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; Sanhedrin39b), 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 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 (I 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.

בְּצֵאת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָֽיִם When Israel came out of Egypt: A lyrical account of how nature itself trembled and rejoiced at the exodus, when the supreme Power intervened to rescue the powerless.

כְּמוֹהֶם יִהְיוּ עֹשֵׂיהֶם Those who make them become like them: Worshiping impersonal objects or forces eventually dehumanizes a culture and those who are part of it. Whether what is worshiped is an icon, a ruler, a race or a political ideology, the final outcome is the sacrifice of human lives on the altar of high, yet imperfect, ideals. Idolatry is the worship of the part instead of the whole, one aspect of the universe in place of the Creator of all who transcends all. יִרְאֵי יהוה You who fear the LORD: This may refer to converts to Judaism (Rashi), or God-fearers among the nations (Ibn Ezra).

וְהָאָֽרֶץ נָתַן לִבְנֵי־אָדָם But the earth He has given over to mankind: “Given over” rather than “given”: placed in the guardianship of mankind. We do not own the earth; we hold it in trust from God and there are conditions to that trust, namely that we respect the earth’s integrity and the dignity of the human person; in short, that we honor God’s laws.

אָהַֽבְתִּי I love the LORD: This and the next paragraph form a single psalm. The psalmist turns from the collective to the individual. God has saved him from crisis and he gives public voice to his thanks. This prayer was included in Hallel because it spoke to the many among the pilgrims to Jerusalem who had vowed to bring thanksgiving-offerings, as is clear from the next paragraph. The juxtaposition of the individual and the collective is a significant feature of biblical texts generally. The Hebrew prophets and poets never saw the nation as an abstraction and the people an amorphous mass. The individual never loses his or her significance even in the presence of vast gatherings. אֲנִי אָמַֽרְתִּי בְחָפְזִי, כָּל־הָאָדָם כֹּזֵב Even when I said rashly, “All men are liars”: the commentators relate this to King David who, when forced to flee from Saul, felt betrayed by everyone. Alternatively: “Even when I was fleeing for my life, I knew that those [who preached despair] were false” (Radak).

מָה־אָשִׁיב How can I repay? A rhetorical question: we can never repay God’s kindnesses to us. All that we have is His. The very fact that we exist is due to His creative love. All we can do is express our thanks. כּוֹס־יְשׁוּעוֹת אֶשָּׂא I will lift the cup of salvation: A reference to the wine-libation accompanying a thanksgiving-offering (Rashi). Alternatively, I will hold a feast of thanksgiving at which I will raise a glass of wine in thanks to God. יָקָר בְּעֵינֵי יהוה, הַמָּֽוְתָה לַחֲסִידָיו Grievous in the LORD’s sight is the death of His devoted ones: this is Rashi’s understanding of the text; others translate it as “Precious in the Lord’s sight.” God does not wish His devoted ones to die. As the previous two paragraphs have made clear, God is the God of life; only idolatrous cultures worship death. בֶּן־אֲמָתֶֽךָ The son of Your maidservant: Serving You comes naturally because my mother did likewise (Radak). A father teaches us “the discipline of thought as well as the discipline of action”; a mother teaches us the “living experience” of the commandments, their “flavor, scent and warmth.” From her we learn “to feel the presence of the Almighty.” “The fathers knew much about the Shabbat; the mothers lived the Shabbat, experienced her presence, and perceived her beauty and splendor” (Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik).

הַלְְלוּ אֶת־יהוה כָָּל־גּוֹיִם Praise the LORD, all nations: The shortest of all the psalms, a mere two verses. The psalmist speaks of the universal significance of Israel’s history. It is not Israel alone, but all the nations, who will see in the story of this people, something beyond mere history. “The Jew is the emblem of eternity. He who neither slaughter nor torture of thousands of years could destroy, he who neither fire nor sword nor inquisition was able to wipe off the face of the earth, he who was the first to produce the oracles of God, who has been for so long the guardian of prophecy and transmitted it to the rest of the world – such a nation cannot be destroyed. The Jew is everlasting as eternity itself ” (Tolstoy).

הוֹדוּ לַיהוה כִּי־טוֹב Thank the LORD for He is good: This verse was first recited by King David when he brought the Ark to Jerusalem (I Chr. 16:34).

מִן־הַמֵּצַר In my distress…set me free: The terms mean, respectively, “straits, confined space” and “broad space, expanse.” The psalmist writes that he felt hemmed in by enemies; his eventual victory brings a sense of spaciousness and freedom. עָזִּי וְזִמְרָת יָהּ The LORD is my strength and my song: a quotation from Shirat HaYam (Ex. 15:2); it also appears in Isaiah 12:2. פִּתְחוּ־לִי שַׁעֲרֵי־צֶֽדֶק Open for me the gates of righteousness: A reference to the gates of the Temple.

אוֹדְךָ I will thank You: This and the next eight verses, the last of Psalm 118, are repeated. Litany – a prayer in which the Leader says a verse or phrase and the congregation responds – was an aspect of worship in the Temple, and is developed most fully in the hakafot, processions around the synagogue, on Sukkot.

אֶֽבֶן מָאֲסוּ הַבּוֹנִים The stone the builders rejected: This is a reference to the people of Israel. Two of the first references to Israel in non-Jewish sources – the Merneptah stele (Egypt, thirteenth century BCE) and the Mesha stele (Moab, ninth century BCE) – both declare that Israel has been destroyed. Israel is the people that outlives its obituaries.

בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא Blessed is one who comes*:* A blessing made by the priests to those who came to worship in the Temple (Rashi, Radak). One of the tasks of the priests was to bless the people who came in pilgrimage to the Temple to make their offerings.

אִסְרוּ־חַג בַּעֲבֹתִים Bind the festival offering with thick cords: Alternatively, “Order the festival procession with boughs, up to the horns of the altar,” a reference to the procession around the altar, with a lulav, on Sukkot (Sukka 45a).

אֵלִי אַתָּה You are my God: The words of one who is bringing the offering. וְאוֹדֶֽךָּ And I will thank You: alternatively, “I will acknowledge You.” These are words of dedication, meaning: This offering I bring is an expression of thanks and acknowledgment to God for all His kindnesses to me.

יְהַלְלֽוּךָ All Your works will praise You: A concluding benediction, as at the end of the Verses of Praise.