Six Psalms Jews Have Sung at Every Miracle Since the Exodus
The Hallel — Psalms 113 through 118 — has been sung at every Jewish deliverance since the parting of the Red Sea. The Talmud says the Israelites sang it while the sea was still splitting. The rabbis debated why it is not said on every holiday.
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There are six psalms — Psalms 113 through 118 — that Jews sing as a unit at moments of national deliverance. The sequence is called Hallel, meaning "praise," and it opens with the famous command Hallelu-Yah — Praise God. The Talmud says the Israelites sang these exact psalms while standing in the midst of the split sea, the water walls still on either side of them. This is not metaphor. The Talmud's claim is that Hallel as a specific sequence was already known before the Exodus was complete — that the people sang their thanksgiving while the miracle was still happening, with wet sand under their feet and walls of water at their shoulders.
When Is Hallel Said?
The full Hallel (all six psalms) is recited on the first day(s) of Passover, all days of Sukkot, Shavuot, Hanukkah, and Rosh Hodesh (the new month) in some communities. The half-Hallel (Psalms 115-118 only, with two sections omitted) is said on the remaining days of Passover and on Rosh Hodesh. The Talmud in tractate Arachin (10a-b, compiled c. 500 CE) records the debate over which holidays warrant full Hallel versus partial or none: the full Hallel is said when the prohibition against labor applies for the entire holiday period; the partial Hallel is said when labor restrictions are partial; Hallel is not said at all on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur, because — the Talmud explains in a remarkable passage — the heavenly books are open and the fate of every soul is being adjudicated. It is not appropriate to sing while you are on trial.
What Does the Talmud Say About Passover's Partial Hallel?
The most famous explanation for the partial Hallel on the last days of Passover comes from Megillah (10b, compiled c. 500 CE) and is one of the most cited passages in Jewish liturgical theology: the ministering angels wished to sing Hallel when the Egyptians drowned in the sea. God silenced them: "My creatures are drowning in the sea and you are singing songs?" The same logic applies, the Talmud implies, to the final days of Passover — the joy of deliverance is real, but it cannot be complete when it rests on Egyptian deaths. The Midrash Rabbah on Exodus (Shemot Rabbah 23:7, compiled c. 400-500 CE) elaborates: Israel's full praise must wait for a deliverance that requires no one's death. The partial Hallel is grief carried inside joy — the two things coexisting without canceling each other.
What Are the Psalms Actually About?
The six psalms of Hallel move from general praise to specific narrative and back to praise. Psalm 113 praises God who lifts the poor from the dust and seats them among princes. Psalm 114 — arguably the most dramatic psalm in the Hebrew Bible — addresses the sea directly: "What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn backward?" The sea is addressed as a frightened creature. Psalm 115 contrasts the living God with idols that have mouths but cannot speak, ears but cannot hear. Psalm 116 is an individual thanksgiving for deliverance from death. Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the entire Hebrew Bible — just two verses calling all nations to praise. Psalm 118, which closes the sequence, contains the verse that has become perhaps the most quoted in all Jewish liturgy: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." The Tanchuma midrash (c. 800-900 CE) reads the progression of the six psalms as a map of spiritual development: from communal gratitude through individual crisis to universal vision.
How Is Hallel Connected to Hanukkah?
Unlike Passover and Sukkot, Hanukkah is a rabbinic holiday — it postdates the closing of the Hebrew Bible and is not commanded in the Torah. Yet full Hallel is said every day of Hanukkah — all eight days — while Passover's full Hallel is said only one day (or two in the diaspora). The Talmud in Arachin (10b, compiled c. 500 CE) notes this seeming anomaly and explains: on Passover, the sacrifice of the holiday is the same every day, so the Hallel need not be repeated in full each day. On Hanukkah, the central miracle — the menorah — involves a new and distinct event each night (the progressive lighting of candles), so each day has its own complete miracle warranting full praise. The Kabbalah collection at jewishmythology.com contains Zoharic texts (c. 1280 CE) that read the eight lights of Hanukkah as corresponding to the eight days of creation (seven days plus the Sabbath), making Hanukkah the holiday of primordial light restored. Explore the full tradition of Hallel and Jewish liturgical praise in our collection at jewishmythology.com.