Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Halakhah הֲלָכָה
After Avram defeats the armies holding Lot captive, he receives a בְּרָכָה (berakhah, blessing) from Malkitzedek, king of Shalem. Malkitzedek first blesses Avram (Bereishit 14:19) and then blesses God (Bereishit 14:20). How does one respond when somebody else makes a blessing?
Nowadays, the custom is that one should respond, “בָּרוּךְ הוּא וּבָרוּךְ שְׁמוֹ (barukh hu u-varukh shemo, blessed is God and blessed is God’s name),” when they hear another person saying God’s name in a blessing. The first mention of this custom is in the Tur of Rabbi Ya’akov ben Asher:
וְשָׁמַעְתִּי מֵאַבָּא מוֹרִי שֶׁהָיָה אוֹמֵר עַל כָּל בְּרָכָה וּבְרָכָה שֶׁהָיָה שׁוֹמֵעַ בְּכָל מָקוֹם בָּרוּךְ הוּא וּבָרוּךְ שְׁמוֹ וְזֶהוּ שֶׁאָמַר מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ כִּי שֵׁם ה' אֶקְרָא הָבוּ גֹדֶל לֵאלֹקֵינוּ וְעוֹד אֲפִי' כְּשֶׁמַּזְכִּירִין צַדִּיק בָּשָׂר וָדָם צָרִיךְ לְבָרְכוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מִשְׁלֵי י:ז) "זֵכֶר צַדִּיק לִבְרָכָה"
I heard from my father and teacher (Rabbeinu Asher, known as the Rosh), that upon every blessing that one hears in any place, one should say, “barukh hu u-varukh shemo.” This is derived from what Moshe our teacher, said: “When I call out the name of God, give greatness to our God” (Devarim 32:3). Moreover, even when a righteous person is mentioned, one needs to bless them, as it says, “The memory of the righteous is for a blessing” (Mishlei 10:7).
This teaches us that calling out the name of God, such as in a berakhah, requires a response of giving “greatness to our God,” meaning that a person should say, “barukh hu u-varukh shemo.”
When shouldn’t one say “barukh hu u-varukh shemo”?
The Mishnah Berurah (Orah Hayyim 124:21) brings two examples of when one should not say, “barukh hu u-varukh shemo,” upon hearing God’s name in a berakhah.
If the person who hears the berakhah is at a point in their own prayers where one cannot make interruptions, such as during the blessings before Shema.
If one is going to fulfill the mitzvah through the person making the berakhah. For example, during Kiddush, or the berakhah recited before hearing shofar or Megilat Esther, one does not say barukh hu u-varukh shemo. Instead, one listens to the berakhah without interrupting, and then answers “amen” at the end.
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