Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

 What word in the English language is the most understood around the world? This word appears in our Torah portion this week. When you say this word, people in Europe understand it, people in South America understand it, and in Africa, and across the Middle and the Far East all understand this word. In fact, there are a few words that share this distinction.  “Coca-Cola” is apparently understood almost everywhere.  “OK” has become almost universal. The word “coffee” is recognized around the world. But none of these are in our Torah portion. The answer is ……… Amen. In our Torah reading this week – Amen – appears 12 times in 12 consecutive verses.

The Israelites are about to enter the Land of Canaan. As the Israelites pass into the Land the Levites will shout a series of twelve warnings to the people. The warnings take the form of, “Cursed be the one who” …..followed by a particular transgression. After each transgression, the Israelites are to respond with – “amen”! 

The word “amen” is an affirmation. One definition of “amen” is “so be it”. If one adds the Hebrew letter “hey” to the end of the word, it yields the word “emunah” which means “faith” or “belief”. If you add the letter “nun” in front of it, it yields the word “ne-eh-man” which means “true”. So “amen” might be understood as “you better believe it!” or “true it is!” 

One rabbi in the Talmud understands the three-letter word to be an acronym. He teaches that each of the three letters in the word “amen” represent a word – The first letter, “alef” represents the word “El”, meaning G-d; the second letter, “mem” represents the word “melekh” meaning “King”; the third letter “nun” represents the word “ne-ehman” meaning “true”.  Taken together we have a three-word phrase – “El Melekh Ne-ehman” – G-d is the True King, which, he maintains is the meaning of the word.

Of course, we usually say “amen” after a blessing, not after a curse, as in this week’s Torah portion. Since the word “amen” is an affirmation of a statement, one who recites the statement does not also add the “amen”. “Amen” is the response by one who hears the blessing recited by others.

Maimonides teaches that if one hears a fellow Jew utter a blessing, one is obligated to respond “amen”. Even if one only hears part of the blessing, if one understands what the blessing is, one must respond with “amen”. It is a religious duty. 

A priest once visited the Israeli poet Yehudah Amichai, may his memory be for a blessing, in Jerusalem. The priest was from the town in Germany where the poet was born. The priest brought him a triangular stone fragment from an ancient Jewish cemetery in that town. Clearly incised on the fragment was one word – amen.  It inspired the poet to write a short poem with that title.  It reads:

On my table rests a stone, upon it the word “amen”.
A broken monument, a remnant from the Jewish cemetery that was Destroyed more than a thousand years ago in the city where I was born. One word, amen, deeply engraved in the stone.
A hard and final amen over what was and will never be again.
Amen soft and melodious like a prayer
Amen, amen, so may it be your will.”

Our “amens” should never be routine or perfunctory. Rather, they should be said with feeling, showing that we truly understand the blessing to which we are responding, and that we fully share the experience of the person who is reciting the blessing.