Question: I recently returned from a trip abroad and wanted to say HaGomel. When I mentioned this to the officers of my synagogue, however, they told me that I would have to wait until Shabbos to do so. I was not given any reason for this and did not wish to display my ignorance, so I quietly acquiesced. Can you please explain why I had to wait?
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Synopsis: The requirement of having a minimum of 10 men present for synagogue services and other mitzvot that are davar she’b’kedusha (matters of sanctity) is derived through the hermeneutic principle of gezerah shava (verbal analogy). If the same word appears in two separate verses in the Torah, and a certain halacha is explicitly stated regarding one of them, we may infer that the same halacha applies in the second case as well.
Leviticus 22:32 – which discusses sanctifying G-d’s name in public – uses the word “betoch,” and Numbers 16:21 – which discusses G-d’s command to separate from Korach and his group – uses the word “mitoch.” The latter verse refers to a congregation of at least 10 people (which we know via a second gezarah shava) and so we learn that publicly sanctifying G-d’s name requires a minyan.
This gezerah shava comes up in a Talmudic discussion (Berachot 21b) between R. Huna and R. Yehoshua b. Levi regarding someone who enters a synagogue while the congregation is already in midst of davening Shemoneh Esrei. If he wishes to catch up with the congregation, R. Huna permits him to recite Kedusha by himself while R. Yehoshua rules that it can be said only with a quorum of ten.
The Mechaber discusses who is required to offer hoda’ah: one who survived crossing the sea, one who survived traveling the wilderness, one who recovered from a serious illness, and one who was set free after being imprisoned. The Mechaber specifies that the blessing of the hoda’ah must be recited before a quorum of ten. The custom is to recite the blessing after the reading of the Torah, when a quorum is already assembled.
Usually, the response to hearing a blessing is “Amen.” However, there is a specific blessing that those assembled are to recite in response to HaGomel.
We discussed the Tur’s ruling that a person who recites the blessing with less than a quorum does not need to repeat the blessing. He interprets the requirement of the quorum as l’chatchila – an ab initio requirement – but b’diavad (post facto) the individual’s requirement is discharged. Rabbeinu Yonah disagrees and requires the person to repeat the blessing, explaining that the quorum is absolutely an indispensable requirement.
Last week we discussed the opinions of several later authorities. The Chayye Adam says that HaGomel should be recited within three days, even if that means that the blessing would then be said without a Sefer Torah. His opinion is that blessing before a quorum is the proper manner of fulfilling the required blessing, but the requirement of including at least two Talmudic scholars is not an absolute requirement. The Aruch HaShulchan agrees with this opinion. The Kitzur, on the other hand, stresses that the requirement of the quorum is absolute and leaves no option for leniency at all. The Mishna Berurah, however, rules most leniently: that the quorum should include the one reciting the blessing. He compares this requirement to bridegrooms, who are included in the minyan at their wedding. Many other authorities agree with this opinion.
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Answer: Previously, we discussed the various opinions about the requirement to recite Birkat HaGomel before a quorum, not counting the one reciting – the mevarech. I have personally witnessed numerous times that, in practice, many do not insist on meeting this requirement, or possibly are unaware of it at all. The lenient path identified with the Mishna Berurah seems to be the one taken. Yet your rabbi insisted that you wait until Shabbos to recite the blessing.
Early on in our discussion, I noted that it was obvious to me that the incident had occurred on a Thursday as many authorities note that one is not to wait more than three days from the time of one’s delivery from danger to recite the blessing. Therefore, it was obvious to me that your rabbi felt compelled to have you wait for Shabbos when there is a larger assemblage in the synagogue.
Great support for your rabbi’s ruling is found in Responsa Teshuvot Ve’Hanhagot (Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch – Orach Chayyim, vol 2:143). Rabbi Sternbuch very clearly differentiates between the minimum ten required for tefillah or any other davar she’b’kedusha – which is derived from the verse found in Parashat Emor (Leviticus 22:32), “Venikdashti betoch Bnei Yisrael, ani Hashem mekaddish’chem” – and I will thus be sanctified in the midst of the Children of Israel. The author notes that even where only six of those ten present are actually engaged in the prayer service – the others present merely to complete the minyan – nevertheless, one will indeed [minimally] discharge his obligation. However as relates to HaGomel, the verse “viy’romemu’hu b’k’hal am” – Let them exalt Him in the assembly of people (Psalms 107:32) sets the tone that the requirement is for one to recite specifically before ten people [aside from himself].
Rabbi Sternbuch goes even further, explaining that he might even consider the blessing as having been recited in vain if not all ten men responded “Amen.” He therefore advises that one is to take care to recite the blessing loudly in order that all (i.e., the minimum ten) hear and thus respond “Amen,” followed by their text of thanksgiving (“Mi she’gemalcha…”).
I might note that, in general, this is a problem that we encounter when one is called to the Torah for an aliyah and then mumbles the birchot haTorah; the result is that those present, at times, are unable to respond properly. While the only loss as a result of such an inaudible blessing (beyond those standing at the Torah) is the congregational response of “Amen,” this is not true regarding HaGomel. Surely, as Rav Sternbuch states, the failure of those present to respond defeats the entire purpose of one’s reciting the blessing in public in the first place.
To be continued.
