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Hallel's thank-you: what can I give back? Then Tehillim 117 calls on all nations.
Also said at Chanukah.
Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.
No author is named. Rashi (the classic commentator on Tanach, France, died 1105) says Tehillim 116 is David speaking after King Shaul died and David became king. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, a commentator in Provence, around 1200) reads the speaker of these verses as someone who ran away and lived in exile, made vows then, and now pays them in Jerusalem in front of everyone. He says Tehillim 117 looks ahead to the days of the Messiah.
These are the last eight verses of Tehillim 116 plus all of Tehillim 117, just before Hodu. On Rosh Chodesh the Tur (a major code of Jewish law, 1300s) has the Hallel skip Ahavti, then begin Mah Ashiv, which everyone reads together up to Hodu.
Rashi on Tehillim 116:1; Radak on Tehillim 116:14, 116:18, 117:1; Tur, Orach Chaim 422Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.
On Rosh Chodesh and the middle and last days of Pesach, skip the first part of this psalm ("I love...") and start here:
מָה אָשִׁיב לַייָ, כָּל תַּגְמוּלוֹהִי עָלָי.
What can I give back to Hashem for all the good He has done for me?
Radak: everything He gave me is now on me to answer in kind, if I even can. There was no merit in me that forced Him to do it. It was all kindness.
Radak on Tehillim 116:12כּוֹס יְשׁוּעוֹת אֶשָּׂא, וּבְשֵׁם יְיָ אֶקְרָא.
I will raise a cup of rescues and call out in Hashem's name.
Rashi (the classic commentator on Tanach, France, died 1105), on this verse: the cup is the wine poured with the thanksgiving offering, since the Levites (the Temple singers) sang only over wine.
Rashi on Tehillim 116:13נְדָרַי לַייָ אֲשַׁלֵּם, נֶגְדָה נָּא לְכָל עַמּוֹ.
I will pay my vows to Hashem right now, in front of all His people.
Radak: these are vows he made while running for his life and in exile. If God brought him home, he would pay. Now he pays, in front of everyone.
Radak on Tehillim 116:14יָקָר בְּעֵינֵי יְיָ הַמָּוְתָה לַחֲסִידָיו.
Costly in Hashem's eyes is the death of His loyal ones.
The death of His loyal ones is costly in Hashem's eyes.
Yakar usually means "precious." Rashi and Ibn Ezra (Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra, Spain, 1100s) hear "heavy, hard": it is hard for God to let His loyal ones die. Radak: it is costly in His eyes to end their lives before their time, as in "their blood is costly in His eyes" (Tehillim 72:14).
Rashi, Ibn Ezra and Radak on Tehillim 116:15; Tehillim 72:14אָנָּה יְיָ כִּי אֲנִי עַבְדֶּךָ, אֲנִי עַבְדְּךָ בֶּן אֲמָתֶךָ, פִּתַּחְתָּ לְמוֹסֵרָי.
O Hashem, for I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant. You untied my bonds.
Radak on "You untied my bonds": this is not literal. His examples come from David's life, when he came close to being caught, as at the Rock of Separation (Shmuel I 23:28).
Radak on Tehillim 116:16; Shmuel I 23:28לְךָ אֶזְבַּח זֶבַח תּוֹדָה, וּבְשֵׁם יְיָ אֶקְרָא.
To You I will offer a thanksgiving offering, and call out in Hashem's name.
A thanksgiving offering had to be eaten on the day it was brought, with none left until morning (Vayikra 7:15). Radak reads "I will call out" as inviting many people to share the offering, so that they hear his thanks.
Vayikra 7:15; Radak on Tehillim 116:17נְדָרַי לַייָ אֲשַׁלֵּם, נֶגְדָה נָּא לְכָל עַמּוֹ.
I will pay my vows to Hashem right now, in front of all His people.
The verse comes back word for word. Radak: it repeats to say where, in the courtyards of Hashem's house, the house in Jerusalem where the Ark (the chest that held the Tablets from Sinai) stood. Ibn Ezra: he will not pay this vow anywhere but in Hashem's house.
Radak and Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 116:18בְּחַצְרוֹת בֵּית יְיָ בְּתוֹכֵכִי יְרוּשָׁלָיִם, הַלְלוּיָהּ.
In the courtyards of Hashem's house, in your midst, Jerusalem. Halleluyah.
Metzudat David (a commentary from the 1700s): you who stand in the Temple courtyards, praise God when you hear the miracle that happened to me. Radak: the closing Halleluyah is the speaker telling his people, all of you, praise Yah.
Metzudat David and Radak on Tehillim 116:19הַלְלוּ אֶת יְיָ כָּל גּוֹיִם, שַׁבְּחוּהוּ כָּל הָאֻמִּים.
Praise Hashem, all you nations. Sing His praise, all you peoples.
Why would the nations praise God for what He did for Israel? The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) passes on an explanation from Rabbi Yosei: they are told to praise Him for the mighty acts and wonders He did before their eyes. All the more so should we, over whom His kindness prevailed.
Pesachim 118bכִּי גָבַר עָלֵינוּ חַסְדּוֹ, וֶאֱמֶת יְיָ לְעוֹלָם, הַלְלוּיָהּ.
For His kindness has prevailed over us, and Hashem's truth is forever. Halleluyah.
A teacher in the Gemara named Chizkiyah says Hallel also hints at Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Daniel's friends, whom Babylon's king threw into a fiery furnace. Coming out, each said a piece of these two verses, and all together said the last words.
Pesachim 118a; Daniel 1:7, 2:17 and 3:20Stand for Hallel. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) rules that reading Hallel is done standing.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 422:7The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) pictures a feast God will make for the righteous in the future. Afterward the cup for Grace after Meals is offered to Avraham, who says no. It passes to Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe and Yehoshua, and each refuses. Moshe says he never entered the Land of Israel. Yehoshua says he was not given a son. David takes it: it is right for him to bless, because it is written, "I will raise a cup of rescues."
Pesachim 119bMizmor LeTodah and Eizehu Mekoman, part 2 already tell the teaching from Vayikra Rabbah (a collection of rabbinic teachings on Vayikra) that in the future every offering will end except the thanksgiving offering, and every prayer except thanks. This part of Hallel names that same offering out loud: "To You I will offer a thanksgiving offering" (Tehillim 116:17).
Vayikra Rabbah 9:7; Tehillim 116:17Midrash Tanchuma (a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Torah) says praise rises to God when good comes ("Blessed is the Good One who does good") and when bad comes ("Blessed is the true Judge"). It puts two lines of this psalm side by side: "I will raise a cup of rescues" and "I came upon trouble and sorrow, and I called out in Hashem's name." The second is in the part Rosh Chodesh skips. The Mishnah (the first written collection of rabbinic teachings) makes it a rule: bless over the bad as over the good.
Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 10; Mishnah Berakhot 9:5"I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant." Why add the second half? Rashi (the classic commentator on Tanach, France, 1000s) says the two are not alike: a servant raised in the household is not like one bought at the market. The Midrash Tehillim (a collection of rabbinic teachings on Tehillim) says the same, then offers another reason: David is a descendant of Ruth, who said to Boaz, "I am Ruth, your maidservant."
Rashi on Tehillim 116:16; Midrash Tehillim 116:11; Ruth 3:9"You untied my bonds." Rashi (the classic commentator, France, 1000s) reads it simply: God took the ropes and yokes off my neck. Rava, a sage of the Gemara, hears David talking about his family. The Torah says an Ammonite or Moabite man may not marry into the Jewish people, and the rabbis taught that this does not cover women. David's family included Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite. Those, says Rava, are the two bonds God untied.
Rashi on Tehillim 116:16; Yevamot 77a; Rashi on Devarim 23:4The Gemara lists ten things to do with the cup of wine used for Grace after Meals. One is to lift it a handbreadth, a few inches, from the ground. Rav Acha, son of Rabbi Chanina, finds the source in this prayer: "I will raise a cup of rescues, and call out in Hashem's name."
Berakhot 51a-51bOn Rosh Chodesh we skip two sections of Hallel and say this one. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) calls that the common custom and adds that some skip another way. The Rambam (Maimonides, the great codifier of Jewish law, 1100s) describes a different pattern and calls his the common custom. In his, Tehillim 117 and the opening verses of 118 are skipped too, so he jumps from the end of Mah Ashiv to Min Hametzar. He also says some skip another way.
Mishnah Berurah 422:12; Rambam, Laws of Megillah and Chanukah 3:8The psalm opens with a question it seems to know has no good answer: "What can I give back to Hashem for all the good He has done for me?" God does not need anything from a person. So what is there to give?
Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, a commentator on Tehillim in Provence, around 1200) takes the question at face value. All that was dealt out to me is on me to return, he says, if I can. But there was no merit in me that forced Him to do what He did. It was all kindness from Him.
The Mesillat Yesharim (The Path of the Just, a classic book on character from the 1700s) quotes this verse to describe a feeling many people know. A poor person who is handed a gift cannot help feeling ashamed, and the more kindness he gets, the more ashamed he feels. The same is true of anyone who sees clearly how much he has been given.
Then the psalm answers, and the answer is small: "I will raise a cup of rescues, and call out in Hashem's name." Rashi (the classic commentator, France, 1000s) says the cup is the wine poured with the thanksgiving offerings the speaker had promised, because the Levites, the singers in the Temple, sing only over wine. Radak also allows a plain reading: at a feast, raise a cup and thank Him in front of many people.
Midrash Tehillim (a collection of rabbinic teachings on Tehillim) notices which offering is named. Someone who owes a sin offering brings a sin offering. Here the speaker names no sin offering and no guilt offering, only a thanksgiving offering. In the Midrash's words: I owe You thanks.
The psalm says the vows will be paid "in front of all His people." Radak says these are vows made while on the run, and that the speaker calls many people to come to the offering and hear his thanks. Put together, the sources point to something small and public: thanks said out loud, with other people there, and promises kept.
Tehillim 116:12-14, 116:17,Radak and Rashi on Tehillim 116:12-14,Radak on Tehillim 116:17,Mesillat Yesharim 22:19,Midrash Tehillim 116:12The line is: "Yakar in Hashem's eyes is the death of His loyal ones." Many translations say "precious." But the commentators did not all read the word yakar the same way.
Rashi (the classic commentator, France, 1000s) says: God showed me that it is a hard and heavy thing in His eyes to put His loyal ones to death. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, a commentator on Tehillim in Provence, around 1200) compares yakar to Tehillim 72:14, where the same root says that the blood of the poor is dear in the king's eyes. He explains the line this way: killing His loyal ones before their time is a weighty matter to God. The speaker is one of them, so God saved him from death.
That makes this the voice of someone who was rescued. In the full psalm, a few verses earlier, he says: "You saved my soul from death" (116:8). On Rosh Chodesh that verse is skipped, so the line about death arrives without its setup.
Midrash Tehillim (a collection of rabbinic teachings on Tehillim) goes another way. It lists ten things Tanach calls yakar, ending with the death of the righteous. After a parable about a king, it has God say: it is hard in My eyes to tell Avraham that he must die, since he went into the furnace for My name. He says the same of Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe and David.
The Midrash then adds: the righteous would not die unless they asked for it themselves, and it points to verses where Avraham, Moshe, David and others speak of their own death. Since they ask, God says: let these step aside for those. If Avraham were still alive, how could Yitzchak lead? In this reading, the death of good people makes room for the next generation.
These readings do not agree on what the word means. They agree that God does not treat the death of good people as nothing. None of them says why the line sits in the middle of a happy Hallel. Radak comes closest: the speaker was near death, and was saved.
Tehillim 116:15,Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 116:15,Tehillim 72:14, 116:8,Midrash Tehillim 116:8Tehillim 117 is the shortest of the 150 psalms, just two verses: "Praise Hashem, all you nations. Sing His praise, all you peoples. For His kindness has prevailed over us, and Hashem's truth is forever." It calls on the nations, then gives a reason that sounds like it is about someone else.
The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) asks what business the nations have here. It passes on a teaching of Rabbi Yosei (a sage of the Mishnah), sent by his son: they should praise God for the mighty acts and wonders He did with them, and all the more so we, over whom His kindness has prevailed.
Midrash Tehillim (a collection of rabbinic teachings on Tehillim) tells it as a conversation. Rabbi Shimon asks his father, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the editor of the Mishnah, who "all nations" and "all peoples" are. The first group enslaved Israel. The second did not. The second group says: if those who enslaved Israel praise God, all the more so we. Then they begin: "For His kindness has prevailed over us."
On the first verse, the same Midrash tells of a man who asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya (a sage of the Mishnah) on what day the whole world bows to God together. His answer is rain: when it holds back everyone is distressed, and when it falls everyone is glad and praises God.
Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, a commentator in Provence, around 1200) reads the psalm as being about the days of the Messiah. Two verses hint at two groups: Israel with their Torah, and everyone else with seven commandments. The kindness is bringing Israel out of exile, which the nations did not believe could happen.
Ibn Ezra (a Spanish commentator who died in the 1160s) gives a plainer reading. For him, "all nations" are the nations under King David's rule, and the kindness is God keeping everyone alive and fed. So the sources do not agree on who the nations are, who "us" is, or when this happens.
Tehillim 117:1-2,Pesachim 118b,Midrash Tehillim 117:1-2,Radak and Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 117Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.
Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, an Italian Kabbalist who died in 1746) brings this verse in Mesillat Yesharim, his guide to building character, in the chapter on humility. His point: a good quality is no reason to be proud. Every good quality a person reaches is only God's kindness to him, so all he can do is thank the One who gave it and become humbler all the time. The essay on paying God back tells his picture of the poor man and the gift. Now read the first line again with your own strengths in mind.
כל מעלה שהוא משיג, אינו אלא חסד אל עליו... אין לו אלא להודות למי שחננו וליכנע תמיד יותר.
Mesillat Yesharim 22:18-19Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz (a Chassidic rebbe in Galicia, in today's southern Poland, who died in 1827) starts from the problem. The Nishmat prayer says we could not thank God enough for even one of the thousands upon thousands of favors He does. So how could anyone repay? His answer: God made everything for His own glory, so a person should not treat what he is given as his to keep. Wealth is for giving charity. Honor is a chance to make God's honor greater. He sets a high bar: "I give back all He gave me" means keeping none of it for yourself.
עושר ליתן צדקה... שלא אקח לעצמי כלום מהטובות
Zera Kodesh, Parashat TzavThe Maharal (Rabbi Yehudah Loew of Prague, who died in 1609) explains this verse in Gevurot Hashem, his book about the Exodus and Passover. The rescue is called a "cup" because anything a person receives is called a cup. "I will raise" means to make it visible, because a thing that is lifted is seen. Calling out in Hashem's name means blessing Him for it. This is what a person owes: not to take the good and say nothing, but to tell many people. He reads "in front of all His people" in the next line the same way: make the praise known.
שלא יהיה כפוי טובה, רק יפרסם את התשועה לרבים
Maharal, Gevurot Hashem, chapter 64The Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger, a Chassidic leader who died in 1905) speaks of this verse in his Chanukah teachings, when Hallel marks a rescue. He passes on a teaching about "You untied my bonds": the moment God frees me, I am His servant. Being God's servant is built into the souls of the Jewish people from birth, which is what "son of Your maidservant" points to. Being ruled by other kingdoms blocked it. When we are free, it shows. So we ask to be freed not to belong only to ourselves, but to take on serving God.
כאשר פתחת למוסרי מיד נעשיתי עבדך... כי הבקשה להוציאנו משעבוד מלכיות אינו כדי להיות בני חורין לנו לעצמינו
Sefat Emet, Chanukah, 5646 (1885)The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (a short guide to daily Jewish law, from the 1860s) says the person leading Birkat Hamazon (the blessings after a meal) holds the cup a handbreadth above the table, "as it is written: I will raise a cup of rescues." The Mishnah Berurah (a commentary on Jewish law from around 1900) gives the reason: so everyone at the table can see the cup. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who records Ashkenazi custom) adds that people say this verse before Havdalah at home, as a good sign.
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 45:4; Mishnah Berurah 183:16; Rema, Orach Chaim 296:1In a time of trouble, yes. The Shulchan Aruch tells people not to make a habit of vows, not even for charity, but rules that in a time of trouble a vow is allowed. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch says a vow to give something to holy use is a mitzvah to keep, and quotes this prayer: "I will pay my vows to Hashem." He warns that saying you will do a mitzvah can bind you even if you never said the word "vow," so he says to add bli neder, "without a vow."
Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 203:1, 203:4-5; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 67:1, 67:3-4אומר לו לדוד טול וברך אומר להן אני אברך ולי נאה לברך שנאמר כוס ישועות אשא ובשם ה׳ אקרא.
He says to David: take it and bless. David answers: I will bless, and it is right for me to bless, as it is said, "I will raise a cup of rescues, and call out in Hashem's name."
ומגביהו מן הקרקע טפח אמר רב אחא ברבי חנינא מאי קראה כוס ישועות אשא ובשם ה׳ אקרא.
And he lifts it a handbreadth from the ground. Rav Acha, son of Rabbi Chanina, asks: what is the verse for this? "I will raise a cup of rescues, and call out in Hashem's name."
לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא כָּל הַקָּרְבָּנוֹת בְּטֵלִין וְקָרְבַּן תּוֹדָה אֵינוֹ בָּטֵל, כָּל הַתְּפִלּוֹת בְּטֵלוֹת, הַהוֹדָאָה אֵינָהּ בְּטֵלָה.
In the future, all the offerings will be canceled, but the thanksgiving offering will not be canceled. All the prayers will be canceled, but thanksgiving will not be canceled.
לא היה בי זכות, שהיה עליו לעשות לי מה שעשה אלא הכל חסד מאתו.
There was no merit in me that required Him to do what He did. It was all kindness from Him.
עבדך בן אמתך. אינו דומה תרבות עבד הלקוח מן השוק לילוד משפחה שבבית.
"Your servant, the son of Your maidservant." The upbringing of a servant bought at the market is not like that of one born into the household.
אמר דוד לפני הקב"ה רבונו של עולם שני מוסרות שהיו עלי פתחתם רות המואביה ונעמה העמונית.
David said before the Holy One: Master of the world, You untied two bonds that were on me: Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite.
הראני הקדוש ברוך הוא, שדבר קשה וכבד הוא בעיניו להמית את חסידיו.
The Holy One showed me that it is a hard and heavy thing in His eyes to put His loyal ones to death.
הללו את ה׳ כל גוים אגבורות ונפלאות דעביד בהדייהו כל שכן אנו דגבר עלינו חסדו.
"Praise Hashem, all you nations" means: for the mighty acts and wonders He did with them. All the more so should we, over whom His kindness has prevailed.
מה אם אלו ששעבדו בישראל מקלסין להקב"ה אנו שלא שעבדנו בהן על אחת כמה וכמה. התחילו אומרים כי גבר עלינו חסדו.
If these, who enslaved Israel, praise the Holy One, then all the more so we, who did not enslave them. They began to say: "For His kindness has prevailed over us."
ומדלג ואומר מה אשיב לה' עד הללויה ומדלג ואומר מן המצר קראתי יה עד סוף ההלל. זה הוא המנהג הפשוט. ויש מדלגין דילוג אחר.
He skips and says "Mah ashiv" up to "Halleluyah." Then he skips and says "Min hametzar" to the end of Hallel. This is the common custom. Some skip in another way.
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