Q&A: Megillah Reading on Zoom
Megillah Reading on Zoom
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I saw your responsum regarding prayer on Zoom.
Can one fulfill the obligation of Megillah reading over Zoom?
Is there any reservation on this matter?
Answer
See here for a short overview about loudspeakers and telephones: https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3849133,00.html
I tend toward the lenient view, since in my opinion those discussions and sources are not relevant to the case at hand. Reading into a pit or a cistern is an unnatural kind of reading, and what you hear is an echo. But reading through a loudspeaker, and certainly on Zoom, is natural and normal speech in our places and in our time, and therefore in my opinion it is effective. This is similar to hearing aids that are in the ear, through which, according to most halakhic decisors, it is permitted to hear and one fulfills one's obligation, because they are part of the ear (a cochlear implant); and for that same reason one may also take them out into the public domain on the Sabbath.
Discussion on Answer
In my opinion, no.
Hello Rabbi, Rabbi Ovadia makes the leniency conditional on the listener being in a place where, if not for the loudspeaker, he would have heard the cantor. Where does that condition come from, and does it really carry any weight in the Rabbi's view?