Is it an obligation on the individual?

I tend to think not, like the other readings.

With God’s help, Saturday night after Parashat Parah, 5782

In any case, it seems to me that an individual who missed the reading of Parashat Parah at its proper time should at least read the passage from a humash, since the Sages presumably instituted the public reading of Parashat Parah in order to raise the awareness of the entire people to purify themselves before the festival. (And in the Land of Israel they would interrupt the regular consecutive reading cycle on this Sabbath and read only Parashat Parah.) That awareness can also be created by an individual reading from a humash. The individual who missed it did not merit to fulfill the ordinance in its complete form; but its purpose can still be partially achieved through reading it from a humash.

God willing, may we merit the rebuilding of the Temple במהרה and then observe purity in its plain sense (especially since Rabbi Menachem Burshtein is announcing that within a few months we will have a red heifer, and then all that will remain is to ask Russia’s “Red Army” to redirect a few missiles toward the Temple Mount 🙂

But even on the spiritual plane, there is value in focusing on strengthening prayer and service toward purification of the heart before the Festival of Redemption, and to ask: “Purify our hearts to serve You in truth.”

Best regards, Hanoch Henekh Fainshmaker-Palti

For the sake of expanding knowledge:
A. There are medieval authorities who held that Parah too is Torah-level.
Some say that the reading of Parashat Zakhor and Parashat Parah Adumah must be read on a Torah-level basis. Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 685
(15) And Parashat Parah Adumah: and many later authorities wrote that this portion is not Torah-level, and see above in siman 60, se’if katan 10, in the Mishnah Berurah, that even for a rabbinic commandment one must also intend to fulfill the commandment. Mishnah Berurah there.
B. In the Mishnah Berurah cited above it sounds as though even if Parah is not Torah-level, it is still a rabbinic commandment and not like an ordinary Torah reading (for otherwise there would be general intent to fulfill one’s obligation in Parah just as there is in every Torah reading), and his words are puzzling.
C. The Mishnah Berurah held that all the readings are an obligation on each individual (146:3).
But clearly, as a practical halakhic ruling, one does not need to make it up (and that is true for Zakhor as well).

C. To continue expanding knowledge: there is no proof from that Mishnah Berurah (146:3). Especially since he apparently contradicts himself elsewhere (siman 135). See column 254.

The Mishnah Berurah in 135 explains that the obligation did not take effect for him because he cannot go to the study hall. In my humble opinion, that actually fits better with the view that there is an individual obligation. (According to a congregational obligation, it would depend on the fact that he did not go, even if he was able to go.)
The Bi’ur Halakhah (146, s.v. “and there are those who permit”) really could also have raised the difficulty even according to the view of a congregational obligation (at least according to Tosafot), but his wording is:
“The obligation of Ezra’s ordinance rests upon each and every individual.”
As for the proof I brought from 146:3, obviously even according to the side that it is a congregational obligation, a person may not simply run away. But presumably for a major need it is permitted, and it seems to me that this also makes sense from a utilitarian logic standpoint, to grant an exemption when needed.
By the way, anyone who looks into Tashbetz 3:98 will see that his words (quoted in the Bi’ur Halakhah) do not fit so well with the assumptions of the Mishnah Berurah (that one may leave only for a major need if he already heard the Torah reading).
While looking into it, I noticed that the Mishnah Berurah’s idea regarding Parashat Parah also appears in siman 146, se’if katan 13.
Thanks for the reference to column 254. I saw that the Rabbi points there to his own approach on this issue, but I didn’t know where it is.