Parshas Ki Savo
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
Trivia Question: Which Hebrew word is used 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 – including daily and weekly synagogue prayer and kaddish services, weddings, funerals, bar/bat mitzvahs, unveilings, circumcisions and baby-namings, Passover Seders, Sabbath and holiday meals - and especially during the High Holiday season when more Jews attend synagogue services than at any other time of the year.
[Just as an aside, it is interesting to note that the largest grouping of verses in the Torah back-to-back containing the word Amen can be found in this week’s Torah portion, Parshas Ki Savo, where the Jewish people are standing together at the feet of Har Gerizim and Har Eval and responding Amen twelve times to the blessings and the curses that the Levites called out to them from the mountain above (see Deuteronomy 27:15-26)]
Which is all kind of ironic if you think about the fact that although it is the "most prayed word" by Jews the world over, most Jews haven't a clue what the word Amen actually means in context and what are the implications of answering Amen after hearing a blessing.
Let us briefly explore the source, meaning and laws of Amen.
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 Bechaye 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 Rosh Hashanah 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 this is true 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 may 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 upcoming holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, millions of Jews the world over will be answering many millions of Amens and agreeing to blessings and prayers without knowing what they just agreed to!
Amazing, isn't it?
May this Rosh Hashanah be the beginning of a year in which we all commit to learning more about our 3320-year-old Torah and religion so that we can know exactly what we believe in and answer all the blessings with confidence. Amen!
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