you these are days of Hal but if all of Israel isn't present you don't say you don't say Hal um certainly not the not Hal with a okay now let's look at the ramb in Mill so this rambam I want for two reasons first of all I I like to quote this rambam as the source for why it's legitimate that y should be a holiday he says like this here he does something on usual usually the r doesn't tell stories in his he tells you the laws here in h he says the following it should be on my uh I copied and pasted In from from Baran to my computer and the V got messed up here so what happened during this story of Kaneka is the Greek syrians um the cids made rules on Israel who bought and they nullified the Jewish religion and they didn't allow them to study Tor to do and they stole their money and they plundered their daughters and they went into The KES Into The KES kadash the sanctuary of the B mikdash where the min the Min the Min was the it's not really Kash the Kash is a separate area within the he they went into the the the sanctuary of the mikdash and they defiled the place and they made anything that was and the Jews suffered greatly from them and they persecuted them a great persecution until the god of our fathers had mercy on them and rescued them from their hands and gave them salvation and the sons of the the great the great Co maybe it means that one of them at least was a Coen gut and them and they they they established a king from amongst the priests and Royal returned to the Jewish people for more than 200 years until the theban of the second bias right Kaneka happened 165 BCE theas happened 70 so 235 years before the destruction of the temple royalty returned to the Jewish people so here I want to just digress a little bit so the ramban in uh in on the right the royalty should not leave Yehuda talks about Yehuda is jakob's son Yehuda The Who aim were descendants of Ley and the ramban says that yakob made a decree that royalty should only be in the hands of Yehuda certainly once the davidic dynasty started you know we make an exception for bamin because that was before the davidic dynasty started and so sha was the king of Israel even though he was from sh bam but later on it can't be so the ramban says the ran says that you know as we say in the were out a line by by by taking the royalty they were violating a a the will of Yakov you know it's hard to say it's Ora because it was in saer braus but some say it's but later on there is also aushi where you have the par in in of of the king and then right after it there's something about calling him in right after the it says and what thei does is even though it's not what the meaning of that P it it it connects that to the to the to Andi says and and Kings should not be from the K and there's a specific prohibition on of Kings coming from the and and IFI is is is correct then it's really a a Torah prohibition so this is my uh statement about Medina Isel you one of the arguments that some people make against the state of Israel is that it is not an Orthodox Jewish State even though there are many things that are obeyed in this country you know the in theory although it's getting sometimes a little weaker the laws of marriage and divorce are in the hands of the ravenet right the laws all public institutions in the state of Israel keep Shabbat the Israel national airline is Kosh and there are many things where an attempt is made to be respectful of and Jewish tradition but nevertheless we know it's not perfect and we know you know uh whether it's in in K buses run on Shabbat a lot of people are M Shabbat a lot of the we uh was bean and and and andali Bennett were were the only two real Orthodox um um Prime Ministers of Israel Bean was a full sh Shabbat and Bennett was a sh Shabbat you know we don't we don't have this is not uh you know the the it's hard to find the king I I have to pick Kings who are really kept all the Mitzvah is one you know some of the other kings even though they're great in our eyes weren't always uh in line with the with all the rules with all the you know you know has a great book on that but you know there there are things that one might wonder about David and and schlomo as well so but but in in any event what does the r say here even though the conim were Kings and the conim being kings are in violation of what's important for Kaneka that we celebrate and we say and you'll see we say Haler the says we say Haler is because Jewish Independence is a worthy value in and of itself even if the Jew even if what with what comes of Jewish Independence is not the Perfection of of of the Torah that we want that we desire as sh Torah mitz nevertheless we celebrate it and look what the r goes on and you know let me add a little bit more you know that some of the Kings Alexander yanai he killed all the rabbis Alexander Yan was he was a sadducee he didn't he rejected T sheal hus Herod um you know a lot of the Kings Judah and aristobulus Civil Wars there were there were a lot of terrible things that that took place and still the ram says he counts all those 200 years as as years of Jewish Independence to some degree of the Romans so we shouldn't forget that but then let's look at what he uh when the Jewish people overcame their enemies and destroyed them was the 25th of they enter the sanctuary so they didn't have they they found only one flask of pure oil and they it was only good for one day and it burned for eight days until they were able to press uh olives and and create pure oil for the and because of this [Music] days of of joy and and we and we light candles now you could argue that gimal only modifies B in other words why do we say Hal says we say Hal you know because of the miracle of the oil but we don't need them we don't need at all just say when they after the battle with the Greek syrians the Jewish people came into the sanctuary they didn't have oil but he tells the whole story that we were that we were Victorious over the the Greek syrians and Jewish royalty returned to Israel for more than 200 years even though it wasn't perfect in terms of so now I I might be taking a leap of faith by saying that also modifies words we we we're saying we're celebrating with Hal because of the miracle of the oil and the military Victory and the fact that we that that that we had and we be because of the military Victory we became independent to some degree of the foreign uh dominion and that's why we we say Hal so we start with this is by way of introduction now one of the things that you saw in tus he said he says he he talks about um the is and when all the Jewish people are not together you don't say Hal so the question is there might be a difference between being living here and living in the diaspora because living here even though you know we know that the time of the establishment of the Jewish State and an independent Jewish government all the Jewish people were not here but this is still the place where it happened and so by virtue of the fact that you're living in a place where a miracle happened if you look at the establishment of the state of I me you know there's always a I mean in things like this there's always a political side to the question because if you don't see virtue and value in the establishment of the Jewish State um so to the greatest extreme you tear Korea I don't know if any of you have ever gone to um uh the the shook in on so there you have a very Fringe group it's not the majority it's a small minority of people that that are wearing sackcloth torn sackcloth on yamm but any place now Yeshiva panovich they say Hal and they put the flag up I don't know if they say Hal but they put the flag up but that was a a they had they once had a very open-minded rashish Shiva in terms of R kahanan was a great man but but the the um you know if you don't look at at at you don't see the value I I I am I am sure that in theas except for the yes and the they don't say I I I would I would I would strongly doubt it but I I hope I'm wrong uh they don't say how they don't acknowledge that it's the day something special well I I think that you I I I understand I think that for many of them that's the case and for many of them I think that's changing a little bit things are happening