Pesachim 118a — the Talmud in English

And we raised it:

What is the blessing of the song?

And we answer:

Rav Yehuda said: “They will praise You, Hashem our God”

which they always recite after Hallel, and he concludes with “King praised with praises”; and “the blessing of the song” means the blessing of praise.

And Rabbi Yohanan said: “The soul of every living thing”

This is the blessing of the song mentioned in the Mishna. And not “They will praise You,” for they recite “They will praise You” every time they recite Hallel, so what does the Mishna come to teach us? Rather, certainly one must add another blessing, besides “They will praise You.”

The Sages taught:

The

fourth cup—he completes Hallel over it, and says

the Great Hallel

[and below it explains this],

the words of Rabbi Tarfon.

And some say:

that he recites “A psalm of David,

Hashem is my shepherd, I shall not lack,”

to give thanks for the food that they ate.

And we raised it:

From where is the Great Hallel?

And we answer:

Rabbi Yehuda says: From “Give thanks

to Hashem, for He is good,”

until

“By the rivers of Babylon”

[Psalms 136].

And Rabbi Yohanan says: From “A song of ascents”

until

“By the rivers of Babylon.”

Rav Aha bar Yaakov said: From “For Jacob, He chose Yah for Himself”

[there, chapter 135]

until

“By the rivers of Babylon.”

And why is its name called the Great Hallel?

Rabbi Yohanan said: Because the Holy One, blessed be He, sits in the height of the world and apportions food to every creature,

and that is a great matter. And therefore it is called the Great Hallel, because it is written there: “He gives bread to all flesh.”

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: These twenty-six

“Give thanks”

in the Great Hallel [for there are twenty-six verses there, and the meaning of each and every verse is as though “Give thanks” were written at its beginning],

correspond to what?

They correspond to the twenty-six generations that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world but did not give them Torah,

for the Torah was given only after twenty-six generations from the first man,

and sustained them with His kindness

even though they were not worthy of this without Torah.

Rav Hisda said: What is

the explanation of this

that is written

“Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good”?

Its explanation is:

Give thanks to Hashem, for He collects a person’s debt

if he sins,

with his good,

with the good that He bestowed upon him.

The wealthy man, with his ox; the poor man, with his sheep; the orphan, with his egg; and the widow, with her hen!

For they lose money and thereby atone for their bodies.

And this is what he says: “For He is good, for His kindness is everlasting”—He does kindness to the world through “for He is good,” through the good that He gave to a person; by this He takes it from him in exchange for his body.

Rabbi Yohanan said: A person’s sustenance is as difficult as the birth pangs,

for the distress of labor after sustenance is double the distress of childbirth.

For whereas concerning a woman in childbirth it is written

“In pain

you shall bear children,”

and concerning sustenance it is written

“With sorrow

you shall eat it all the days of your life”; and “with sorrow” implies a plural expression [Maharsha].

And Rabbi Yohanan said: A person’s sustenance is more difficult than redemption.

For whereas concerning redemption it is written

“The angel who redeems me from every evil,” an angel merely,

whereas concerning sustenance it is written

“The God who shepherds me,”

that is, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Adam

“And thorn and thistle shall it grow for you,” his eyes shed tears.

He said before Him: Master of the Universe!

Is it that

I and my donkey shall eat from one manger?

For the first man thought that he too would eat thorns and thistles.

Once He said to him

the Holy One, blessed be He,

“By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread,” his mind was calmed.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Fortunate are we if we had remained as at first,

for nevertheless what He said to us, “By the sweat of your brow,” did not benefit us. It would have been better if we had been as before the sin of the first man, when our sustenance was available without exertion [Maharsha].

Abaye said:

[Maharsha’s version]

And still we have not escaped from it,

we are not entirely free from this.

For we eat the herbs of the field,

the herbs of the field without any exertion at all; that is, a little of the state of the first man before the sin has remained for us.

Rav Shizbi said in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya: A person’s sustenance is as difficult as the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.

That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, performs a great miracle for one to whom He gives sustenance, as He did for Israel, for whom He split the Sea of Reeds [and the practical implication of this is that a person should request mercy for his sustenance, Rashbam].

For it is written

“He gives bread to all flesh,” and adjacent to it is

“To Him who split the Sea of Reeds into sections.”

Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya said: A person’s bodily openings are as difficult

when he is constipated,

as the day of death and as the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.

As it is stated

“Hasten the one imprisoned

[an expression of being detained]

to be opened,

and he will not die,”

and it is written afterward

“He stills the sea and its waves roar.”

And Rav Sheshet said in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya: Whoever treats the festivals with contempt,

who performs work on the intermediate days of the festival,

it is as though he worships idolatry.

As it is stated

“You shall not make molten gods for yourself,” and it is written afterward

“You shall observe the Festival of Matzot.”

[And from this verse we learn the prohibition of work on the intermediate days of the festival. Rashbam.]

And Rav Sheshet said in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya: Whoever speaks evil speech,

and whoever

accepts evil speech

who believes the statements [nevertheless, one must be cautious, Rashbam],

and whoever gives false testimony against his fellow, it is fitting to cast him to the dogs.

As it is stated

“You shall cast it to the dog,” and it is written afterward

“You shall not bear a false report,”

that you shall not accept evil speech,

and read in it

“You shall not cause to be accepted,”

that you shall not cause others to accept evil speech.

And we raised it:

And since there is the Great Hallel

which is more praiseworthy, as was explained above, that “He gives bread to all flesh” is written in it,

why do we recite

on the festivals and for every trouble that should not come

this,

our Hallel?

And we answer:

Because it contains these five matters

of redemption:

a.

The Exodus from Egypt.

b.

And the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.

c.

And the giving of the Torah.

d.

And the revival of the dead.

e.

And the birth pangs of the Messiah.

And the Gemara explains: a.

The Exodus from Egypt, for it is written

“When Israel went out from Egypt.”

b.

And the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, for it is written

“The sea saw and fled.”

c.

The giving of the Torah, for it is written

“The mountains danced like rams,”

at the time of the giving of the Torah.

d.

The revival of the dead, for it is written

“I shall walk before Hashem

in the lands of the living.”

e.

The birth pangs of the Messiah, for it is written

“Not for our sake, Hashem, not for our sake.”

And Rabbi Yohanan said: “Not for our sake, Hashem

not

for our sake”—this is the subjugation of the kingdoms.

[For this matter we do not request by our merit. Maharsha.]

Some say: Rabbi Yohanan said: “Not for our sake, Hashem, not for our sake”—this is the war of Gog and Magog.

Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said:

The reason that we recite our Hallel is

because it contains the deliverance of the souls of the righteous from Gehinnom.

As it is stated

“Please, Hashem, save my soul.”

Hezekiah said:

The reason is

because it contains the descent of the righteous

[Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah]

into the fiery furnace, and their ascent from it.

Their descent: for it is written

“Not for our sake, Hashem, not for our sake,” Hananiah said

when descending into the fiery furnace.

“But for Your name’s sake give honor,” Mishael said.

“For Your kindness and for Your truth,” Azariah said.

“Why should the nations say?” they all said.

Their ascent from the fiery furnace: for it is written

“Praise Hashem, all nations,” Hananiah said.

“Praise Him, all peoples,” Mishael said.

“For His kindness has prevailed over us,” Azariah said.

“And the truth of Hashem is forever, Halleluyah,” they all said.

And some say: “And the truth of Hashem is forever”—Gabriel said it.

For

when the wicked Nimrod cast Abraham our father into the fiery furnace,

Gabriel said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe!

I

shall descend and cool

the furnace

and save the righteous man from the fiery furnace.

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: I am unique in My world, and he

Abraham,

is unique in his world! And

it is

fitting for the Unique One to save the unique one!

That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself saved him.

And because the Holy One, blessed be He, does not withhold the reward of any creature,

He said

to Gabriel:

You will merit to save three of the descendants

of Abraham our father from the fiery furnace; namely, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

And when the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfilled His promise to Gabriel and Gabriel saved them from the fiery furnace, he said, “And the truth of Hashem is forever,” for He fulfills His promise.

Rabbi Shimon HaShiloni expounded: When the wicked Nebuchadnezzar cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace, Yurkemo, the prince of hail, stood before the Holy One, blessed be He,

and

said before Him: Master of the Universe! I shall descend and cool the furnace and save these righteous men from the fiery furnace.

Gabriel said to

Yurkemo:

The might of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not in this! For

indeed

you are the prince of hail, and everyone knows that water extinguishes fire!