A thought on Parshas Beshalach
"...va'yiru ha'am...va'yaminu...""...and the nation feared... and they believed..." (14:31)
Bringing us to the very brink, as our enemy pursued us to the shore of the sea, was a necessary step along our path to spiritual development. Fear of Heaven, and belief in G-d, are both foundations of our being a Torah nation.
Rabbeinu Bachya illustrates this: Chazal instruct us to respond "Amen" when we hear prayers or blessings. Amen comes from the word emunah, belief, as we see in our verse above. It is a way of declaring "we believe this! We accept this!" Each time we hear a bracha or tefilla and we answer amen, we are endorsing the words of that prayer.
Chazal state (Nazir 66b) that "the one who answers amen is even greater than the person who recites the prayer." Rabbeinu Bachya explains with an analogy. When two people give testimony to a fact, they record their declaration and sign the document. One of them has to sign first, obviously. Once he signs, however, the entire validity of the document now hinges on the action of the second witness. If he refuses to sign, then the initial testimony is useless. If he signs, then he has actually concretized the validity of the entire document. So too with our prayers. Someone has to go first, so we all let the chazan or shliach tzibur recite the prayers and blessings. His words are a declaration of his fear of HaShem and also declare his belief in the Above. However, it is only with the response of those listening, those who will answer amen, that the testimony is confirmed. Those who answer amen are "signing the document" and make it valid.
Remember this over Shabbos. When we talk, are absorbed in whatever occupies us, or are distracted during the chazan's repetition of the amida, for example, and we fail to proclaim amen, we are neglecting a major exercise of belief in HaShem. We are failing to support the testimony of whoever is leading our prayers and in essence are implying that we do not agree with all of the above...
Edus HaShem ne'mana...
Good Shabbos. D Fox
Bringing us to the very brink, as our enemy pursued us to the shore of the sea, was a necessary step along our path to spiritual development. Fear of Heaven, and belief in G-d, are both foundations of our being a Torah nation.
Rabbeinu Bachya illustrates this: Chazal instruct us to respond "Amen" when we hear prayers or blessings. Amen comes from the word emunah, belief, as we see in our verse above. It is a way of declaring "we believe this! We accept this!" Each time we hear a bracha or tefilla and we answer amen, we are endorsing the words of that prayer.
Chazal state (Nazir 66b) that "the one who answers amen is even greater than the person who recites the prayer." Rabbeinu Bachya explains with an analogy. When two people give testimony to a fact, they record their declaration and sign the document. One of them has to sign first, obviously. Once he signs, however, the entire validity of the document now hinges on the action of the second witness. If he refuses to sign, then the initial testimony is useless. If he signs, then he has actually concretized the validity of the entire document. So too with our prayers. Someone has to go first, so we all let the chazan or shliach tzibur recite the prayers and blessings. His words are a declaration of his fear of HaShem and also declare his belief in the Above. However, it is only with the response of those listening, those who will answer amen, that the testimony is confirmed. Those who answer amen are "signing the document" and make it valid.
Remember this over Shabbos. When we talk, are absorbed in whatever occupies us, or are distracted during the chazan's repetition of the amida, for example, and we fail to proclaim amen, we are neglecting a major exercise of belief in HaShem. We are failing to support the testimony of whoever is leading our prayers and in essence are implying that we do not agree with all of the above...
Edus HaShem ne'mana...
Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 9:39 PM
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