How the Behavior in Shul Affects Saying Amen
Teaching Children to Answer Amen
The Rema (OC 124) writes that little children should be taught to answer amen. This is because, as soon as they do so, they earn a place in the Next World. [Siman 30] The Magen Avraham (124:11) adds that children should be taught to stand still with proper reverence in shul; it’s better not to bring young children who run around.
Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu relates a story about a man who brought his young son to shul. When everyone responded amen, this child responded with nonsense words and his father didn’t correct him. Others in shul urged the man to stop the child but he refused to do so, saying, “What do you expect? He’s just a little child. Leave him be.” The same thing happened day after day for the entire duration of a holiday week: the boy would answer brachos with nonsense and his father wouldn’t correct him. For the next three years, that man’s family suffered a series of misfortunes. We see from this the severity of allowing one’s children to misbehave in shul. [Siman 31]
Studying Torah During Davening
The Magen Avraham (OC 124:8) cites an opinion that strenuously objects to the practice of learning Torah or reciting prayers of supplication during the repetition of Shemoneh Esrei. The Pri Megadim there cites the Rema (OC 90:14) that one may not study Torah while the congregation is reciting Selichos. That being the case, it goes without saying that one must pay attention and answer amen to the reader’s repetition rather than involve ourselves with anything else. [Siman 33]
Sefer HaGan (Rav Aharon ben Yoseif HaKohein, 14th century) writes that the people should be taught not to recite Tehillim during the repetition of Shemoneh Esrei because if one is doing so, he’s certainly unable to respond amen properly. Quite the opposite, he’s virtually guaranteed to recite a rushed, cut off or “orphaned” amen, as we discussed earlier in this series. An improper amen such as these is no honor to Hashem, it’s disrespectful. [Siman 34]
The Mishnah Brurah (124:17) explains the reason not to study Torah or recite prayers of supplication during the repetition of Shemoneh Esrei: even if one is careful to recite a proper amen to every bracha, it’s still a bad practice. This is because one misleads others into bad behavior by setting a bad example. The Mishnah Brurah (124:18) adds that, optimally, one shouldn’t pay attention just to the ends of the brachos but rather to the brachos in their entirety. [Siman 35]
The Mishnah Brurah (124:19) continues that we tend to count in a minyan even those who are known to talk and not pay attention to the shaliach tzibbur. Because we count such people, the shaliach tzibbur relies on them to repeat Shemoneh Esrei. The Mishnah Brurah cites an opinion recommending that, in such a case, the shaliach tzibbur mentally stipulate that if nine congregants don’t answer amen to his repetition, then it should counted as a voluntary prayer (tefillas nedava). [Siman 36]
How We Should Answer Amen During Chazaras HaShatz
We know how we shouldn’t answer amen to the repetition of Shemoneh Esrei but how should we say it? The Shulchan Aruch (124:8) tells us that we should recite amen taking the amount of time it would take to say the words “(k)Eil Melech Ne’eman” (God is the faithful King) and to concentrate on the meaning of these words as per Tosfos (Shabbos 118). [Siman 37] One should not, however, stretch his amen out so that it’s unnecessarily long.
Two Amens
The Rema (OC 61:12) tells us that amen should never be said twice in response to a single bracha, though the Levush (Rav Mordecai Yoffe, 16th-17th century) permits one to reply “amen v’amen.” Birkei Yoseif says that if one finds himself with two brachos to answer, then he may answer “amen, amen,” though “amen v’amen” would be preferable. [Siman 38]
The Pri Megadim points out that there are two types of amen: one meaning “I believe this is true” and the other meaning “May it come to pass.” If both of these sentiments apply, such as in the bracha that Hashem is our Healer and may He heal us, then it might be permitted to answer amen twice. This explains Psalms 41:14: after uttering a prayer that is both an entreaty to God and an expression of the author’s faith, King David concludes “amen v’amen.”
Rabbi Wildman concludes that since the Pri Megadim brings proof from a verse in which King David says “amen v’amen,” one would be obligated to say a double amen using that formula (as opposed to “amen, amen”). [Siman 39]
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