The Amen Phenomenon in Jewish Action - A Disgraceful Trojan Horse!

The last issue of Jewish Action has an article by Gael Hammer – The Amen Phenomenon. My first reaction was oh no! Even the Jewish Action is in on the superstitious bandwagon. The last bastion of semi normal rationality has fallen!

I told myself that I was just as bigoted as any fundamentalist was and that I am jumping to conclusions before giving the article the benefit of the doubt. I then started reading and though I do not agree with several ideas in it, I had the pleasant feeling that the author was trying to explain in a rational fashion a practice that started off as a superstition. After all if, God could allow Korbanot as a way of redirecting a practice from idolatry to Avodat Hashem, why not Berachot. The Amen clubs are a real disgrace and take a Mitzvah and make out of it a superstition, an amulet, and here this author is suggesting how to change the mindset and bring it back to its original intent – praising God.

The author explains how this creates a community, allows women to make the minimum of 100 blessings Halacha requires of us and expanding into Tefilah as a group. It also sounded like the Berachot we are talking about are the Birchot hashachar which women have to say anyway. So why not say it in public and have one answer Amen to her colleagues’ Bracha?

Then, to my great chagrin, I get to the end of the article and the postscript. “Rosh Chodesh Me-Ga-Esh suppers have now been celebrated in Sydney Australia and may soon be held in Melbourne”. Me-Ga-Esh suppers? From prayer to parties!? What is going on here?

Now I read a little note: “When bread is not served at a meal, certain foods and their blessings are given precedence”. Nu – We want to have wives who know the Halachot so why not? I imagined a Rav would be using the opportunity to go over the Halachot of precedence- which are quite complicated and I usually get very confused. (They say that in Hungary Rabbanim used to test prospective bridegrooms for their daughters if they were erudite enough by offering a combination of different foods and watching how they navigated the treacherous shoals of precedence in Berachot. I would never have made it!).

That would be great. The infamous note however continues: “Traditionally [whose tradition Bila’am Harasha who Balak believed that Asher tevarech Mevorach?] each blessing also represents a particular request or prayer. ME – Mezonot represent the prayer for parnassah or adequate income; G-Geffen represents the prayer for Shidduchim, or those needing to find spouses;” I stop here as the note continues with this blasphemy. I thought the subject was Birchot Hanehenin where one must ask permission of God who owns everything before partaking in His world. Where does Segulot and superstition come in?

This article is a Trojan horse. Instead of trying to purify an unclean practice, it is trying to subvert and profane a beautiful Mitzvah and obligation.

Hashem Yerachem. What happened to the Jewish Action? I already cancelled my subscription to the Jewish Observer for its intolerance and stupidity; do I have to do the same for the Jewish Action? My wife loves the recipes! Please tell me it was just a mistake and retract.