No Bracha before Hallel said in shul on the first two nights of Pesach - Chazon Ish minhag

Question

This M.Y. answer explains why many shuls recite Hallel during the first two nights of Pesach. It seems that most of the opinions state that one should say a bracha in shul.

It seems that there is always a requirement to say a bracha before Hallel. Th exception is the Hallel said during the Seder, and the linked answer sattes a reason why the bracha is omitted.

So this makes me wonder about Chazon Ish's opinion not to say the bracha in shul. Is it because he is "imitating" the same rule that the bracha is omitted at the Seder Hallel, or is there something else to his reasoning?

Answer 1

Just saw this Ran (Pesachim 26, dapei Harif). He discusses the opinions regarding the bracha on Hallel at the Seder itself.

1) Make a bracha, either at the meal or in shul, whatever comes first. Saying it in Shul seems to be a "Good Thing", but not obligatory (based on Meseches Soferim).

2) He quotes Rav Hai Gaon as not reuiring a bracha, because "This is not kerias Hallel, but a shirah", as we say in the Haggada Lefichach... "and thus we must praise etc."

(Ed. I assume he means that it doesn't need a bracha because the shira is part of the Haggada "experience", which itself, for some reason, doesn't get a bracha.)

This would then support either not saying it at all in shul, as we haven't said the Haggada, and certainly not saying a bracha.

That said, the continuation of the Ran seems to indicate a different reason for not saying a bracha at the Seder, which conforms better to Meseches Soferim, as well as a Yerushalmi he brings. He writes that since people who say a bracha in shul wouldn't say one at home, Chazal "made things equal" and removed the requirement for a bracha.

This approach clearly assumes that shul does get a bracha, (and Seder should but doesn't) but doesn't fit with Rav Hai's reasoning of shira.

The Tur, AFAIK, implies that since the bracha on Hallel at the seder is a dispute, it's good to say it in shul with a bracha, which fits with the Ran himself.

So, in summary, the original opinion of Rav Hai not to say a bracha at the seder would also account for not saying a bracha anywhere else. If the Chazon Ish was worried about that, that may be why ruled against saying a bracha. The reading of Hallel is then simply in deference to the Meseches Sofrim passage which implied that it's a "Good Thing" to say it in shul.