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Rav Blau - Hallel [Getting Ready for the Seder] · In the Beis at Yeshivat Orayta

• 0:00
  Rav Yitzchak Blau: There are several unusual things about Hallel on Pesach night during the Seder. First of all, it is set at night. Right? Every other Hallel is set in the daytime, so already that is a bit unusual. We split it into two, right, saying the first two paragraphs as part of the before the meal, and the rest after the meal, that is certainly unique.
• 0:24
  We don't say a bracha, hallow on Sukkot and on Shu'ot and on Hanukkah certainly comes with a bracha. We say it sitting down, every other halal all year we say standing up. And finally, we hold that women are obligated in this halal, and other halals apparently are mitzvahs, which would not obligate women. So we have five oddities about the halal on Pesach night. Now we could explain them one by one.
• 0:53
  For example, Tosfot and Sukkah says that women are obligated because right? Since they're part of the story, they get obligated here. Again, you'd have to figure out why that's true here more than other, maybe there's an individual reason. Maybe we sit because it's more integrated with the meal than the average Hallel. Maybe we split it into two for a special reason, right?
• 1:19
  The Mordecai says we want to have Sheera for every cup of wine for all four. The other three already have a Sheera component, be it Birka Ramazo and be it Kiddush. And now we want to get some hollow onto the second cup. The lavush says that it's more thematic, that only the beginning of hollow is about actually about Yitzhivat mitzvahim, right, but say it, Yitzhivat So those two paragraphs are associated with the Yitzhivat Mitzrayim section. And the rest is more the ultimate messianic redemption, and that's part of the Hallel Nirzah section.
• 1:52
  Okay. So that's why we split it. Perhaps there's no bracha because once we split it, you can't say bracha anymore. That seems to be the interpretation of tosur and bracha dafya dawid. And so notice we've oh, and we'll come up with a reason why at night also.
• 2:09
  This a special drasha, kalel hikadei shkag why it's at night. Okay? So we could give one explanation it's five explanations for these items. However, once you have so many oddities, maybe one has to conclude that there's really something different going on in this entire Hallel. So the riff, it's not the riff, excuse me, the Ron quotes of Hai Gon as saying that here we don't say Hallel Beto Rat Kriya, We're not reading the Hallel that we always are.
• 2:42
  We're saying Hallel Beto Rat Shira. It's a song. And what he means is he goes on to explain it as follows. We all know that Pesach Nay, there is We should see ourselves as if we are leaving Egypt. We should identify with the Exodus.
• 3:03
  And if we experientially are able to pull this off, oh, we are now leaving Mitzrayim. So certainly you would say songs of praise to God. Right? After centuries of servitude to bask in the light of human freedom, that's something that requires a joyous song. But that would be a spontaneous recital of Hallel much more than it would be a halachically obligatory saying of Hallel with all its rules.
• 3:33
  Right? Spontaneous Hallel doesn't come with rules. If I have a great thing and I wanna sing out with chapters of tilim, right, there wouldn't be a rule book about, you know, the bracha and with your standard seder, but, like, no, you would just say it. So if Rav Haigon is right that this is not the standard halacha khalil, this is a spontaneous response to the Exodus. So all our things make sense.
• 3:56
  Right? We're not gonna say a bracha because this is not the formal halacha khalil. And we certainly could split it because, again, it's not I'm trying to maintain some kind of halachic standard. I just wanna sing songs of praise to God. And women are certainly gonna sing also be not not because formally, just because they're part of the story and they're thrilled.
• 4:15
  They're gonna sing songs of praise. And what hope we lift out here? Oh, of course. And the day night distinction breaks down because it's the Halakha Kahlil that needs to be in the daytime. Not immediate response to salvation.
• 4:31
  So notice what happened here. We have five oddities. Again, nighttime, no bracha, split into two, women and sitting down. And we could give individualized explanations for all of the above. But maybe the real answer is what the ron says.
• 4:48
  That certainly by the way, even fits the language of the Haggadah. After we say, therefore, I mean, again, it is a response to the individual experience of leaving Egyptian servitude. So this year, may we all merit to really experience that, to identify with our ancestors leaving servitude of Egypt and appreciate the joys of human freedom.