Posts: 21
Threads: 20
Joined: Jun 2007
07-02-2007, 12:35 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-16-2016, 04:39 AM by Director Michael.)
Shalom Rabbi!
If I, as a Noahide, hear ANY brocha from a Jewish person can I say "amen" to his blessing like Jewish people would, even though it is a blessing that I am not allowed to make with the wording he is using, ("Blessed are You who has commanded us concerning....")? And if so, do I get any merit for it (like Jewish people do)?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Posts: 62
Threads: 0
Joined: May 2007
07-02-2007, 04:09 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-26-2007, 04:43 PM by Director Michael.)
Shalom
The Hebrew letters of "amen," which are "alef - mem - nun," are also seen by our Sages as an acrostic hinting to the phrase "(K)e-l Melech Ne'eman" - "G-d, the faithful King." We find it in the Torah in several places, one being where a sotah (a married Jewish woman suspected of extended seclusion with a man who her husband had formally warned her against) answers "amen" to the oath of the curse adjured to her (Numbers 5:22). Another place is where Moses was told that the tribes should stand in divisions at Mt. Grizim and Mt. Eval and recite the curses and the blessings - to which the whole nation answered "amen." (Deut. 27)
We also find "amen" at the end of four of the five books of Psalms (Psalms 41, 72, 89, 106). The last verses are very similar to what we call a "blessing," and they end with "amen."
Therefore saying "amen" is an affirmation of the blessing being said, an acknowledgement that G-d is the faithful King. So it is absolutely permissible and praiseworthy for a Noahide to answer "amen" to all liturgical Jewish blessings made, even those that do not pertain to him or her, though one should take care to hear the complete blessing and say the word amen clearly and with concentration. All acts performed by an individual Noahide on a voluntary basis, in other words not as an obligation nor as a ritual of a religious nature (which would be like inventing a religion), are not only permissible but also praiseworthy and may be done to receive a reward, and will be rewarded.
Rabbi Yitz
Posts: 13
Threads: 2
Joined: Jun 2007
07-18-2007, 08:22 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-18-2007, 08:24 AM by Rabbi Immanuel Schochet.)
I would just like to reiterate that there is nothing wrong with a Gentile saying "Amen" when he or she hears a Jew making an exclusively Jewish blessing. For example, if a Noahide is visiting a synagogue, he or she can say "Amen" to the blessings said by a Jew when he is called up for a public reading from a Torah scroll (and it is only allowed for a Jew to be called up for this). "Amen" is simply an affirmation for what was said. A Noahide, too, can affirm that G-d should be blessed for giving Israel the Torah - for without it he would be left without the Noahide Code.
Posts: 734
Threads: 11
Joined: May 2007
There would be no need to repent if it was something that was worthy of agreement (although one should not use the statement "Amen" loosely or carelessly).
But one should not say "Amen" to a prayer that is said in worship to an idol, even if it is a prayer for something good. Nor should one say "Amen" to a false blessing. The prophet Jeremiah was punished by G-d for publicly saying "Amen" to a "good prophecy" that was being said by someone whom he knew was a false prophet.
Posts: 734
Threads: 11
Joined: May 2007
09-16-2016, 04:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-16-2016, 04:48 AM by Director Michael.)
Question received:
I have a question regarding what is written in "The Divine Code," Part 1, Chapter 6 (Serving G-d; Prayer and Grace after Meals), Topic 6:10 on page 101 ff.: It reads "If a miracle occurs for a Gentile and he returns to that place after an interval of a month or more, he may recite: ..." My questions is: Why at least a month? What's special about one month? Why not the following day?
Response:
There are a number of blessings in the Jewish liturgy which are said when a person encounters particularly awe-inspiring or emotionally arousing sights. The purpose of this is in part to remind the person to turn his natural reactions of awe and emotion into praise and thanks to G-d, Who is the Creator of whatever we see. These blessings are to be made only when one encounters those sights infrequently, because then a person's natural reaction is more intense. But if the person encounters that sight every day or every week, it becomes commonplace in his eyes and just part of his normal routine, so no "emotional-reaction" blessing of praise to G-d is said. The Jewish Sages, who set forth a liturgy of blessings to G-d, set the dividing time between the two time frames at 30 days. That is a natural time cycle for something to be "new" in our eyes, because the moon becomes "new" again in our eyes every 30 days.