The 117th Congress was seated and Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver was called on to open the session with a prayer. He concluded the prayer “Amen and A-Women” — a clear attempt at trying to make the word Amen gender neutral. Many people (on the right and on the left) were quick to point out that the “men” in Amen has nothing to do with gender. Some pointed to its Latin origins, while others pointed to its Hebrew origins (the Latin form is derived from the Hebrew).
So, what does Amen really mean?
We find the word Amen in Parashas Shemos. When Moshe Rabbeinu returns to Mitzrayim to deliver a message of hope, the pasuk states:
וַיַאֲמֵן הָׁעָׁם וַיִּשְמְעוּ כִּי פָׁקַד ה’ אֶׁת בְנֵי יִּשְרָׁאֵל וְכִּי רָׁאָׁה אֶׁת עׇנְיָׁם וַיִּקְדוּ וַיִּשְתַחֲווּ.
What does the word ויאמן mean in this context? Rav Shamshon Refael Hirsch suggests that there is a difference between belief and emunah. There are many things that we believe to be true but we don’t have emunah in them. Emunah means that we are willing to sacrifice for this truth. It is from the same word as אומן (omein) in that this is what guides our actions. When it says העם ויאמן, it wasn’t simply belief it was emunah.
Rav Hirsch’s comments about the root ןאמ initially appear in a comment to Bereishis 15:6. There, Rav Hirsch notes that when we respond Amen, it is the same idea. We are affirming that what was just said is a truth and that we are devoted to that truth, not only in our beliefs but in our actions. [The English translation of these two comments of Rav Hirsch might be clearer.]
We may have been taught that Amen means “this is true” and while this is an accurate translation, it means a lot more than that. When the meteorologist tells us that it won’t rain today or the supermarket worker tells us that the bread is in aisle 6, we don’t say Amen, even though we have no reason to suspect that they are lying. Nevertheless, it is not a truth that we are willing to sacrifice for. When we say Amen, we are saying “this is true” but we are also saying that we consider this an absolute truth. It is a truth that guides our lives, not only in theory but in practice.
Rabbi Josh Flug
