Parshas Vayeilech
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
Trivia Question: Which Hebrew word is recited more times by more Jews throughout the year than any other word in the Hebrew language?
Answer: The word “Amen”.
That’s right, the word Amen is recited by all different types of Jews (from the most secular and unaffiliated to the ardently religious) at all different types of occasions, at all different times throughout the Jewish calendar – weddings, funerals, bar/bas mitzvahs, unveilings, circumcisions and baby namings, Passover Seders, Sabbath meals – and especially during the High Holiday season when more Jews attend synagogues services than at any other time of the year.
Which is all kind of ironic if you think about the fact that although it is the “most recited word” by Jews the world over, most Jews haven’t a clue what the word Amen actually means and what are the implications of answering Amen after hearing a blessing.
Let us briefly explore the source, meaning and laws of Amen, as taught to us in the Talmud and in Halachah (Jewish Law):
In the Torah Moses tells the Jewish people: “When I pronounce the Name of G-d, glorify our G-d” (Deuteronomy 32:3). Our Sages infer from these words that a person is obligated to answer Amen after hearing a blessing. Rabbeinu Bechaya explains that the Sages instituted this mitzvah, which is an expression of our faith, because emunah (the Hebrew word for “faith” and the root of the word Amen) is so very fundamental to our entire Jewish tradition.
However, it is not sufficient to answer Amen without thinking of the meaning. The principal intent one should have when answering Amen is that the words mentioned in the blessing are true, that he believes them and agrees with all that was mentioned, as if he had said the blessing himself. So, for example, when someone is called up to the Torah on Shabbos for an aliyah and makes the blessing before the reading: “Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, Who selected us from all the peoples and gave us His Torah. Blessed are You, G-d, Giver of the Torah” and we answer Amen, we are, in effect, stating that it is true that G-d gave us the Torah and that we totally believe in it.
Since answering Amen means agreeing with what was just said, the following guidelines apply:
In order to answer Amen, one must either hear the complete blessing, the ending of the blessing, or at least know to which blessing one is answering Amen to. If he does not hear the blessing at all and does not know to which blessing he will be responding, he does not answer Amen.
One should answer the Amen immediately after the blessing is completed. One should not answer a "Hurried Amen," that is an Amen which is said before the blessing is even completed. Nor an "orphaned Amen," that is an Amen which was said a while after the blessing was completed.
Now that we understand what we are really saying when we answer Amen, we can better appreciate the irony of saying it without knowing what we are agreeing to. After all, would any sane person sign a contract without having first read its contents? And yet, over the High Holidays, millions of Jews the world over will be answering many millions of Amens and (apparently) agreeing to blessings and prayers without knowing what they just agreed to! Amazing, isn’t it?
Let us hope and pray that the next time we answer Amen in the synagogue or wherever, we make sure that we know what we are believing in. Amen!
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