If one is sitting at a chasunah with very loud music playing and he can’t hear his friend speaking unless he shouts, and he then remembers that he hasn’t yet recited krias shema and wants to recite krias shema before chatzos, is it lechatchilah [ideal] for one to recite krias shema in a situation where he is unable to hear what he is saying, or is it a problem?
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 62:3) rules: When reciting krias shema and its berachos, one must be able to hear with his ears what comes out of his mouth. Some say this is a din de’O’raisa as we darshen, שמע 'השמע לאזניך' – “’hear’, one must hear with his ears”. (The Biur Halachah brings that some learn that even bedieved one isn’t yoitza, however, we don’t rule like this).
There is a similar halachah regarding birchas hamazon (185:2), regular berachos (206:3), and by shemonah esrei (101:2), that one must be able to hear with his ears what he says with his mouth. It’s very common by a chasunah that one is davening shemonah esrei in a quiet corner, and then loud music starts and one can’t hear himself, what’s the halachah in such a case?
On the one hand, when one recites krias shema or shemonah esrei he is unable to hear with his ears the words that leave his mouth, on the other hand, the reading of shema or shemonah esrei is loud enough to be heard, it’s just that in our case there is a side issue that there is a loud noise and one can’t hear, therefore, perhaps it’s okay?
Chakirah in the Din of השמיע לאזניו (Audible to the Ears)
The above shailah depends on how we learn the din of השמיע לאזניו, is it a requirement in the words themselves that the words must be emitted at a noise level that when in a normal situation they could be heard, or is it an independent din, that besides for the fact that one must read the words with his mouth – he must also be able to hear with his ears the words that he emits with his mouth. If it is a requirement in the words themselves – then we can say that there is nothing lacking if one is in a noisy place and can’t heard the words, as in the end of the day the words were spoken at a level that when in a normal situation they could be heard. Although now they can’t be heard, it doesn’t matter as they were spoken at the correct level.
If, however, it’s a separate din, that besides for speaking one must be able to hear what he says – then in our case, one can’t hear the words, therefore, the situation is problematic.
Proof from Moshe Rabbeinu Who Had to Raise His Voice So That He Could Be Heard Above the Noise of the Frogs
R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein (Kovetz Vovay HoAmudim, gilyan 13, pg. 110) cites proof from Parshas Vo’era where we find: ויצא משה ואהרן מעם פרעה ויצעק משה אל ה 'על דבר צפרדעים אשר שם לפרעה – “Moshe and Aharon left from in front of Pharaoh, and Moshe screamed out to Hashem, about the matter of the frogs, which were there for Pharoah” (Shemos 8:8).
The Sifsei Chachomim writes: The world asks, why does the pasuk change when talking about the Plague of Frogs and write, “Moshe screamed out to Hashem”, whereas by the other plagues it simply writes: ויעתר משה אל ה' - “Moshe prayed to Hashem”? The Sifsei Chachomim answers: Because the halachah is, when davening one must be able to hear with his ears the words that leave his mouth, and here the frogs were screaming and making a huge noise like Rashi writes nearby, therefore, Moshe needed to raise his voice when davening so that he could hear the words that were coming out his mouth.”
The Sifsei Chachomim is referring to Rashi on pasuk 7:29, and also the Medrash (Shemos Rabbah 10:6) where we find that the frogs made a loud noise. R’ Ben Tzion Felman in Shlomim MeTzion (pg. 463) adds something very beautiful to the words of the Sifsei Chachomim. In Perek Shirah we find that the frogs sing the pasuk, מלכותו לעולם ועד ברוך שם כבוד. R’ Chaim Kanievsky zt”l explains, that the nature of frogs is that they never stop croaking, and they croak day and night throughout their lives (see Zohar, Parshas Pinchos 232b). The Gemara in Eruvin (54a) writes: The words נצח סלע ועד , means that there is no interruption, similarly, the frogs that sing, ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד, also never interrupt. This hints to the fact that the praise and gratitude that we give to the Ribbono Shel Olam must be constant.
R’ Ben Tzion Felman writes, that based on this, we can understand why Moshe didn’t wait for the frogs to quieten down from their croaking and then daven calmly without needing to shout, as we see that frogs never stop. Since they never stop, he had no choice but to shout. [However, even without this, since this was a plague for the Egyptians, why should it have stopped?].
