Shaarei Gan Eden
Answering Amen Is Like Making Two Brachos
Rav Avraham ben Shushan, a talmid of the Rosh, explained (Avudraham Tikkun Hatefillos V’Inyaneihen) that with the power of tefillah, a person merits that from Above, all his sustenance is provided with abundance. A number of the brachos in Shemoneh Esreh allude to this segulah. In each one of the three tefillos of Shemoneh Esreh said each day there are 19 brachos, and together that makes ן“ז or 57 brachos. From here we learn that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is זן, He sustains a person in the merit of tefillah.
Rav Avraham Ben Shushan added that one who davens with the tzibbur can accumulate 57 brachos in each one of the tefillos of the day! How? When he davens in a whisper, then he has 19 brachos. In Chazaras Hasha”tz, he accrues another 19 brachos, according to the din of “shome’a k’oneh” (Sukkah 38b), and when he answers amen after the sha”tz, each brachah is considered another one.
Based on this, the Mishneh Halachos explains why Chazal said that “the oneh amen is greater than the mevarech,” because the mevarech accrues only one brachah, while the one who hears the brachah and answers amen accrues two brachos – one according to “shome’a k’oneh” and the other through the strength of answering amen (Shu”t Mishneh Halachos Vol. II, 66)
A Brachah Without Amen
In order to illustrate the words of the poskim that answering amen is what fulfills the tefillah, the Mishneh Halachos brings a comparison to sewing: “One who makes a brachah and there is no amen answered after it, is like one who sews a garment but does not make a knot at the end of the stitching. Just like in sewing, without the knot the stitches will unravel, and it is like he only did half a job, likewise with answering amen, which concludes the brachah. If amen is not answered after the brachah, it lacks the seal that holds it together.” (Shu”t Mishneh Halachos Vol. 15, 42)
It’s interesting to note in this context that Sefer Hanavon by one of the chassidei Ashkenaz explains that answering amen ties the brachah, literally: Chazal say (Shemos Rabbah 21:4) that the angel appointed to the tefillos makes crowns from the tefillos that Am Yisrael daven “and puts them on HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s Head.” The author of Sefer Hanavon adds that through answering amen, the brachos of the tefillah are tied to the Higher Crown and do not fall, as he says “and anyone who answers amen after the brachah of tefillah is making a knot to the atarah of HaKadosh Buruch Hu. And if there is no knot, then every single letter of every word of the tefillah will fall from the atarah.” (Kovetz Al Yad 16 [1] p. 220).
