Pausing During Davening to Answer Amen

Between Yishtabach and Yotzer

Between the brachah of Yishtabach and the brachah of Yotzer Ohr, one is permitted to answer amen even after the additions in Kaddish, meaning from the request of Tiskabel and onwards, and likewise one may answer Baruch Hu ubaruch Shemo. But between Kaddish and Barchu, one may only answer amen to a brachah, and amen to the main part of Kaddish, in keeping with the halachah of one who is bein haperakim of the brachos of Krias Shema.

1. From the words of the poskim (see Shulchan Aruch and Rema 54 3, and Mishnah Berurah ibid 11) it appears that the din of pausing between Yishtabach and Yotzer is more lenient than the din of pausing during Pesukei Dezimrah, and therefore, every mitzvah that he will lose if he does not fulfill it now is permitted lechatchilah to fulfill between these brachos. Therefore, one who is holding between Yishtabach and Yotzer may answer even amens that are not obligated by halachah to answer, even according to those who hold that they should not be answered during Pesukei Dezimrah (Halachos Yom Beyom, Tefillah Vol. II, Ch. 2:28; Halachah Seduarah Vol. I, p. 82:16).
2. Eshel Avraham (Butchatch, 66 1, and in the Second Edition 57); Shu”t Lechem Shlomo (36). Sefer Halachah Sedurah (ibid 5) clarified this from the words of the Derech Hachaim (Laws of Pesukei Dezimrah 4) who wrote: “Baruch Hu uBaruch Shemo should not be answered in the middle of Pesukei Dezimrah,” and it is evident that between “Yishtabach” and “Yotzer” one is permitted to answer. Likewise, one can also clarify from the words of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (14 1) who wrote: “And Baruch Hu ubaruch Shemo should not be said in the middle of Pesukei Dezimrah,” and Shu”t Yabia Omer wrote (Vol. II, 14:14) concurred. Sefer Tehillah LeDovid (124 4) concurs, but he proved it from the words of the Shulchan Aruch Harav (124 8) who wrote that one does not stop to answer “Baruch Hu ubaruch Shemo in any place where one is not allowed to stop for a davar reshus,” as in his view one should not stop to answer it between Yishtabach and Yotzer, because one many not pause there for something that is reshus, optional.
3. Shu”t Igros Moshe (Orach Chaim Vol. II 16) rules that in Pesukei Dezimrah as well one should not answer Brich Hu when hearing Kaddish, yet between Yishtabach and Yotzer one is permitted to do so. And see there that it appears from his words that “Baruch Hu ubaruch Shemo” is preferable to Brich Hu, and if so, according to him, then surely one is permitted to answer Baruch Hu ubaruch Shemo between Yishtabach and Yotzer.
4. The Darchei Moshe (54 2) discusses one who needs to stop for a dvar mitzvah before the brachah of Yotzer: should he stop between Pesukei Dezimrah and Kaddish or between Kaddish and Barchu. First he cites the Kolbo (6) that Kaddish said after Yishtabach belongs to Pesukei Dezimrah, and it is the conclusion of Pesukei Dezimrah, and he derives from this that it is preferable to pause between Kaddish and Barchu in order to have the Kaddish adjacent to Pesukei Dezimrah. But later in his words, he cites the Ohr Zarua (Hilchos Krias Shema 52) in the name of the Teshuvos Hagaonim, that it is preferable to pause between Yishtabach and Kaddish, and sefer Ma’areches Elokus, that “according to the secrets of Kabbalah” one should not pause between Kaddish and Barchu, as from their words it appears that this Kaddish is the opening to reciting the Barchu that follows. From this the Rema derives in his comments to the Shulchan Aruch (ibid 3) that the din of pausing between Kaddish and Barchu is more serious than that of between Yishtabach and Kaddish and see the Mishnah Berurah (ibid 13). In Piskei Hasiddur, Harav Chaim Na’eh (65) says that it is possible that the source of the takanah of the Baal Hatanya in his siddur to say in Ma’ariv Vehu Rachum before Shir Ha’amalos is the Rema’s ruling here. That just like one should not pause between Kaddish and Barchu in Shacharis, likewise in Maariv, one should not pause between Kaddish and Barchu when saying “Vehu Rachum.”
5. The Biur Halachah there cites the Biur HaGra (ibid) who wrote that from saying Kaddish and onwards “is like the beginning of Yotzer,” it emerges that between Kaddish and Barchu, the din is not like one who is bein haprakim of the brachos of Krias Shema, but rather it is like the din of one who is in the middle of the perek.