Adir Hu: Praiseworthy Paean or Sacrilegious Screed?

Length: 1 hour 43 minutes
Synopsis: Last night (4/4/25), in our Thursday night women's shiur, we explored a question posed to me by two of my students (shout out to Moshe and Shmarya) about a song found at the end of most Haggadot: “Is there an inherent problem with saying Adir Hu?” The concern is that, on the surface, Adir Hu seems to exemplify the type of excessive adjectival praise condemned by R’ Chanina in Berachos 33b. Our session was more of a “Machshavah Lab”-style exploration than a formal shiur: we learned the Gemara, raised a bunch of questions, and then turned to the poskim—with the Rambam leading the minority view, opposed in various ways by the Tur, Beis Yosef, and Shulchan Aruch. We also looked at the Rambam’s stricter formulation in the Moreh ha’Nevuchim, noting what seem like major inconsistencies in his position. We concluded with a summary of why, according to everyone except the Rambam in the Moreh, it’s halachically permissible to sing Adir Hu. It was a fun adventure that left us with plenty of juicy questions and problems to think about over Pesach and beyond!
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מקורות:
אדיר הוא
ברכות דף לג עמוד ב
רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות תפילה וברכת כהנים ט:ז; א:א-ד
טור אורח חיים קיג:ט
בית יוסף שם
שולחן ערוך שם
רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים א:נט
רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות ברכות י:כד
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The Torah content from now until Erev Pesach has been sponsored by Yehudis Korn l'zecher nishmas Moshe ben Yeshayahu Yehuda.
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