Today’s daf TB Taanit 28 enumerates the times we are obligated to recite Hallel. “As Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak: On eighteen days a year, the individual completes the full hallel. And they are: The eight days of the festival of Sukkot, including the Eighth Day of Assembly; the eight days of Hanukkah; the first Festival day of Passover; and the Festival day of Assembly, i.e., Shavuot. And in the Diaspora, where a second day is added to each Festival due to uncertainty over the correct date, there are twenty-one days, and they are: The nine days of the festival of Sukkot, including the last day, known as the Celebration of the Torah, the eight days of Hanukkah, the first two days of Passover, and the two Festival days of Assembly” (Sefaria.org translation) You’ll notice that conspicuously absent from this list is Rosh Hodesh! Does that mean we should not recite Hallel on Rosh Hodesh? In fact, that’s exactly what Rav thought.
“On this topic, the Gemara relates: Rav happened to come to Babylonia,
where he saw that they were reciting hallel on a New Moon.
Unfamiliar with this practice, he thought to stop them, as he assumed
that they were reciting hallel unnecessarily. Once he saw that they
were omitting portions, he said: I can learn from this that they
are maintaining the custom of their forefathers (מִנְהַג אֲבוֹתֵיהֶם בִּידֵיהֶם), i.e., they know that it is a custom, not
an obligation. It is taught in a baraita: An individual should
not begin reciting hallel on a New Moon, but if he has begun he
should complete it.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Rav studied in
Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi’s and his uncle Rabbi Hiya’s yeshivas in Israel before he moved to Babylonia. Apparently the
Jews and Israel did not recite Hallel
on Rosh Hodesh. When Rav went to the
synagogue on Rosh Hodesh he was about
to stop the recitation of Hallel
until he saw them skip the first halves of Psalm 115 and 116. He then realized
that the Jews a Babylonia didn’t recite the Hallel
as a Torah obligation, but rather just had the custom (מִנְהַג-minhag) to recite the Hallel on Rosh Hodesh.
Tosefot ד"ה אמר מִנְהַג אֲבוֹתֵיהֶם בִּידֵיהֶם asks the question whether one should recite the blessing “… Who has commanded us to recite the Hallel” over the abbreviated Hallel since we are not commanded to recite this Hallel. In other words should we recite a blessing over a custom, minhag? Rebbeinu Tam uses the reasoning that the Jews a Babylonia must have recited a blessing. If they didn’t then recite a blessing, Rav would have realized from the outset that this was only their minhag.
We can divide the Rishonim into three distinct
opinions. The first group consisting of most of the Rishonim agree with Rebeinu
Tam saying we should recite the blessing over this Rosh Hodesh Hallel. The
second group which includes Rav Hai Gaon, Rabbeinu Chananel, and Talmidei Rabbeinu Yonah maintain that one recites a blessing when
saying it in public, but not in private. Finally Rambam holds that we do not
recite a blessing at all. The Shulkhan Arukh, Orekh Hayim 422:2 poskins like
the Rambam. Nevertheless, The Rama (422:2) writes that the Ashkenazi custom is
to say a blessing, even when reciting Hallel alone, but that it is preferable to say it with a minyan, in order to satisfy those [authorities] who hold
that one says the blessing only in public.
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