Monday, February 26, 2007

Daf Yomi - Megillah 19 - EXCESSIVE HAMAN BANGING

The Rosh Yeshiva of Gateshead declared immediately prior to the reading of the Megillah: I have instructed the reader of the Megillah not to have in mind those individuals who disturb the reading of the Megillah due to excessive noisemaking during the klapping of Haman.

One can inquire if anyone at all fulfilled their obligation of hearing the Megillah. The Rama (581:1) rules that a chazzan is required to have everyone in mind during his prayers and if he has an enemy and decides to exclude him, even his friends will not have discharged their obligation of tefillah. The Mishna Berura (53:57) rules accordingly. If so, how will the remainder of the congregation fulfill their obligation of hearing the Megillah if the reader intended to exclude several people?

Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein makes the following distinction. The Chavos Yair (186) explains the ruling of the Rama: The chazzan is an emissary from the congregation and he was sent to discharge the obligation for everyone. If he changes and resolves to exclude an individual, he is no longer considered their agent. Reb Shlomo Kluger cites the Magen Avraham (53:22) that a chazzan must remove from his heart any jealousy or hatred towards any individual; if he decides to exclude someone, this indicates that he has not removed the hatred from his heart and he is disqualified from being a chazzan.

The Rosh Yeshiva has the jurisdiction to decide who should be included in the congregation and who shouldn’t be. The Chavos Yair’s reason is not applicable here because the reader of the Megillah is not altering anything and he is doing precisely what he has undertaken to do. Rav Shlomo Kluger’s reason is also not applicable because here he does not bear any grudge against anyone at all.

1 comments:

Avromi said...

Im not sure I understand your point. Can't a Rabbi or Rosh Yeshiva provide guidelines for the shul/yeshiva and if they are not followed, the rule can be that those people can be excluded. It doesn't have to be like that, but it can be. The public money support doesn't make it belong to the public. There can be such institutions but I'd assume most are not like that.