The Mishnah Halachos

29 Elul 5771

Harav Menashe Klein was born in 5683 in the vicinity of Ungvar, Ukraine, to his father, Rav Eliezer Zev, who served as Rav in the town of Irlyava.

At the bris, held on 8 Nissan, the Minchas Elazar was the mohel, and he suggested to the father to call his baby Menashe, for the Nasi of shevet Menashe who brought his korban on that day.

As a child, he learned under his father, and in 5692, he began to learn in the yeshivah of the Av Beis Din of Ungvar, Harav Yosef Elimelech Kahana, who also appointed him to deliver shiurim in the yeshivah.

On Erev Shavuos 5699, he was taken, along with his whole family, to Auschwitz, where he was separated from his parents, who were sent to the crematoria, while he was sent to labor, and that’s how he was spared.

After the war, he traveled to America, and established the Ungvar community in Boro Park. In 5743, he initiated the establishment of Kiryat Ungvar in the Ramot neighborhood of Yerushalayim. He planned to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael when it was finished being constructed, but he was delayed and only moved in 5769.

Aside for his role as rosh yeshivah in Bais She’arim, which he established in America, he was known as a posek and tremendous gaon. The Rebbe authored dozens of seforim, most notably the series of responsa seforim entitled Mishneh Halachos.

On Erev Rosh Hashanah 5772 he passed away, and in accordance with his will, he was laid to rest in the ancient cemetery in Tzefas, near the place where his grandfather Rav Amram Chisda, ztz”l, is buried.

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 זן 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).