DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 1.29 MB)
Answering “Amen” to Birkot Ha’Torah

The daily Birkot Ha’Torah blessings, which we recite each morning to thank Hashem for the Misva of studying Torah, consists of several sections. It begins with the brief Beracha, "Baruch…Asher Kideshanu Be’misvotav Ve’sivanu Al Dibreh Torah," which is followed by the lengthier Beracha, "Ve’ha’areb Na…" Birkot Ha’Torah concludes with the Beracha of "Baruch Ata…Asher Bahar Banu…Baruch Ata Hashem Noten Ha’Torah."

The second of these sections – "Ve’ha’areb Na" – begins with "Ve" ("And"), which clearly indicates that it continues the previous blessing. As such, one might think that "Ve’ha’areb Na" does not begin a new Beracha, but is rather just the continuation of the first Beracha. Although this is, in fact, the opinion of some Poskim, Sephardic tradition follows the view that Birkot Ha’Torah consists of three separate Berachot, and "Ve’ha’areb Na" begins a new Beracha. Therefore, as Hacham David Yosef rules in Halacha Berura (vol. 3, p. 380), if one hears his fellow reciting Birkot Ha’Torah, he answers "Amen" three times – after "Al Dibreh Torah," after the conclusion of "Ve’ha’areb Na" (meaning, after "He’melamed Torah Le’amo Yisrael"), and after "Baruch Ata Hashem Noten Ha’Torah."

Summary: The various sections that comprise Birkot Ha’Torah are considered three separate Berachot. Therefore, if one hears his fellow reciting Birkot Ha’Torah, he answers "Amen" three times – after "Al Dibreh Torah," after the conclusion of "Ve’ha’areb Na" (meaning, after "He’melamed Torah Le’amo Yisrael"), and after "Baruch Ata Hashem Noten Ha’Torah."

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Se’uda Shelishit
Halachot and Customs of Minha on Shabbat
Reciting “Ata Honantanu” in Arbit on Mosa’eh Shabbat
The Importance of Torah Study on Shabbat
Musaf on Shabbat – The Silent Amida and the Hazan’s Repetition
The Unique Importance of Musaf Prayer on Shabbat
The Status of Food Cooked by a Non-Jew on Shabbat for a Jewish Patient
Asking a Non-Jew to Prepare Food for an Ill Patient on Shabbat
Torah Reading and Using Shabbat as a Day for Learning
Asking a Non-Jew to Carry a Flashlight on Shabbat
Is it Preferable to Ask a Non-Jew to Perform Melacha on Shabbat When Someone’s Life is in Danger?
May One Take Something That is Hanging on a Tree on Shabbat?
Guidelines for When the Refrigerator Light Was Not Deactivated Before Shabbat
Is it permissible to ask a gentile to retrieve something from a car on Shabbat?
“Lehem Mishneh” – Using a Borrowed Loaf, or a Loaf That Had Been Attached to Another
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found