A Thought on Hallel: Why is Hallel at the Seder so Different?

There is a mitzvah on Pesach, like most other holidays and Rosh Chodesh to recite Hallel. However, the Hallel on the night of the Pesach Seder looks different in many ways than the hallel we recite throughout the year and even from the way we recite it the rest of Pesach. I once heard a shiur from Rabbi Yonasan Sachs, Rosh Yeshivah of Landers College for Men (formerly of Yeshivah University, where I heard the shiur). These are the differences he points out:

1)    Hallel is usually said during the day time as it says זה היום נגילה ונשמחה בו. The only exception is here on ליל פסח where it is said at night.

2)    הלל שלם is usually said with a bracha. Yet at the Seder, we do not recite the bracha before hallel.

3)    Hallel is normally said standing up, but here it is said sitting down.

4)    Hallel is normally said uninterrupted, but here we break it up and say part during Maggid and then have a long interruption with the meal before completing it.

5)    Women are normally exempt from Hallel because it is a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא. But here women are obligated.

 Q: How do we understand the differences between hallel on ליל סדר from the Hallel of the rest of the year? 

A: Rabbi Sacks explains that the other times of the year, the obligation to recite Hallel is a mitzvah d’rabbanan, while at the Seder it is a mitzvah from the Torah. He quotes the Netziv who distinguishes between

a)     הלל בשעת הנס- hallel recited while experiencing the miracle – in the present.

b)    הלל זכר לנס – to commemorate a miracle that occurred in the past.

 So the הלל זכר לנס is just מדרבנן, that is the Hallel of other yomim tovim where we commemorate what happened in years past on that day. But a הלל בשעת הנס is מדאורייתא .

There is a famous question that asks what’s the difference between the obligation of סיפור יציאת מצרים at the Seder and זכירת יציאת מצרים that we are obligated in every day of the year. Although there are many answers to this question, as it relates to our subject of Hallel, we can suggest that

at the Seder we have to demonstrate and feel as if we are leaving Egypt now. That is הלל בשעת הנס.  That is also why the Rambam includes Hallel as part of סיפור יציאת מצרים. So this Hallel is part of the mitzvah. And we try to be strict and finish Hallel before חצות so it can be done בשעת סיפור יציאת מצרים which is based on זמן אכילת קרבן פסח.

הלל זכר לנס (1 is only by day, but הלל בשעת הנס is whenever the miracle occurred, so here it is by night.

הלל זכר לנס (2 is the formal תקנה which is accompanied by a bracha. But הלל בשעת הנס is a spontaneous feeling so there is  no bracha.

הלל זכר לנס (3 is a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא ונשים פטורות, but this Hallel is בשעת הנס which is not זמן גרמא. So women have to do it as part of the סיפור יציאת מצרים.

(4  For the typical Hallel that is a זכר לנס, commentators equate that to Hallel as a “formal recital,” which presumably has to be done while standing.  But Hallel at the Seder בשעת הנס is done בתורת שירה so it can be done while sitting too.

5) This is the הלל בשעת שירה. So the סעודה is not just a סעודת יום טוב and one where we do מצוות, but it is also a סעודות הודאה. Then what better thing to do than surround the meal with Hallel.

I once heard Rav Hershel Schachter give and explanation that explains explain why we break up Hallel at the Seder. He also begins with the נצי''ב that we want to declare the סעודת ליל פסח as a סעודת הודאה. The Mishnah in תענית says that if there is no rain in ארץ ישראל, no crops will grow and people will die. Therefore, בית דין will declare a fast day. What happens if it rains in the middle of the day? The people go home to eat and then go to shul to say הלל.

Q: Why go home to eat first? Shouldn’t we go to shul and say הלל first?

A: There is a כלל that one can only say a הלל בשעת הנס with a full stomach. So since Hallel on Pesach night is הלל בשעת הנס it would have made sense to say the whole Hallel after the meal when we are full, but we want to designate the meal as a סעודת הודאה so we דווקא say part of it before we say Hallel.

This is the uniqueness of הלל בליל סדר.