Words of the Mevarech Are Accepted With Answering Amen
Rav Moshe Yakar Ashkenazi explained the virtue of the one answering amen, and the reason why he is greater than the mevarech, as Chazal say (Brachos 53b):
When a person seeks to convey a message to a group of listeners, they might doubt his words, and not accept them. But when there are those in the audience who join him and confirm his words, the words are accepted by the listeners without a doubt. So we find that affirmation of the words is effective in getting them accepted by the listeners, moreso than just saying them.
This is what answering amen does. With the brachah, the mevarech seeks to increase the kavod of Hashem, to bless Him and coronate Him. But accepting the words in the hearts of the listeners depends on their confirmation, meaning the amen after the brachah. Therefore, the virtue of the one answering amen is greater than the mevarech.
Rav Moshe adds that just like a person is happy to see that there is someone who joins in his words and affirms them, likewise, when a person answers amen to the brachah, there is simchah generated in Shamayim, because through this, the words of the mevarech are better accepted and affirmed. Therefore, in the tefillah of Yehi Kevod, the passuk “Yehi kevod Hashem l’olam yismach Hashem bema’asav” (Tehillim 104:31) was placed next to the passuk “Yehi Shem Hashem mevorach mei’atah v’ad olam” (ibid 113b), to instruct: When will “yismach Hashem bema’asav?” When “Yehi Shem Hashem mevorach” – when the listeners fulfill the brachah through answering amen after it. (Pesach Einayim [Constantinople 311] p. 7).
Answering Amen Is Compared to a Pinch of Salt
In order to bring the person’s heart closer to the determination by Chazal that one who answers amen is greater than the mevarech, even though amen is merely one word, in contrast to the brachah that has many words and praises, Rav Moshe compares the amen to a pinch of salt added to a dish. He says that “the brachah without answering amen is like a bland dish without salt.” Much like the pinch of salt makes a large dish worthy of eating, and without it, the dish will be bland and tasteless, likewise, the amen – despite being just one word – it completes and fulfills the brachah, even if the latter has many words. Therefore, “Just like the salt is the ikkar despite being so little, the amen is small yet it is the ikkar.” (Pesach Einayim ibid)
From Answering Amen to the Rest of the Mitzvos
Aside for the sefer Pesach Einayim, Rav Moshe Yakar Ashkenazi also printed words of hisorerus on a large placard, with the heading “Marah Lekashet Haneshamah.” This remarkable page was meant to be hung on the walls of the house, and its name alludes that in contrast to a glass mirror, which is meant to adorn the body, this “mirror” is meant to adorn the soul.
At the end of the “Marah Lekashet Haneshamah,” Rav Moshe Yakar writes that just like a person seeking to become wealthy can achieve his goal only if he acts wisely, and takes step after step, in a measured way, so, too, one who wants to ascend the Har Hashem, and to submit himself to the yoke of Torah and mitzvos, must do this in a slow, calculated manner. Therefore, at the beginning of his path he must be strict about answering amen according to halachah, because this is a mitzvah that can be fulfilled easily, without any monetary outlay. “And he should be persistent at this mitzvah for some time, until it is as sweet to him as honey and nectar,” and then he can advance to be strict in other mitzvos, one mitzvah after another.
This is what Shlomo Hamelech referred to in Mishlei (2:4-5): “If you seek it like silver, hunt for it like treasure, then you will understand yiras Hashem.” When the quest for acquisitions matches the quest for money - step after step, only then “will you understand yiras Hashem.”
And Rav Moshe concludes his words with a question about those who are lax about answering amen: “How is it possible that he should negate such great avodah, which takes no effort and costs no money?!”
Rav Moshe Yakar Ashkenazi
We have very little information about the life Rav Moshe Yakar Ashkenazi, author of sefer Pesach Einayim and Marah Lekeshet Haneshamah. He was apparently a member of a family from the sages of Ashkenaz that traveled to Turkey, where he printed his works in the year 5311. It should be noted that the Rema mentions sefer Pesach Einyanim in his sefer Darchei Moshe (Orach Chaim 25 3).
