Brachos That Are a Perfect Gift
This Erev Shabbos is Lag B’omer and at the asra kadisha in Meron, and in locations all over the world, the tefillah and hisorerus will rise to the Heavens in a fiery storm. On this day, we should turn our attention to the words of the holy Zohar on the lofty virtue of answering amen. “Amen, kellalah dekula! Kiyuma d’kulho!” the Zohar declares (Vayeilech 285b). Amen includes all the sodos and fulfills all the worlds. It is the secret of creation and the foundation of all the worlds. Could we possibly be lax about answering amen, chalilah?!
Rabi Shimon also reveals in Sefer Hazohar (ibid) that the passuk (Shmuel I 2:30): “Ki mechabdai achabed ubozai yekalu” is said about answering amen. He writes: “One who answers amen k’halachah honors Hashem, and Hashem says of him: “Ki mechabdai achabed”! In contrast, when one is lax about amen, Hashem calls, “Ubozai yekalu!” This is chilling!
When we are strict to answer amen k’halachah, we honor and sanctify the Shem Shamayim, and fulfill the halachah lema’asah of the commandment in this parashah (Vayikra 22:32): “Venikdashti beso ch Bnei Yisrael.”
The power to choose honor or shame, chalilah, is in the hand of each one of us. Let us rise each morning to honor Hashem by answering amen after the brachos of mispallelim, and we will merit to have the words “ki mechabdai achabed” said about us.
Good Shabbos
Yaakov Dov Marmurstein
