Amen (Part 2)
- According to the midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 429) the wicked in
gehenom who recite amen even once are released: In the future, G-d will
be sitting in the Garden of Eden teaching Torah and all the tzaddikim will be
sitting before Him. When He is done, Zerrubabel Ben Shealtiel will get up and
say yisgadal veyiskadash and his voice will be heard from one end of
the world to the other. Everyone will say amen; even the wicked in
gehenom. When He hears the voices of the wicked saying amen, his
compassion will be awakened and He will give the key to gehenom to
Michoel and Gavriel and say to them, “Go, open the gates of gehenom and
bring them up.” This teaches us how important it is to recite the Kaddish and
to answer amen. - When a person dies and passes on to the World of Truth, his
children and family recite the Kaddish for the sake of the deceased so that
the congregation can respond and recite “amen,” and in the time to come all
the wicked will be released from gehenom by the merit of their saying
amen. So, just as we are so dedicated to reciting the kaddish for the
deceased, we should listen to the Kaddish and answer amen yehay shmei
rabbah and thereby sanctify the name of G-d in public. - Even a child who answers amen has a portion in the
world to come. - After the destruction of Beis Hamikdosh and the cessation
of the daily sacrificial service, G-d mercifully left us in our exile a
mikdosh me’at: prayer and song and praises of G-d. Because prayer is such
an important matter, a person should make an effort to pray in a synagogue,
which is compared to the Beis Hamikdosh because the Presence of G-d resides
there. In the synagogue, his prayer will be more powerful because of the
holiness of the place and because his prayer is said along with the
congregation.
