HALLEL ON CHANUKAH

Our Chochomim enacted that we should read the whole of Hallel every day of Chanukah to praise Hashem for all the miracles and salvations including those of Chanukah. But where is the נס of Chanukah hinted at in הלל.

If one takes the posek אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא, the first letters, ראשי תיבות, add up numerically to 66. This is exactly the numerical value of יון, Greece. It was מלכות יון, the Hellenistic Kingdom, that Dovid Hamelech saw in advance and he was pleading with Hashem that the Chashmonoim should have a ישועה, a salvation in their fight against Antiochus and his henchmen.

Furthermore, the ראשי תיבות, first letters, of the next phrase אנא יהו'' הצליחה נא, also equals 66 and also refers to יון, the Hellenists. This was to reinforce the fact that after they had achieved salvation, they should have further success, הצלחה.

We also say in the Hallel, הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, praise ה' because He is good, His kindness is forever. This is followed by further pesukim with the phrase כי לעולם חסדו repeated. The first letters of כי לעולם חסדו add up to 58 this is exactly the same as the ראשי תיבות, the first letters of, נר חנוכה, which also add up to 58, therefore, one has a further hint to Chanukah in Hallel, namely we praise Him for His kindness concerning the נס of Chanukah.

One can add, I think, that the famous son of Mattisyahu known as יהודה המכבי, is called so because before every battle, he used to rally his troops against far superior numbers and better equipped enemies with the rallying call of מי כמכה באלים יהו''. The first letters of that phrase are מכבי.

He was telling his faithful followers that in the same way as at the time of the קריעת ים סוף, there appeared to be no natural way for the Bnei Yisroel to escape the oncoming army of Pharoh. Nevertheless, Hashem made the miracle of splitting the sea and the Egyptians lost the battle and were drowned. Likewise, יהודה המכבי told his troops, Hashem will help us against all odds!! And so it was.

The letters מ כ ב י add up together to 72 and this, the Zohar Hakodosh (see also Rashi on a Mishnah in Succah מ''ה) tells us was the שם ע''ב, the name of Hashem as spelled out amounting numerically to 72. This, in turn, is taken from the three verses before the Shira which commence with the words ויסע ויט ויבא, the last words at the end of the third verse are ויבקעו המים, the waters split. 72 is also the gemmatria of חסד.

Please note that the second chapter of הלל speaks about קריעת ים סוף. Once again we have a connection between Hallel and Chanukah.

To return to Hallel, the verse before אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא is as follows זה היום עשה יהו'' נגילה ונשמחה בו, this is the day made by Hashem, let us be happy and rejoice in it.

Again this can refer to Chanukah.

The numerical value of the first letters of that posuk are 150.

The next verse continues אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא, the first letters together totalling 66. Added to the previous 150 mentioned just above, they total 216. That is exactly the complete numerical value of שם ע''ב which itself consists always of three letters one from each verse mentioned above (ויסע ויט ויבא) three times 72 equals 216.

כ כסלו תשס''ט