There’s a Jewish ritual that we perform all the time that has some deep significance and potential for guiding toward greater spirituality and a more complete sense of fulfillment. Now, there are three fantastic things about this ritual. Try to guess what the ritual is. First of all, it has remained unchanged since the day we began to use it as a ritual back in Biblical times. The ritual is found in this week’s Torah portion. The second incredible thing about this ritual is that some major world religions have recognized the power of the ritual and have embraced the ritual. The third incredible thing about this ritual is that the complete ritual is simply the recitation of a single word.

Let’s look at the text in our Torah portion, Parashat Ki Tavo. The ritual is the recitation of the word Amen. Just before the Israelites enter the land of Israel, Moses charges the people to gather together, or huddle. Half of them are on the face of one mountain, half of them are lined up on the other. The Levites then read a last minute list of prohibitions, and after each one, all the people respond “Amen.” Please find the Eitz Chayim commentary down below on the left-hand column. The ancient Greek translation of this work is, “let it be so.” The term is derived from the root meaning “firm.” Amen expresses assent to what someone has just said.

I did a little research and the Talmud goes further. In Talmud Brachot it says that “even God Himself nods amen to the blessing given to him by mortal humans.” Again in brachot, the Talmud teaches that responding Amen prolongs life, in Mesachet Shabbat, it says that the gates of Paradise will be open to who responds amen with all his might. It says that his sins will be forgiven and any evil decree passed on him by God will be cancelled. The most intriguing quotation from the Talmud about Amen is, “Reciting amen is far greater than the blessing itself!”

Clearly, our Rabbis felt strongly about the merits of responding Amen. Why was it so important for them, and how can it work for us?

You should know that there is a whole section of the shulchan aruch, a code of Jewish law that just deals with answering Amen. Din Aniyat amen, the law about the answering amen. In this section, the shulcah aruch spells out in great detail just how the word Amen is supposed to be used, for what purpose and under what conditions.

Today, we’ll look at three of those laws, and glean the wisdom from our tradition.

Number one, He who answers Amen, must not raise his voice higher than the person who recites the bracha. Ha’oneh amen, lo yagbiah kolo yoter me’hamevarech. The idea here, in both communal minyan prayer and even prayer with two people, is that the existence of the Amen means that there are leaders and followers. One person is designated to be what is called the shaliach tzibur, whose task it is to recite the prayer, and other others have the job of following the leader. Now, in order for this traditional mode of prayer to work, there has to be an agreement, a social contract, where one person has to agree to lead, and others have to agree to follow. Now, this may sound simple, but the more experience I get in the Jewish world, the more I understand how difficult this can be. In a congregation, on a board, on a committee, on a project, there has to be a leader and there have to be followers; both are critical to the success of the mission. Sometimes it’s hard to find right leaders, and sometimes it’s hard to find the right followers on any given project. It requires meticulous care to assemble a good team. The leader has the challenge of commanding respect and authority, creating the vision, and communicating and inspiring. The followers have the challenge of being willing to join in harmony and to work on a project directed by someone else. Again, the hallacha is in regard to answering amen, that the follower shouldn’t be louder than the leader. There’s a story of a young woman who applied to an Ivy League college. She received a personality evaluation to fill out. One of the questions was, “Do you consider yourself to be a leader or a follower?” She felt like was more of a follower. She wanted to be honest, but she assumed that they were looking for leadership qualities. So, after some soul searching, honesty won out and she put down follower. She was convinced that she had lost her chance for acceptance, and wrote off that option. You can imagine her surprise when she received a notice of acceptance. The letter read, “We are especially happy to have you, since according to our records, the entering class is going to consist of 300 leaders and one follower.” Following is a holy act of selflessness for the greater good. The Amen teaches us that lesson.

Number two. The law states that one should not be hasty to answer Amen before the one who is reciting the bracha has finished. One should answer the Amen immediately after the blessing is completed. Lo yemaher la’anot amen kodem shsiyem hamevarech. You should wait until the whole blessing is complete. Let them finish. Historically, this law may have been created to combat heretics, who would sometimes take the pulpit and slip in heretical statements. So, before you say Amen, wait to hear the whole thing. When you’re listening to somebody talk, wait until they’ve said their piece. How many times have you heard a speaker get interrupted and say, “Let me finish” or “I’m not finished yet.” Be patient, listen, and then respond. Interrupting makes the speaker feel bad and hurts his/her feelings. As our traditions tells us, you might think you know what they’re going to say, but maybe they’re not really finished, and you haven’t heard the whole story. Our tradition teaches us not to rush in and to be patient and wait until the speaker is finished before responding. I had a teacher who told me that he doesn’t give his opinion until the speaker asks for it and if he is patient enough, they eventually do ask for his opinion. Then, and only then, are they really ready to hear the response. Wait to respond, until the recitation is finished.

Number three. A person should also avoid an "orphaned Amen". That is an Amen which was said awhile after the blessing was completed, achar shesiyem hamevarech. In other words, the responders who are saying Amen have to join with the one is saying the bracha. There has to be a connection in time. They have to be connected to one another without too much space in between them. Now, we’re getting somewhere. This third law about responding Amen helped me understand why our rabbis were so dramatic about the rewards of responding Amen. The word Amen comes from the root to firm, which leads us to the word affirm. To firm. Responding Amen firms up the connection between two people. It fuses, unites, connects, people together in blessing.

The rabbis teach that when you respond Amen, it’s as if you yourself recited the bracha. As the Talmud puts it, “Answering ‘Amen’ after an oath is equivalent to pronouncing the oath with one’s own mouth.” They could have said that when you respond Amen, you are yotze; you’ve fulfilled the obligation of reciting the bracha. But it doesn’t. It says that it’s as if you yourself spoke the words. So why is reciting Amen far greater than the blessing itself? When you respond Amen, not only are you blessing God with the blessing that has been recited, but you are responding to one of God’s central callings. You are joining two together as one. This moves separateness to togetherness, division to connection, partition to unification. This is a sacred move. When we say amen, we are directly and powerfully executing God’s will.

Ribono shel Olam; may we always use the opportunities presented to us to create connections, as we reach out to one another in blessing. Together and loudly, and with intentional meaning, let us all say, Amen.

© Ranon Teller 2006

Sermon Classification: 3A

Key Words: Reciting ‘Amen’, patience, followers & leaders of blessings, unification