Q & A - WITH RABBI RISKIN
Question:
Should one recite Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim?
Answer:
Clearly, the most significant event for the Jewish people in the last two thousand years is the establishment of the State of Israel.
My teacher, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, of blessed memory, explained in his essay "Kol Dodi Dofek" [“The Sound of My Beloved Knocks”] the greatness of the miracle. He pointed out that our nation, which had been cut off from its homeland, survived the temptations of assimilation and the terrible suffering of persecution in the exile to return home and receive United Nations recognition including the exceptional agreement of both Russia and America. The multiple miracles of victories in the War of Independence, the Six Day War and The Yom Kippur War only added to the sense of Divine intervention, just as the rabbis of the Haggadah noted the ever-increasing miracles that took place at the time of the Exodus and the crossing of the Reed Sea.
Nevertheless, recognition of the miracle is to a large extent dependent upon the perspective of the viewer. The Rambam in his “Guide for the Perplexed” connects one definition of the word "nes" – a miracle – to another definition of the same word – a flag or a banner. A flag may be just a piece of cloth to one person, but to others it is a national symbol for which they willing to give up their lives. There are significant numbers of Jews including Israeli citizens and even religious Jews who do not recognize the great miracle of the ingathering of the exiles which allowed all Jews to feel safe and proud after the Holocaust. We can only feel pity for their blindness and pray that all eyes will behold and recognize God's merciful miracle returning us to Zion.
But even amongst our communities which do recognize the miracle of our return, there is a halachic debate about whether or not to recite Hallel with a blessing on Yom Ha'atzmaut.
Those who doubt the need to make the blessing quote the following passage from the Talmud:
Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: Moses and Israel sang the song which is written in the Torah as they came out of the Sea. But who said Hallel? The prophets amongst them decreed that Israel should say it on every momentous occasion and when they were redeemed from any tragedy. (Pesachim 117a).
Rashi, in his commentary to this passage, says that this refers to festivals like Chanukah. That is to say that we recite Hallel at times when the Jewish people were saved from clear danger. This, they argue, justifies the recital of Hallel on Chanukah and even on Yom Yerushalayim – but not on Yom Ha'atzmaut. After all, Israel's Independence Day was established in the middle of the War of Independence, marking the day on which David Ben Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State. This was the day before the Gush Etzion block was defeated and shortly afterward the Old City also fell. Therefore, what reason is there to justify reciting Hallel with a blessing on Yom Ha'atzmaut?
It seems to me that anyone who know the history of the Second World War and who has read Hitler's "Mein Kampf" understands that the Nazis had two enemies: the free world and the Jewish people. When the war intensified, instead of reinforcing his troops, Hitler directed his troops to kill Jews. Therefore, if on May 5, 1945 the world celebrated the defeat of Hitler, on 5 Iyar 5708, the Jewish people celebrate the defeat of Hitler – through the establishment of the State of Israel. For us, the war was an unbearable tragedy with six million holy martyrs, but Yom Ha'atzmaut signifies our ultimate victory: that the Jewish people lives, and that eventually we will merit the ultimate redemption, may it come speedily in our days!
