Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef advised to say the Hallel thanksgiving prayer without a blessing on Independence Day, Arutz Sheva has learned, after being asked by members of the general public. 

Rabbi Yosef gave the ruling based on the views of his father, previous Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. 

Rav Ovadiah Yosef based his own ruling on the sages’ views, reasoning that Hallel does not apply to the War of Independence and the current security situation in Israel. 

“Really, despite all the shadows cast on the miracle of the establishment of the state, there are great lights that we ignore: that Israel today is the center of the Torah world, and that tens of thousands of the best we have engage in Torah day and night in yeshivot, and that we find knowledge and lessons from the sages of Israel among the masses,” Rav Ovadiah ruled, noting that, for this reason, the Hallel prayers are at least said – even without the blessing. 

Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog, Rabbi Zvi Pesach Frank, Rabbi Reuven Katz, Rabbi Ovadia Ha’adia and Rabbi Yaakov Ades all said Hallel, he added.