- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions
73
Answer: We can extend your excellent set of questions, based on your assumptions. Perhaps one should recite bHlo with the tzibbur even though he does not usually do so. If it is not justified to say bHlo, why isn’t responding amen a forbidden amen l’vatala (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 215:4), as you asked regarding tefillin, irrespective of hefsek?

Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions (605)
Rabbi Daniel Mann
303 - Receiving Fish from Shabbat Fishing
304 - Answering Amen to a Beracha You "Do Not Believe in"
305 - Leaving a Client with Half the Bill
Load More
In general, one whose place’s minhag is not to recite a certain beracha and is davening in a place where they recite it (e.g., Hallel in shul on Seder night) does not recite the beracha unless he is the chazan (see Igrot Moshe, OC II:94). BHlo is different in a couple of ways (see Mishneh Halachot V:29). On the one hand, the importance of reciting it is relatively low, and not all agree that it is necessary even abroad. On the other hand, all agree that it was once deemed proper, and many poskim who do not say it, do not consider it pointless, just insufficiently justified. As a reflection of these (and perhaps other) factors, the consensus is that one who is just visiting chutz la’aretz does not say it (assuming people will not notice his divergence (see Tefilla K’hilchata 19:(49)), whereas a chutz la’aretz person does not say it while in Israel, at least if davening with a minyan (Mishneh Halachot ibid.).
Regarding amen, the question is a little harder. While it is forbidden to answer amen to a beracha l’vatala, many poskim limit what is considered l’vatala in this regard. The Be’ur Halacha says that one is allowed to answer amen to a beracha, which according to the listener’s p’sak, is not called for. When someone praises Hashem appropriately, based on a legitimate opinion, it is fit to receive an amen (Pri Megadim, EA 215:1). Answering, though, is optional because the obligation to answer amen does not extend to a case in which it is only a doubt if the beracha and its amen are called for. The Har Tzvi (OCI:38) goes further, requiring to answer amen. Yabia Omer (IX, 38), regarding a Sephardi answering amen to a beracha on Hallel on Rosh Chodesh or to an Ashkenazi woman’s beracha on a mitzva in which she is exempt, disagrees and rules not to answer. Your question about tefillin on Chol Hamo’ed (in chutz la’aretz, where there are two legitimate opinions as to whether to put them on) would seem to depend on this question, and the majority opinion is that he may answer amen.
Regarding bHlo, it would seem that, indeed, because of the problem of hefsek, it is better not to voluntarily answer amen. On the one hand, a hefsek between birchot Kri’at Shema and Shemoneh Esrei is less severe at night (see applications in Shulchan Aruch, OC 236:2; Mishna Berura 236:7 and elsewhere). However, since answering amen to bHlo is almost definitely not a requirement, it is better not say it (see similar idea in B’tzel Hachochma IV:25).

Ask the Rabbi: Taking a Different Object than Lost
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Adar 5785

Ask the Rabbi: Escorting Husband Returning from Hospital on Shabbat
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Sivan 5785

Ask the Rabbi: Beracha upon Returning Tzitzit
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Tevet 5785

Ask the Rabbi: Crying in Rosh Hashana Davening
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Elul 5784

Rabbi Daniel Mann

Washing Hands with Soap on Yom Kippur
Tishrei 4 5776

Tazria Metzora Question
5772

Mishpatim Question
5772

Reciting Borei Nefashot on Food When One Will Still Drink
Sivan 3 5780

Blended and Synthetic Tzitzis
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff

The Ten Tribes Beyond the Sambatyon
Rabbi Mordechai Hochman | Iyar 5767

The Ten Tribes Beyond the Sambatyon
Rabbi Mordechai Hochman | Iyar 5767
Customs of the Three Weeks
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | Sivan 5768
Daf Yomi Avodah Zarah Daf 12
R' Eli Stefansky | 4 Tammuz 5785

P'ninat Mishpat: End of Tenure of Development Company – part I
based on ruling 77097 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Tammuz 5785
