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Justification for the recital of the hallel liturgy on the fifth of Iyar. Prayers for Independence Day were first formulated by the Israel Chief Rabbinate in 1949. The festive evening service is introduced by thanksgiving Psalms (107, 97, 98) and concludes with the sounding of the shofar, to the accompaniment of the petition: "May it be Thy will, that as we have been deemed worthy to witness the beginning of redemption, so also may we be deemed worthy to hear the shofar announcing the Messiah, speedily in our days." The morning service includes the Sabbath festival introductory Psalms, Nishmat, the Hallel, and the haftarah (Isa. 10:32–11:12) that is read on the last day of Passover in the Diaspora, but without the accompanying benedictions. Tahanun is also omitted as on all festive days.
From the moment of publication many religious elements in Israel felt that the Chief Rabbinate's order of service represented an inadequate and halfhearted expression of the historic nature of the occasion. Criticism was directed against the omission of the benedictions before the Hallel and haftarah, of the She-HeHeyanu, and of the reading of a special portion of the Torah. These omissions have been demonstratively remedied in some orthodox congregations in Israel, chiefly those of Ha-Kibbutz ha-Dati and the Army rabbinate. The former has printed its own mahzor under the imprimatur of the Army chief chaplain, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, and Rabbi Elimelech Bar-Shaul of Rehovot, prescribing the recital of She-Heheyanu over Kiddush and Al ha-Nissim in the Amidah. Three persons are called to the Torah, the portion read being Deuteronomy 7:1–8:18. Some synagogues read Deuteronomy 30:1–10. These deviations from the official order of service in respect of the Hallel and She-Heheyanu benedictions were also authorized by Rabbi Meshullam Rath of the Chief Rabbinate Council in a responsum in 1952 to an inquiry of Rabbi Judah Maimon, the minister of religious affairs. His ruling reflected the actual opinion of most members of the Chief Rabbinate Council including Chief Rabbi Isaac ha-Levi Herzog. The order of service finally adopted by the council represented an attempt to placate the objections of the more orthodox circles to any changes in the liturgy. The religious establishment continued to maintain this "no-change" attitude even after the Six-Day War when the demand grew to give appropriate expression to the restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple site in the daily prayers and even to the abolition of the Fast Days commemorating its original wresting from Jewish rule.
The Chief Rabbinate's order of service has been incorporated into two standard editions of Israel prayer books and in one issued in Hebrew and English in London, 1964, under the imprimatur of Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie. In the latter, however, the Hallel has been cut down to half as on Rosh Hodesh, following the precedent set by Rabbi Moshe Zvi Neriah of Kefar ha-Ro'eh, Israel. In 1962 he compiled a Tikkun le-Yom ha-Azma'ut, an anthology of readings, prayers, and customs for Independence Day, with the approval of the Israel chief rabbis. |
