This week’s parashah, Ki Tavo, contains quite a number of curses and blessings. The Torah paints a striking picture of the Israelites, divided by tribe, standing on the tops of Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, facing one another. The Levites call out blessings and then curses, and the Israelites answer with a resounding, “Amen.”

“Amen” is a Hebrew word we know well from blessings and prayers, and it is used by Jews and non-Jews alike. But what does it actually mean? Some suggest that amen (אמן) comes from the root word emet (אמת), meaning truth, thus when we say “amen,” we’re confirming a truth. Others suggest that it shares the same root as emunah (אמונה), meaning faith or belief.

I think there is a beautiful middle ground between the two. Judaism doesn’t ask for blind faith; rather, faith requires work, building a foundation of belief from evidence, rational thought and lived wisdom. When we say “amen,” we are choosing faith, choosing to believe.

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Jewish musician Ellen Allard offers a modern twist: “Amen sounds like ‘I’m in.’ ”

It transforms the word into a declaration of commitment. The Talmud (Shevuot 36a) echoes this: “Amen” carries the weight of oath, acceptance and confirmation.

So why do the Israelites say “amen” after curses? Moses is laying out God’s expectations for how they should live. They can choose negative behavior, which brings curse, or positive behavior, which brings blessing. By answering “amen” to the curses, the Israelites are promising, “We won’t do that.”

Today, our “amens” take many forms. When we show up at synagogue not only to pray but to stand together in community, that’s an amen. When we raise our voices against antisemitism, that’s an amen. When we give to sustain Jewish learning, when we carry the Torah through the sanctuary with children reaching to kiss it, when we stand together for Israel in moments of crisis, each is a resounding amen. Every act of solidarity, generosity and presence says, “I’m in.”

Each “amen” becomes an affirmation of peoplehood, a commitment to Jewish community, and a promise to ourselves that the curses of division, hatred or apathy will not define us. To say “amen” is to say: I stand with my people. I see myself as part of this story. I claim this responsibility as mine. It’s the recognition that our survival has always depended on one another, from the Israelites answering together in unison on the mountains, to Jewish communities who kept faith alive in exile, to those who rebuilt after tragedy.

During this month of Elul, we stand on the precipice of a new year, with new choices before us. Just as our ancestors answered “amen” to mark what they would not do, we have the chance to answer “amen” to the lives we want to build, the kind of community we want to sustain, the blessings we want to choose. And just as their “amens” were a commitment to God and the nation they were shaping, may our “amens” be a commitment as well, each of us saying, “I’m in. I choose blessing. I choose to stand with this community and to stand with myself.”

Each amen strengthens the invisible thread tying us to generations past and future, a declaration that no matter the curses we may face, whether division, hatred or despair, they will not undo us. We will hold fast to courage, hope and love.

This is what I pray for in this New Year!

Amen v’Amen.

Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg serves United Hebrew Congregation and is a past president of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, which coordinates the d’var Torah for the St. Louis Jewish Light.