(וגאלתי אתכם בזרוע נטויה ובשפטים גדולים” (שמות ו’,ו”
We recite the brocha of גאל ישראל before שמונה עשרה. It is said in past tense because this is referring to the geula from Mitzrayim. The Gemara in Berachos brings the halacha that by shacharis one must make sure that שמונה עשרה is said right after the brocha of geula – כדי לסמוך גאולה לתפלה. Is answering אמן considered an interruption between the brocha of גאל ישראל andשמונה עשרה?
There is a מחלוקת if one should answer אמן after the brocha of גאל ישראל. The מחבר in סימן ס”ו סעיף ז’ rules אינו אומר אמן אחר גאל ישראל משום דהוי הפסק. One should not answer amen after גאל ישראל for it is considered an interruption betweenגאולה לתפלה. The רמ”א disagrees and saysויש אומרים דעונין אמן, וכן נוהגין לענות אחר השליח ציבור, אבל אם מתפלל לבד אין עונין אמן – There are those who say to answer amen after this brocha. The reason to answer amen is because this is the end of the berachos of krias shema. The Rema says the minhag is to answer amen only after the brocha of the ש”ץ but not after one’s own brocha. Theערוך השלחן writes that the minhag today even by Ashkenazim is not to answer amen.
The Mishnah Berurah suggests two ways to fulfill both שיטות. The first is to end the brocha together with the ש”ץ. The second is to start the words ה’ שפתי תפתח before the ש”ץ ends the brocha.
A very common minhag brought in theחתן סופר is to end the brocha of גאל ישראל quietly. Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlit”a says this is a מנהג יפה and he thinks this was the practice of the חזו”א. Reb Moshe Feinstein zt”l remembers from his youth that this was the minhag of all the yeshivas where he grew up in Russia. This was also the minhag of the kehillah in Berlin.
Many poskim are against such a practice. Rav Henkin zt”l writes that he heard the minhag to end גאל ישראל quietly has even spread to בני תורה. This minhag is against halacha. The reason is because תפילה בציבור really starts from the brocha of יוצר אור until שמונה עשרה. The early minhag, which is still practiced today by the Sefardim, is for the ש”ץ to recite out loud the entire ברכת קריאת שמע including קריאת שמע. Since today however most people are not יוצא with the ש”ץ, it has become the minhag for the ש”ץ to only say out loud the beginning and end of the brocha. If this is not done it is not considered תפלה בציבור even בדיעבד.
Reb Shmuel Wosner zt”l adds that it is not כבוד הברכה to say the beginning part of the brocha out loud and the last part quietly. Reb Shlomo Zalman Aurbach zt”l, Reb Elyashiv zt”l and יבדל מחיים לחיים Reb Moshe Shternbuch shlit”a all hold that it should be said out loud.[1]
Prepared by R’ Avrohom Yehoshua Ziskind
The author can be reached at shueyziskind@gmail.com
[1] Sources:עלינו לשבח,דרשו,פסקי תשבות, אשי ישראל, גבורות אליהו