(ג יב) “ערלתו בשר ימול השמיני וביום”
The ga’avad of Ramat Elchanan, Rav Yitzchak Silberstein, was asked by a person who regularly says Birchos Hashachar with his friends in shul, in a way that each mispallel says the brachah at his turn and the rest answer amen after him. One day, after reciting the brachos for his friends, he found out that there was a bris milah taking place upstairs in the shul, and wondered if it would be better to continue answering amen after the mevarchim or if he should go to the bris, where, as is known, Eliyahu Hanavi comes to participate.
And the Rav answered: One should prefer to remain with the onei amen after Birchos Hashachar over going to the bris, because one who answers amen fulfills a mitzvah actively, while participating in a bris is not a mitzvah. The arrival of Eliyahu Malach Habris is not a reason to leave the onei amen to go to the bris, because when answering amen, a person creates new angels, as the well-known remez illustrates: אמן is equivalent toe מלאך. (Vavei Ha’amudim Vechishukeihem Kovetz 46 p. 96)
