[Avodah] Amein and Amein Yesomah

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger asked:

> On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 12:39:12AM -0500, R Rafi Hecht wrote to
> Avodah, in reply to a discussion about a number of rabbis who
> said amein to a "barukh ata Hashem E-lokeinu" (prounounced that
> way) "berakhah" on neir chanukah made during the day:
> : Amen = Kel Melech Ne'eman. I don't see why one cannot say that
> : at any given time.
>
> And we often say it to emphatically agree to informal berakhos:
> "May your husband have a refu'ah sheleimah!" "Amein!"
>
> OTOH, there is the amein yesomah, which implies one cannot just
> say "amein" willy-nilly. Anyone understand how to fit the two?
> Why are "amein yesomah" or "amein chatufah" so terrible, and
> when is this wrong-ness limited to?

For many decades, I wrestled with a problem which seems similar. Namely, what is so terrible about a beracha l'vatala? For example, if I would thank Hashem for giving us the mitzva of eating matza, and I would use the full and proper text of Al Achilas Matza to do so, what would be so terrible?

I am so happy to be Jewish! I am so happy to have these mitzvos! Baruch Hashem, King of the universe, Who made us holy with His mitzvos, and commanded us about eating matzah! What could be wrong with that? And why is it considered taking Hashem's name in vain? It was NOT in vain if I sincerely meant it!

It is only in the past year or so that I've come to understand that a bracha is not just another sort of tefilah, like a bakasha or hodaah. For reasons which I don't really understand (but I do accept), a bracha is considered to be a sort of oath.

Oaths come in many kinds. You can find a whole list of synonyms in Kol Nidrei. And corresponding to that list, there's also a wide range of methods with which one can swear or vow or make an oath. If I'm not mistaken, halacha considers local custom in this definition. If so, then it seems to me that in our culture and society, if a person says something and follows it with "So help me G-d", that would be considered an oath by halacha, at least to some degree.

Now we must move from the mindset and idiom of modern Anglophones to the mindset and idiom of Chazal.

It is noteworthy that they specified that any bracha which omits Shem and Malchus is NOT a bracha. I suspect that what they meant by this was to teach us that if this formula IS used, then it is essentially an oath, to the effect of however they instituted that particular bracha. Thus, when one recites a bracha, he is not merely *acknowledging* the subject of the bracha, but he is *swearing* that he acknowledges the subject of the bracha.

If I am correct so far, then I would suggest that "Amen"'s meaning is similarly powerful. "Amen" has a very specific meaning. Take a look at where it appears in Torah and Nach. Its use is not as tightly controlled as a bracha is (for example, in Tehillim where it is repeated, or one says it to his own Tehillim) but it is still a very serious matter.

Just as one cannot pretend that Al Achilas Matzah is an ordinary tefilla which could be said at any time, so too, one cannot pretend that Amen is an ordinary word which one might say when the inclination (however sincere) might strike: "I believe! I believe!" is a no-no.

I hope that this explains why one should not say Amen except in response to a genuine tefilah. This would include formal brachos and informal tefilos, but only according to the rules established by Chazal, which is to exclude both an Amen Yesomah and an Amen Chatufah, and certainly an Amen on a bracha which was deliberately altered to be non-genuine.

Akiva Miller

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