Men AND Women
- The requirement to hear the megillah applies to both men and women. Even though it is a time-bound positive mitzva (‘mitzvas aseh shehazman grama), women are still included in this obligation (and the other mitzvos of Purim) as they too were saved in the miracle.
- Women should either attend a reading done at shul, being careful to ensure that this is in a shul and location within it where they will be able to hear every word of the megillah clearly from the ezras nashim (ladies’ section), or they should arrange for a family member or neighbour etc who is sufficiently experienced to accurately lein the megillah to read for them at home from a kosher scroll(SA 689:1, MB1, Dirshu 5).
A Woman Reading For Men
- Whilst women are also obligated in the mitzva of megillah, even in a private setting, some say a woman is unable to read the megillah for a man, as women’s obligation may only be to ‘hear’ the megillah, in contrast to the men’s requirement to ‘read’ the megillah, and one is only able to hear the megillah from one who has an equivalent (or greater) level of obligation (SA 689:2, MB7).
Preferable for Women to Hear From a Man
- Mishna Berura quotes the Magen Avraham that ideally a woman should not read even for herself where it is possible to hear from a man, though she may read for herself (or listen to another woman reading) if this isn’t possible (SA 689:2, MB 7, 8, MB 692:11).
The Bracha at a Women’s Reading
- If a woman is in a situation where she is reading the megillah for herself, or if a man is reading for women, they should end the bracha ‘lishmoa (mikra) megilla’, rather than ‘al mikra megilla’. There is a debate amongst the poskim whether it is preferable say the word ‘mikra’ or not – consult a Rav for guidance when required (MB 689:8, 692:11, Dirshu 689:26).
Children – Chinuch in Hearing the Megillah
- Children, both boys and girls, who have reached the age of chinuch should also be brought to hear the megillah. Indeed this is one reason why we say certain pessukim in the megillah out loud as a congregation – eg ‘ish yehudi’, ‘umordechai yatza’ etc – in order to keep the children’s focus on the reading and educate them in the mitzva of publicising the miracle, key aspects of which are highlighted in these pessukim (689:1, MB 3, 16)
- In defining the age of Chinuch for these purposes, Rav Elyashiv ruled that this depends on each individual child and whether they have the patience to be able to listen to the entire Megillah reading, though some advocate training younger children to hear part of the megillah (in a manner that doesn’t impact the adult’s ability to hear the megillah; hence some shuls have a ‘children’s megillah readings’ where some parts of the megillah are read for the children) (Dirshu 689:7).
- Very young children should not be brought as they will distract those present from listening to the megillah.Mishna Brura strongly emphasises that the purpose of bringing children to shul is to educate them to listen to the megillah, not to bash at Haman! Taking this latter approach unfortunately leads to situations where children focus only on making noise which can lead to the adults present being unable to hear the Megilla as required.
- Due to this risk of excessive noise preventing one from hearing every word of the megillah, Mishna Brura advocates that those who are able to should bring a kosher megillah to shul and read along word for word (to be discussed more in the coming days iyH (MB 689:17-19, 690:26).
