Daf Ditty Pesachim 118: Hallel Ha-Gadol Psalm 117, f. 21r in Passover Haggadah, with ritual instructions in French (Bouton Haggadah) Zürich, Braginsky Collection, B315 Expanses, expanses, Expanses divine my soul craves. Confine me not in cages, Of substance or of spirit. My soul soars the expanses of the heavens. Walls of heart and walls of deed Will not contain it. Morality, logic, custom - My soul soars above these, Above all that bears a name, 1 Above all that is exalted and ethereal. I am love-sick - I thirst, I thirst for God, As a deer for water brooks. Rav Kook, Chadarav, p. 391 They pour for him the third cup and he says grace after his meal. The fourth, and he concludes on it the Hallel and says on it the Blessing of the Song. Between these cups he may drink if he chooses, but between the third and the fourth he should not drink. Rabbi Simchah Roth writes:2 1: In the Gemara [Pesachim 117b] we are told that each of the four cups of wine during the Seder is designated for a certain mitzvah. The first is for Kiddush, the second is for the 'telling' (the 'haggadah'), the third is for Grace After Meals, and the fourth is for the Hallel. 2: In the Gemara [Pesachim 118a] a baraita is quoted: On the fourth [cup] he concludes the Hallel and recites the Great Hallel... The Great Hallel is then identified as Psalm 136, which includes the phrase 'for His kindness is everlasting' twenty-six times. (This is the view of Rabbi Tarfon, which is accepted; another view is also quoted in the baraita according to which the Great Hallel is Psalm 23.) More than one reason is offered for the inclusion of Psalm 136; the most appealing is probably that offered by Rabbi Yoĥanan: because God sits in his highest heaven and allocates food for each creature. This is God's supreme act of kindness. The connection between Pesaĥ and the food supply is possibly to be found in a mishnah which we studied in Tractate Rosh ha-Shanah [1:2]: - On four occasions the world is judged: on Pesaĥ regarding grain; on Shavuot regarding the fruit of trees; on Rosh ha-Shanah all mankind passes muster before Him ... and on Sukkot we are judged regarding water. In the ancient economy the grain supply was the equivalent of the food supply. 1 http://www.ravkooktorah.org/ind_psal.htm 2 http://www.bmv.org.il/shiurim/pesachim/pes10.html 2 3: In the Gemara [Pesachim 118a] the identity of 'the Blessing of the Song' is also disputed. The Amora of Eretz-Israel, Rabbi Yoĥanan, says that 'the Blessing of the Song' [Birkat ha-Shir] is the passage that we have in our prayer-books today as the conclusion of 'Pesukei de-Zimra' on Shabbat and Yom Tov, 'Nishmat'. The Babylonian Amora, Rav Yehudah, says that Birkat ha-Shir is the blessing that concludes Hallel in our contemporary prayer-books as well. Rather than deciding between the two views, it is established custom nowadays to say both passages, the first after the second. 4: Our mishnah also states that one should not drink more wine between the third and fourth cups, even though this is permitted between the first and the second and between the second and the third. The Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Pesachim 71a] says that this is to prevent one getting drunk on too much wine (or becoming drowsy). To counter the possible argument that there is no greater reason to fear either eventuality from the wine between the third and fourth cups than that between any of the others, the Gemara there also says that 'wine which comes after the meal can make one drunk; wine which is a part of the meal will not do so'. I do not know whether there is a factual justification for this claim. 3 MISHNA: They poured for the leader of the seder the third cup of wine, and he recites the blessing over his food, Grace After Meals. Next, they pour him the fourth cup. He completes hallel over it, as he already recited the first part of hallel before the meal. And he also recites the blessing of the song at the end of hallel over the fourth cup. During the period between these cups, i.e., the first three cups established by the Sages, if one wishes to drink more, he may drink; however, between the third cup and the fourth cup one should not drink. GEMARA: Ran Ḥanan said to Rava: Since the mishna states that Grace After Meals must be recited over the third cup, learn from it that Grace After Meals requires a cup of wine. Rava said to him: This is no proof, for although the Sages instituted the drinking of four cups in the manner of freedom, once the four cups are in place, with each and every one of them we will perform a mitzva, despite the fact that they were not originally instituted for this purpose. After the Sages instituted these four cups, they attached a special mitzva to each one. However, this does not prove that there is an obligation to recite Grace After Meals over a cup of wine during the rest of the year. We learned in the mishna that they pour the leader of the seder the fourth cup and he complete hallel over it, and he recites the blessing of the song at the end of hallel over that cup. The Gemara asks: What is the blessing of the song mentioned in the mishna? Rav Yehuda said: It is the blessing that begins with: They shall praise You, Lord, our God. And Rabbi Yoḥanan said that one also recites: The breath of all living, a prayer that follows the verses of praise [Pesukei dezimra]. The Sages taught in a baraita: With regard to the fourth cup, one completes hallel over it and recites the great hallel; this is the statement of Rabbi Tarfon. And some say that one recites: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalms 23:1), in appreciation of the food he ate at the meal. 4 The Gemara asks: From where does the great hallel begin and where does it end? Rabbi Yehuda says: From “Give thanks” (Psalms 136:1) until “The rivers of Babylon” (Psalms 137:1). And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: From “A song of ascents” (Psalms 134:1) until “The rivers of Babylon.” Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From “For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself” (Psalms 135:4) until “The rivers of Babylon.” The Gemara asks: And why is this section called the great hallel? Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Because this passage states that the Holy One, blessed be He, sits in the heights of the universe and dispenses food to every creature. The whole world praises God for His kindness through the great hallel, which includes the verse: “Who gives food to all flesh” (Psalms 136:25). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: These twenty-six mentions of the word hodu, give praise, in this hallel (Psalms 136), to what do they correspond? He explains: They correspond to the twenty-six generations that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, and to whom He did not give the Torah. There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, another ten from Noah to Abraham, and six generations from Abraham to Moses and the revelation at Sinai, i.e., Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kehat, Amram, and Moses. And why did these generations survive, despite the fact that they did not learn Torah or perform mitzvot? They survived only because God sustained them through His mercy, even though they were undeserving. 5 With regard to the praise due to God for sustaining the world, the Gemara cites a statement that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The task of providing a person’s food is twice as difficult as the suffering endured by a woman in childbirth. While, with regard to a woman in childbirth, it is written: “In pain [be’etzev] you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16), with regard to food, it is written: “In toil [be’itzavon] you shall eat of it, all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17). Itzavon is a superlative form of etzev, which indicates that it is more difficult to support oneself than to give birth. ALL NATIONS PRAISE HASHEM Rav Mordechai Kornfeld writes:3 The verse says, "All of the nations shall praise Hashem... for He has shown His abundant kindness to us" (Tehilim 117). The Gemara asks why the nations thank Hashem if He showed His kindness to us. It answers that the verse means that the nations should thank Hashem for the wonders that He did with them, and certainly we must thank Hashem for the wonders that He did for us, because with us He has been extra benevolent. What does the Gemara mean? What kindness did Hashem do for the nations that obligates them to praise Him? RASHBAM (DH a'Gevuros) explains that Hashem constantly does wonders for the world at large. All people throughout the world benefit from Hashem's kindness, as He provides them with sustenance, life, and all of the marvelous elements of the world that provide them with their needs and give them pleasure. Since they benefit, they should also thank Hashem. How much more so must we thank Hashem, for His kindnesses to us are abundant. RASHI says that the nations should thank Hashem because they saw that Hashem did great wonders for the Jewish people.