The Tiferes Shlomo explained the words of Chazal (Brachos 53b) “gadol ha’oneh amen yoser min hamevarech” as follows: When Yisro came to the camp of Bnei Yisrael after the great miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim, he said (Shemos 18:10): “Baruch Hashem asher hitzil eschem miyad Mitzrayim umiyad Pharaoh.” Chazal explain (Sanhedrin 94a): “It was a criticism of Moshe and the six hundred thousand that they did not say ‘baruch’ until Yisro came and said ‘baruch Hashem.’
This seems puzzling: Didn’t Bnei Yisrael extensively praise and thank Hashem for their salvation in the long and lofty shirah said after Krias Yam Suf? And what of it that they did not use the term ‘baruch’? We can explain that although in Shiras Hayam, each one in Bnei Yisrael thanked Hashem with all his heart for the personal miracle of his salvation, what Yisro added was that it is fitting for a person to also thank for the salvation of another. Because he was not saved from the bondage of Egypt and yet he praised and said: “Baruch Hashem asher hitzil eschem.”
We have to learn from this that the ikkar of a person’s gratitude does not have to focus on the personal good that Hashem did with him, but rather with the goodness with which He showers all of Am Yisrael. And there are two reason for this: 1. When he focuses on the good of another, he shows that he is not acting with stinginess and he is happy when something good happens to another; and 2. In his gratitude for the goodness granted to his friend, he increases the praise of the Creator and His greatness, that he is not only being good to him, but rather, He is good to everyone.
Now we can explain: In many brachos, the mevarech thanks and praises Hashem only for the personal good that Hashem has granted him. For example, in Birchos Hashachar, the mevarech thanks one after another for the many good things that the Creator grants him each day, but this is gratitude only for his personal good. In contrast, the one who answers amen after him, and thus joins and thanks for the good things that his friend received, is on a higher level of gratitude than the mevarech, and therefore Chazal said that the oneh amen is greater than the mevarech. (Tiferes Shlomo Sha’ar Hatefillah)
