Yehallelucha: the closing blessing

One word swapped on purpose

The line is built on a verse in Tehillim: "All Your works will thank You, Hashem." The thanking word there is yoducha. This prayer opens with yehallelucha, "may they praise You," instead. Abudarham (Rabbi David Abudarham of Seville, who wrote a classic commentary on the prayers around 1340) says why: this blessing comes right after Hallel, so it opens with a word from the same root. The verse's own word is not lost. Yodu appears a few words later: "with joyful song let them thank."

The Mishnah never gives the words

The Mishnah, describing the Seder, says that over the fourth cup a person finishes Hallel and says "the blessing of the song." It does not say what that blessing is. The Gemara reports Rav Yehuda's answer: Yehallelucha. The Rambam (Maimonides, 1100s) states it plainly in his code of Jewish law. The other answer, Nishmat, comes up in the Yishtabach prayer.

Seder night changes the order

Since the Gemara left it open, Seder customs differ. The Tur (a code of Jewish law from the 1300s) gives three. The Rif (Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi, 1000s) said Yehallelucha, like Rav Yehuda. Rashbam (Rashi's grandson) said both, closing each with "Blessed are You." Rabbi Chaim Cohen (a Torah scholar of the 1100s) asked why close twice on one theme: he said Yehallelucha without its closing and closed once, at the end. The Haggadah in this siddur does the same.

A devoted one is someone who notices

Tehillim 145:10, the verse this blessing is built on, goes on: "Your devoted ones will bless You." Who are they? Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) says they are the ones who keep looking closely at what God made. Whenever they see living things keep renewing, and everything fitted together so well, they bless. He compares it to the blessings the Sages set for different sights. Even animals with no awareness "thank" God, he says, through the person who understands how they are made and fed.

Eight verbs or nine?

This Rosh Chodesh text has nine praise verbs from yodu to yamlichu, including vishoreru, "and sing." The Haggadah in this siddur has eight in this blessing and leaves that word out. The Maharal (Rabbi Yehudah Loew of Prague, who died in 1609) also counts only eight, and calls that the main version. He links eight to az, "then" (alef is 1, zayin is 7), the word that opens songs in Tanach such as "Then Moshe sang."

Angels follow the word. We can reach the will.

The Shem MiShmuel (talks by Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, the Sochatchover Rebbe, a Chassidic leader in Poland who died in 1926) notices that angels are called "those who do His word," while this blessing calls the Jewish people "those who do Your will." He explains the difference. A word is spoken out loud. A will is hidden. Angels do only what they hear spelled out. The Jewish people are given the ability to go down to the end of the intention and the will. Now read "those who do Your will" again.

דיבור הוא בהתגלות ורצון הוא במצפון... אבל לישראל ניתן להם לירד לסוף הכוונה והרצון

Thank You for everything that passes over us

Rabbi Shlomo Rabinowicz, the first Rebbe of Radomsk in Poland, reads "for all Your works" as everything that passes over us. He says we must thank God always, even when God deals with us with strict judgment, such as when something is missing in our body, our money, or our livelihood. He writes that when the full redemption comes, we will know it was all for good. And he reads "For to You it is good to give thanks" this way: being allowed to praise God is itself counted as good.

על כל מעשיך מה שעובר עלינו אנו מהללים אותך

Nothing is as good as this moment

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseczner Rebbe (a Chassidic rebbe in Poland), describes moments when a person is suddenly lifted above the world. Worldly thoughts fade, and he wants nothing but to praise God. When he says "For to You it is good to give thanks," he feels that nothing is as good for him as this hour, in which he gets to praise God. Now read "it is good" again.

מרגיש שבאמת אין טוב לו כשעה זו שזוכה לפאר אותו

Everything you can see is singing

The Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, an 18th-century sage born in Jerusalem) quotes the opening as his Haggadah has it, without the word "for": "All Your works shall praise You." He explains that everything in the heavens and on earth sings and praises, as Perek Shira lists. Perek Shira is a short text that gives each part of creation a verse to sing. He adds the saying that whoever says Perek Shira every day earns a place in the World to Come, because he says the praises of every creature.

כי כל צבא השמים ואשר בארץ הכל... משוררים ומשבחים כמפורש בפרק שירה

Do I say this blessing on Rosh Chodesh?

It depends on the custom. Hallel on Rosh Chodesh is a custom, not a commandment, so the Rambam (Maimonides, the great codifier of Jewish law) says it gets no blessing. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) says that was the practice in the Land of Israel in his day. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch) says that in his lands even a person alone blesses. The Aruch HaShulchan (a code of law from about 1900) reports both customs. This siddur prints both blessings.

I'm davening alone, or I got here late. Now what?

The Rema says to try to read Hallel with the congregation, so you bless with them. The Mishnah Berurah (a standard commentary on the Shulchan Aruch) adds: if you arrive near Hallel on Rosh Chodesh, say it with the congregation first, then pray. If you are in the opening psalms, stop for it, but skip the Hallel blessings, since Baruch She'amar and Yishtabach cover you. On full Hallel days, do not stop. On Rosh Chodesh, the Aruch HaShulchan answered Amen to the leader's blessings instead of saying them.

Is it different on Chanukah or Sukkot?

Yes. The Gemara lists the days when even a person alone says all of Hallel: Sukkot with Shemini Atzeret, Chanukah, the first day of Pesach, and Shavuot. That is 18 days in Israel and 21 outside it. The other days of Pesach skip parts, like Rosh Chodesh. On the full days the Rambam rules that everyone blesses before Hallel, and after it where that is the custom (his wording differs a little from ours). The Aruch HaShulchan says a person alone must bless on those days.

At the Seder, where does this blessing go?

We say both answers the Gemara gives for the "blessing of the song": Yehallelucha, and Nishmat, the long praise said on Shabbat. The Shulchan Aruch puts Yehallelucha last, after the Great Hallel (Tehillim 136), Nishmat and Yishtabach; the Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law book) says Sephardim do this. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (by the first Lubavitcher Rebbe) says the custom in his lands is to say it right after Hallel without its closing blessing, and close at Yishtabach.

Do girls say Hallel and bless it?

The Magen Avraham (a major commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, from the 1600s) says women are exempt from Hallel, since it is a commandment tied to a set time. The Biur Halacha (by the Mishnah Berurah's author) says women are obligated on Seder night, and that a woman may say Hallel and bless, it seems even on Rosh Chodesh, where we bless. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary) says women may say it if they wish, and quotes advice not to bless on Rosh Chodesh, since even men's blessing there is disputed.