Hallel - Missed Sentence

QUESTION: If I missed a sentence during Hallel, must I go back and correct the omission?

ANSWER: One would think that this would depend on whether one is reciting Hallel shaleim (full Hallel which is recited on Chanukah and Yom Tov) or chatzi Hallel (partial Hallel recited on Rosh Chodesh and the end of Pesach). As the name implies, Hallel shaleim is a complete Hallel. Therefore the poskim rule that if even one single word was omitted, the Hallel is not shaleim, and one must return to the missed portion and continue from there. If one does not remember what was skipped, he should return to the beginning of the paragraph (Mishnah Berurah 422:27).

In contrast, one would assume that if a pasuk was omitted from chatzi Hallel, it does not matter. To demonstrate that the reading of Hallel on Rosh Chodesh is a minhag and not a chiyuv, we intentionally omit portions of Hallel. As such, missing an additional pasuk should be of no consequence. Nevertheless, the Mishnah Berurah (Beiur Halachah 422, s.v. li’mafreiya) notes that Shulchan Aruch in Hilchos Rosh Chodesh writes that one who read chatzi Hallel out of order does not fulfill their requirement. If a pasuk is read out of order, it is as though that pasuk was not read. This would seem to indicate that even on Rosh Chodesh, one must read every sentence. Mishnah Berurah suggests that perhaps Shulchan Aruch holds that reading out of order (i.e., reading the second verse before the first, or reading the second paragraph before the first) is worse than skipping. He explains, based on the Pri Chadash, that Hallel follows a progression. First it describes the miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim (the exodus from Egypt). Then it discusses how Hashem saves us from exile, the arrival of Mashiach and the world to come. Reading p’sukim out of order distorts this progression. Nonetheless, the Mishnah Berurah concludes that since the position of the Shulchan Aruch is unclear, if a sentence was omitted on Rosh Chodesh, one should be stringent and go back, but not repeat Hallel with a bracha.

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