#thanks for coming to my drash 😂

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

As promised, I will explain the Hallelujah thing.

So the word is actually a composite word, in that it is made up of "hallel" and "Yah." The latter is one of the better known names of G-d (and for this reason some traditional Jews won't say the whole word of hallelujah outside of prayer or religious study) but the former deserves a little more investigation. A simple translation of it is "praise" or "glory," and so most translations of this into English are fairly faithful to the Hebrew.

However, I think knowing the context adds some shades of meaning to it that are important. Hallel in Hebrew is spelled הלל (hay-lamed-lamed) or (effectively) H-L-L. Written Hebrew doesn't include vowels (unless they are added in using the pointed Hebrew system) so the word written out traditionally would read: HLL, despite (obviously) being pronounced with the vowel sounds. It is for this reason that I'm not terribly a fan of the linguistic drift of "alleluia," because it drops the hay/ה sound at the beginning, which is very important to the word being legible and diminishes the name of G-d at the end by denoting it using a common suffix. It also means that the people saying it almost certainly do not know the origin of the word and the root word Hallel.

In any event, it's worth noting that there are a number of words in Hebrew that refer to praise (especially in a religious context) but this one specifically refers to the Psalms (Tehillim), which share a root in Hebrew.

To say Hallel is to say Tehillim - specifically Psalms 113 - 118. These are typically sung with a lot of ruach (spirit) and joyful melodies, and are reserved for happy occasions. This is one reason why I find the fact that we daven Hallel for Av, the saddest month on the Jewish calendar, when we intentionally lessen our joy upon starting it, so compelling and so Jewish. (More on that here.)

Hallel isn't just praise. It's Psalms sung from the heart, from a place of joy and resilience.