THE POWER OF AMEN
Chazal say that responding Amen to a bracha is more praiseworthy than reciting the bracha. The person saying the bracha is likened to the simple foot soldier who begins the battle, thus making it possible for the mighty warriors, those answering Amen, to come afterwards and bring victory.
The Maharsha explains that there are negative malochim who attempt to block brachos from coming down; saying a bracha creates good malochim to battle them. When one answers Amen, the battle is won.
(נזיר ס"ו ע"ב, מהרש"א שם, וראה לקו"ש חל"ה ע' 219)
It is obligatory to answer Amen when hearing another recite a bracha, even when one's own obligation is not being discharged by that bracha. The word must be pronounced correctly, and must be said immediately after hearing the bracha.
The Zohar writes that it is a zechus to have others answer Amen to a bracha that one recites. However, if one knows that those present will be lax in answering properly, he should rather say the bracha quietly and not cause them to err.
(שו"ע אדה"ז סי' קכד ס"ט וסי' רטו ס"ב, זהר ר"פ עקב, בן איש חי מסעי י"ד)
ANSWERING WITH ENTHUSIASM
The Zohar relates: The son of Rav Safra was a young Torah student when he arrived in Eretz Yisroel. One day, while standing on a roof, he heard Kaddish being recited, so he quickly jumped down and ran into the shul to hear Kaddish and join in its responses with the other mispalelim. A man who had witnessed this assumed that he was a great talmid chochom and took the stranger to be his son-in-law. And indeed, he later became a luminary who revealed many secrets of Torah.
(זהר ח"ב קס"ה ע"ב ואילך)
The Alter Rebbe writes in his Shulchan Aruch that one should be very careful to join in the congregation's responses to Kaddish, and adds that this is even more important than joining in the congregation's responses to Kedusha.
One should answer Amen, yehei Shmei rabba with concentration, for one who recites that response with all his kavana can cause even a gzar din of seventy years' standing to be torn and become annulled. Moreover, by doing so he opens the gates of Gan Eden for himself. One should also answer loudly, for this sound silences all the prosecuting voices and threatening decrees in the Heavenly Court. Some people stand out of respect when when responding to the responses to Kaddish.
(שו"ע אדה"ז סי' נ"ו, סנהדרין ק"י ע"ב)
The Alter Rebbe also explains that when responding Amen one should think of its meaning, which varies according to the bracha that was just said. Thus, if the bracha expressed praise to HaShem, one's Amen echoes that praise, expressing a confirmation and agreement with what was said. Likewise, if the bracha was a request or was part of Kaddish, then the Amen asks that that request be fulfilled soon. And if the bracha included both praise and a request, one should keep in mind both meanings.
(שו"ע אדה"ז סי' קכ"ד ס"ט)
The Frierdiker Rebbe related: One day, many years before the Alter Rebbe's imprisonment in Petersburg in תקנ"ט (1796), he came out to the chassidim and said, "In Gan Eden, they appreciate the preciousness of Olam HaZeh. The malochim would forgo everything for one Amen, yehei Shmei rabba said by a Yid with all his might, with complete concentration and total involvement in those words."
That was the entire maamar, and with it the Alter Rebbe kindled such a burning enthusiasm in his listeners that throughout the entire following year, Amen, yehei Shmei rabba was said with fire.
(היום יום י''ז אדר א')
THE PLEASURE OF PRAISING
The Rebbe Rashab writes in a maamar, "The spiritual pleasure derived from Elokus can actually increase one's body fat. It is said that Reb Nachum Chernobler was heavy from answering Amen, yehei Shmei rabba."
The same tzaddik was once walking in his town, when he saw a goy in a cheerful mood. He turned in wonderment to the chassidim accompanying him and asked, "What is he so happy about? Did he answer Amen, yehei Shmei rabba today?!"
(היום יום ט''ו תמוז, הבעש"ט ותלמידיו ע' 212)
Reb Pesach Molostovker, a chossid of the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek, would daven every day for hours on end. In his old age he was no longer able to continue with his extensive meditative avoda, so instead he traveled in a wagon from minyan to minyan, to join in the responses of Amen, Kedusha and Borchu that he valued so highly.
(רשימות דברים ח"א ע' רנ"ד)
The chossid Reb Zalman Leib Astulin was exiled for many years in a Siberian prison, far from any other yidden. When he finally left Russia, he traveled to Eretz Yisroel where he met his brother-in-law, Reb Yankele Galinsky, in Bnei Brak.
The next morning, Reb Yankele took Reb Zalman Leib to a nearby shul to daven. After Shacharis Reb Yankele went home and Reb Zalman Leib stayed on. After some time passed and Reb Zalman Leib didn't return home, Reb Yankele went looking for him. He found Reb Zalman Leib standing in shul, supported by his crutches, his face radiating with joy.
"Why are you still here?” Reb Yankele asked. “You probably finished davening long ago, so come home and eat something."
"I just can't leave!" answered Reb Zalman Leib. "After my minyan finished, another one began, and then another, and each one offers me a chance to say Amen, yehei Shmei rabba and Kedusha again and again. HaShem finally gave me this precious opportunity – and I should give it up for breakfast?!"
(אמן ע' 76)
CONSIDER
Is an Amen said without "all one's kavana" also effective? Why?
To whom is Amen said: the one making the bracha, those listening, one's self or HaShem?
