As Shabbos ends, the holy day of Lag BaOmer will begin - the day of the yahrtzeit of the Tanna Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, zy”a. Throughout the Sefer Hazohar, the Toras HaSod of Rashbi, there are many references to the lofty virtues and the power of answering amen and of a brachah answered by amen. In this segment, I chose to focus on a wondrous story that appears in the Zohar on Parashas Terumah (166 1):
Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yosi were once in an inn, and late at night, they arose to learn Torah. As they were learning, they noticed the owner of the inn and his daughter crying bitterly.
Rabbi Yosi turned to the innkeeper and said: Perhaps your daughter has not merited a chassan who is a ben Torah and that is why you are crying? The father affirmed this, and even continued to explain why he had taken this chassan for his daughter: One day, I saw him jumping off the roof to answer amen after Kaddish, and because it was clear to me that he was a bochur who is moser nefesh to answer amen, and as a result, he is very strong in his Torah learning, I decided on the spot to give him my daughter as a wife. But, the father continued sadly, right after the wedding, we discovered that he is not a ben Torah, and that he doesn’t even know how to recite Birchas Hamazon or Krias Shema...
But right after that, the talked-about chassan appeared in front of the sages, and it quickly became clear to them that the innkeeper had made no mistake in his choice. It was the son of Rav Safra, and he was indeed a giant in Torah, but had taken upon himself to conceal his greatness – even from his wife and family!
This story teaches us how great and lofty the mitzvah of answering amen is, to the extent that one should be moser nefesh for it, plain and simple. This story seems to be the source for the words of the author of Derech Moshe (Day 11) who writes that the practical halachah is that each person should be moser nefesh to answer amen, and adds that the word אמן itself indicates this, as it is an acronym for the words אני מוסר נפשי.
Moreover, from this story we learn that there is a direct connection between answering amen and greatness in Torah, as the innkeeper understood and which turned out to be correct. It is for this reason, we ask in Birchas HaTorah: “And we, and our children should all be yodei Shemecha and learn Your Torah lishmah.” The words “yodei Shemecha” allude to answering amen, which is meant to make the Name of Hashem mentioned in the brachah even greater. We also know that amen is numerically equivalent to the holy Names of Havay-h and Adnus, and that is the secret of its virtue. In light of the words of the Zohar, that dedication to answering amen necessarily proves greatness in Torah, we can also understand why these two requests – יודעי שמך ולומדי תורתך לשמה – are placed next to one another.
A person who rises regularly and comes to davening each day to answer amen is like someone who declares “I am moser nefesh” for answering amen, and without a doubt will merit to see the fulfillment of the request: “And may we and our children and our children’s children all know Your Name and learn Your Torah lishmah.”
Good Shabbos
Yaakov Dov Marmurstein
