Shomea KeOneh

From Halachipedia

General Requirements

  1. Even though there is always a mitzvah to answer the bracha of a fellow Jew, there is an added reason why a person should answer Amen when one is listening to a bracha, which is in order to fulfill one's obligation. [1]
  2. In order to fulfill one’s obligation the listener must hear the whole bracha starting from the word Baruch. [2] If one did miss part of the bracha some say that one can fill in that part by saying those specific words. [3]
  3. If one was talking while listening to a bracha one has not fulfilled one’s obligation. [4]
  4. According to the Moroccan custom, even one who is fulfilling a mitzvah via Shomea KeOneh should answer Baruch Hu Uvaruch Shemo to the bracha being said. [5]
  5. The one making the bracha must have intent to fulfill the obligation of the one listening and the one listening to the bracha must have intent to fulfill his obligation through listening. [6]

Brachot on Food

  1. By all Brachot for food, either Bracha Rishona or Bracha Achrona, one may not fulfill one’s obligation by listening to someone say the bracha unless that person is also going to eat or has eaten the proper Shuir. [7] The notable exceptions to this are Hagefen for Kiddush and Hamotzei for matzah on the first night of Pesach; for those, it is permissible to fulfill someone else's obligation even if one isn't going to eat.[8]

Bracha Rishona

  1. The original establishment of the rabbis was to make Bracha Rishona together (meaning, one person saying it out loud and everyone else fulfilling the obligation by listening). [9]
  2. Some poskim hold that we wouldn't employ Shomea K'oneh for a Bracha Rishona except for HaMotzei on bread and HaGafen on wine. [10] Additionally, since people aren’t experts in having intent to fulfill the obligation of others and those listening having intent to fulfill one’s obligation, the minhag is that each person make the Bracha Rishona to themselves. [11]
  3. It is preferable to say a Bracha together and this is based on the principle of BeRov Am Hadarat Melech, meaning, that it’s more respectable to serve Hashem in multitudes. [12]
  4. In order that one should fulfill someone else's obligation of a Bracha Rishona with Shomea K'oneh everyone must sit together at the same table. [13] However, after the fact even those who didn’t eat at the same table can fulfill the obligation with someone else who is making the Bracha if the one making the Bracha has intent to fulfill the obligation of others and the one listening has intent to his obligation. [14]
  5. If someone heard a Bracha Rishona and had intent to fulfill his obligation through the agency of Shomea Keonah and then changes his mind and doesn’t want to eat he must eat something so that his listening and in turn his saying of the bracha shouldn’t be a Bracha Levatala. [15]

Bracha Achrona

  1. The original establishment of the rabbis was that each person to make Bracha Achrona to oneself, except Birkat HaMazon which is supposed to said together (meaning, one person saying it out loud and everyone else fulfilling the obligation by listening). [16] Even part of the original enactment it was preferable that a person fulfill the obligation through listening (to someone else) if a person doesn’t know the text of the Bracha Achrona. [17]
  2. Nowadays, since Bracha Achrona is disregarded and forgotten, it’s considered preferable that the Bracha Achrona be made out loud and everyone to listen, and it’s proper that everyone say the Bracha along with the one saying it out loud word by word. [18]
  3. Nowadays, because it’s difficult to have proper intent for a long time the minhag is for each person to say Birkat HaMazon silently to oneself while the Mezamen reads it out loud. [19]
  4. In order that one should fulfill the obligation of the other by saying Birkat HaMazon together, everyone must sit together at the same table. [20] However, after the fact even those who didn’t eat at the same table can fulfill the obligation together (meaning, one person saying it out loud and everyone else fulfilling the obligation by listening). [21]

Brachot on Mitzvot

  1. By Brachot HaMitzvah, even if one has already fulfilled one’s obligation one can still fulfill the obligation of others because of the principle of Aravim Zeh BaZeh, the responsibility for our fellow Jew. [22]

Tefillah

  1. If one is saying Shmoneh Esrei and one hears the Shaliach Tzibbur reach Kedusha one should pause and listen but one shouldn't answer with the congregation. By listening to the Shaliach Tzibbur one fulfills one's obligation through Shomea KeOneh.[23] One doesn't need to raise one's feet when listening to Kedusha. [24]

Sources

  1. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:17, Mishna Brurah 8:15, See Vezot HaBracha pg 362 regarding whether answering Amen makes it like the person listening said the entire Bracha.
  2. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:19, Shaar HaTziyun there mentions that if one did not hear some words, as long as they are not the crucial ones, one is still considered to have fulfilled the obligation by listening. (Shulchan Aruch 214:1 and Mishna Brurah 314:4 specify Baruch, either Hashem or Elokenu, Melech, and HaOlam and the conclusion as the crucial words).
  3. ↑ Vezot HaBracha (pg 362) quoting Halichot Shlomo (Klali Brachot 11).
  4. ↑ Mishna Brurah 167:45. Vezot HaBracha pg 361 writes that it is possible that the Chazon Ish 141:7 who’s explanation of Shomea KeOneh is that the listener joins the bracha by actively listening would disagree.
  5. ↑ Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of Rav Rephael Baruch Toledano, Volume 1, Page 111
  6. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:5, 18
  7. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:14
  8. ↑ S"A 167:20. Magen Avraham 167:41 explains that in general one can't fulfill someone else's obligation for a food bracha unless he is going to eat as well since the other person should just recite the bracha and if he doesn't know how to say it, he shouldn't eat. However, for Kiddush and matzah there's an obligation to eat.
  9. ↑ S”A 213:1
  10. ↑ Rama 213:1
  11. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:12
  12. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:3
  13. ↑ S”A 213:1
  14. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:5
  15. ↑ Sh”t Yabia Omer O”C 8:24
  16. ↑ S”A 213:1
  17. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:9
  18. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:9
  19. ↑ S”A 183:7 writes that it’s proper that each person say Birkat HaMazon silently to oneself along with the Bracha that the Mezamen is saying out loud. Mishna Brurah 187:27 adds that the original enactment was for everyone to listen to the Mezamen make Birkat HaMazon out loud, however, nowadays that it’s difficult to have proper intent for that period of time, everyone should read along silently.
  20. ↑ S”A 213:1
  21. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:5
  22. ↑ Mishna Brurah 213:14
  23. ↑ Shulchan Aruch 104:7. This is based on Rashi Sukkah 38b s.v. Hu who says that Shomea KeOneh makes it possible to fulfill one's obligation by listen and not answering. However, Tosfot s.v. Shamah argues that perhaps listening is considered an interruption in one's Shmoneh Esrei.
  24. ↑ Yabia Omer 6:16
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