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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>In an Areivim post
concerning the issue of answering Amen I wrote the following:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>I remember hearing from
m"vr HaRav Herschel Schachter that answering <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>Amen to a bracha is not
only an agreement to the bracha itself, but how <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>it came about. He then
criticized those chuppot where there are <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>talmidei chachamim
present but the honors go to the chasan's friend, <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>cousin, etc. Under
those circumstances, I remember Rav Schachter <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>saying that one should
not answer amen to the brachot, nay, it was <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>forbidden to answer
Amen, for the bracha came about in a manner that <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>was mezalzel betalmidei
chachamim.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>I have seen this take
place, and with Talmidei chachamim amiteeyim, <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>they were never phased
by this, as their very essence is humility. And <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>thus the zilzul has been
increased.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>Bebirchot hatorah<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>Shlomo Pick<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>To this I received the
following response and which was also posted in areivim:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>I lived in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">NJ</st1:State></st1:place>
from 1968 to 1974. Rav Teitz regularly came on Sunday mornings to daven in the
Bais Yitzchok shul on <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Bellevue
Street</st1:address></st1:Street>. (For those who do not know much about
Elizabeth, Rav P. M Teitz, ZT"L, was THE rov of the city. He was the rov
of the 4 Orthodox shuls in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:City></st1:place>.
See <a href="http://tinyurl.com/63gryd">http://tinyurl.com/63gryd</a> for more
about Rav Teitz and his amazing accomplishments in building Orthodoxy in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">NJ</st1:State></st1:place>.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>One Sunday morning an
obviously Sefardi fellow whom I had never seen before was davening for the
Amud. After a moment or two Rav Teitz stopped him and said, "You can
pronounce any word the way you want except for HaShem's name. You cannot say
A--nai (that is, pronouncing a kamatz as if it were a pasach as some Sefardim
do.). You must say A--noi (pronouncing the kamatz with an Ashkenaz
pronunciation.) Your pronunciation is Chol for us and we cannot answer Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>Since then I am often in
doubt when some Israelis or a "real" Sefardi daven for the Amud.
Should I answer Amen or not? Usually I do not answer Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>>Not so long ago the
fellow who davened Maariv in a shul not far from me used the Sefardic
pronunciation of HaShem's name. I brought this to the attention of the Rov, and
he said he would look into it. I told him the story about Rav Teitz. He has yet
to get back to me.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>My answer to this was: “sufficiently
Torah related to warrant the extra attention and wider audience of Avodah.”
And so I am presenting it here:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>When Rav Teitz was the rav
of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:City></st1:place>,
and I presume that then most of the minyanim and pronunciation was ashkenzis,
as was in the 50s, 60s and perhaps early 70s. Nonetheless, there are teshuvot
from rav kook zt&quot;l Orach Mishpat, no. 16,17; Seridei Eish 1:6; ziz
Eliezer 7:28 dealing with the issues with the Seridei Esh being most lenient
(however cf. igrot moshe, orach chayim 3:5, 4:23 and then 4:65 which tends to
be more lenient). See also Har Zvi, I, no. 4 that the only issue seems to be
the name of G-d (Adnus, noi at the end or nai).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>However, nowadays, when one
is brought up with Sephardic pronunciation of Hebrew both in the states or in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
I have heard of no one who has called their pronunciation into question. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>In my minyan here in bnei
brak, where rav chayim kanyevski's son is the Rav, harav Shlomo Kanyevski, rosh
yeshiva of tiferet <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">zion</st1:City></st1:place>
and kiryat melekh, one prefers that the chazzan daven with an ashkenazic
pronunciation, but no one has held it to be meakev. Moreover, all the
Sephardim, teimain, etc who join us in our minyan pronounce their berachot in
their native nusach, and we all answer amen to their berachot. On the
contrary, it would probably be forbidden not to answer amen. We includes two
grandsons of rav Elyashiv, the above mentioned rav shlomo kanyevski and his
cousin the mot&quot;z rav avraham zvi yisraelson. So it would be pretty
clear that one should answer amen to any bracha made by a sephardi Yemenite or
someone brought up with a Sephardic pronunciation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>I will add, that many
gedolim here hold and actually practice that for parshat zachor, one should
hear other readings by those who have ancient traditions such as Yemenite.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Like I said, eretz yisrael
is more chareidish and chenyukish than chul, and I have yet to see someone not
duchan or get an aliya because of Sephardic pronunciation or anyone would not
answer Amen. The most chassidish satmer or chanyakish man will daven with a
sefardi chazzan at the kotel.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Elsewhere, from <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:City></st1:place> to bnei brak, to
nyc and most other towns outside of NYC, I have not seen such kepeida in the
past 20 years, and consequently one should answer amen to those brachot and not
separate himself from the zibbur.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>The only place where one
must be scrupulous (contrary to the chumra mentioned above) is in parashat
Zachor which is the only kriya that is d'oraita (and maybe parashat para
according to tosophot) that one should hear in his native pronunciation (and
then if possible to hear it in Yemenite, adenite, gerbanite, Iranian, etc).
[see Mikrai Kodesh by Rav Zvi Pesach Frank, purim, p. 88 for the stringency of
Zachor, and then p. 97 for megillah reading and notes there].<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>In most of the stringent
rulings, the question was should one change his pronunciation, and those
answers said no, but no one said that if he did change you could not answer his
bracha.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Rav teitz's ruling seems to
be a da'at yachid only applicable to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Elizabeth</st1:City></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>(then?) and it would appear
that what rav teitz did appears to be applicable ONLY to his own town, just as
he had the authority to prohibit meat that did not his have approval to be sold
there. Nonetheless, I am not so sure other posekim would hold of his pesak.
Since I know that most rabbanim may not care to oppose a legitimate mesorah of
pronouncing hashem's name of adnus, I doubt that most or even any of them would
agree with this pesak (cf eg Igerot moshe, even haezer, 4:108 at the end).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>In any case, I would be
interested if :<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>1) there are really
other posekim who say not to answer amen to a<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>different pronunciation?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>2) What is the actual
practice today throughout the world, especially<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>the yeshivashe world? Are
they machmir on the accepted practice of what the Olam of all colors, creed,
race, and eidah, does at the Kotel?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Bebirchot haTorah<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Shlomo Pick<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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