Rav Hillel Dovid Litvack, shlita, a tremendous talmid chacham from Flatbush, New York, who has written wonderful seforim on a number of Torah subjects, has been working for years to strengthen the fulfilling of the mitzvah of answering amen according to halachah, wherever he goes.
He wrote this story at the beginning of his sefer Chovas Aniyas Amen. It is a story that combines wondrous Hashgachah pratis, and a tremendous chizuk regarding answering amen, with all its details.
The story began on Shabbos Parashas Mishpatim 5758. Rav Hillel davened that Shabbos in a certain shul in Boro Park, as he had a practice of going there once a year for a tzedakah appeal for an important organization that he helps manage.
Although Reb Hillel was a guest, and especially as the objective of his visit obligated him to try and find favor in the eyes of the mispallelim, he still did not desist from engaging in strengthening those around him in the subject close to his heart – answering amen according to halachah. So, when he noticed during chazaras hasha”tz that one of the mispallelim was answering amen time after time before the chazzan finished his brachah, he could not bear it. After davening, he went over to that person and pointed out that this is forbidden.
“Answering amen before the sha”tz finishes the brachah is considered an amen chatufah which must not be answered,” Reb Hillel explained to the man. But the man struggled to admit to his mistake. “One second here or there has no significance...” he claimed. When Reb Hillel tried to argue with him, the man demanded that he show him a source.
The mispallel’s request was not at all complicated for Reb Hillel. As one who has been busy with this for years, the halachos of answering amen were very clear to him, especially this simple halachah. He went over to the bookcase and sought the first volume of Mishnah Berurah, by the Chofetz Chaim. But remarkably, he could not find the volume he was looking for.
So Reb Hillel went over to the person and said that he did not find the volume he was looking for, but if the man wanted, he could look in the Mishnah Berurah in siman 124 se’if kattan 30, and easily find the halachah. Just to be sure, he asked the man for his name, and told him he’d try to send him a copy of the page where the halachah appeared.
Because the person had been so reluctant to accept his rebuke, Rav Litvack began to feel doubts that perhaps he should not have pointed out the man’s error, because after all he was a guest in this shul.
A week passed. On Erev Shabbos Parashas Terumah, an envelope arrived in the Litvack family’s mailbox. The envelope contained a folded letter with a bank check. The letter said that because of a problem with the check, the bank had to return it. A quick glance at the check was enough for Rav Litvack to see that there was a mistake, and it wasn’t even his check. He called the bank and asked about this, but they didn’t have an answer, and they told him to go to the local branch to try to figure it out.
A few hours later, the mystery was solved, when the phone rang in the Litvack home, and the person on the other end introduced himself as a resident of Boro Park who had received a similar envelope that came to the Litvack home but inside was a check made out to a member of the Litvack family. Apparently, when stuffing the envelopes, the bank clerk had mixed up the checks, and sent the wrong check with the right letter to each family.
Rav Litvack thanked the speaker. He asked for his name and address and they made up that after Shabbos they would meet to switch the checks.
A few hours later, close to Shabbos, this story suddenly rose in Rav Litvack’s mind. He replayed the name of the family of the person who had mistakenly received his check...It was a familiar name, and it took him a few long moments to remember from where.
It turned out that this was none other than the person who, a week earlier, he had met in shul and had pointed out that he’d answered an amen chatufah. The family name was not particularly common, but the address was very close to the shul where he’d davened. So there was no doubt that it was the same person.
Rav Litvack saw this as remarkable Hashgachah pratis, as if it was a signal from Shamayim that he had acted correctly when he’d pointed the person’s attention to the fact that he was answering amen amen chatufah, and that he should continue trying to strengthening this inyan of answering amen.
As soon as Shabbos was over, Rav Litvack called the person and asked if indeed he was the man who he’d spoken to the week before about the amen chatufah. The man affirmed that it was him, and he was equally as surprised. They made up a time to meet and exchange the checks.
This time, Rav Litvack came to the man’s home with a volume of the Mishnah Berurah, and when he met the man, he read to him: Regarding the words of the Shulchan Aruch (124 8) in the explanation of the issur of amen chatufah – “that he should not grab and hurry to answer it before the mevarech finishes,” and the Mishnah Berurah writes (se’if kattan 30): “It means that he should wait until the sha”tz finishes the last word completely. And there are people who begin to answer amen while the sha”tz is still saying the final half of the last word, and this is assur.”
Caution Amen Chautfah
1. Pronounces the aleph at the beginning of the word with a "shva" [called by the Rishonim a ‘chataf' hence the name] and not a kamatz (Shulchan Aruch 124 8)
2. That he grabs and hurries to answer amen before the mevarech finishes the brachah (ibid).
