The proper response to the blessing HaGomel

Letter No. 987:

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An explanation of a blessing given a Rabbi via his son that he become an overt chassid

The need to view everything that happens positively

This letter was addressed to R. Avraham Chayim Naeh, one of the leading Lubavitch Rabbinic authorities in Eretz Yisrael.

B”H, 25 Nissan, 5711,
Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

I received your letter from Erev Pesach. In the interim, you [certainly] received the kuntres for Pesach together with the letter that is relevant to you….

With blessing,

By the way, I have protested and am protesting at present the very strange custom that people who are present when the blessing HaGomel is recited do not respond Amen to the blessing, but instead respond “May He Who acted graciously….”1 It’samazing that the custom [to respond in this manner] has spread. Several times, I saw in the synagogues where I prayed that the people do not respond Amen.

« Previous

An explanation of a blessing given a Rabbi via his son that he become an overt chassid

The need to view everything that happens positively

Footnotes

[I.e., when the blessing HaGomel is recited, the people present should respond “Amen. May He Who acted….” The Rebbe noticed that people would omit Amen and just respond “May He Who acted….”]

From correspondence of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; translated by Eli Touger

Letter of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

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From correspondence of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; translated by Eli Touger

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In the Rebbe's correspondence we see his scholarship, the care he has for every individual Jew, the communal projects which he pioneered, and many other dimensions of his leadership. The Rebbe gives a person an insight that lifts him above the vantage point from which he operated previously and gives him the perspective to find a solution to his difficulties.

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