INTERRUPTION DURING MEGILLAH
One who misses hearing even a single word is not Yotzeh the Megillah reading. Therefore, one should pay absolute attention whilst the Ba’al Koreh is reading the Megillah.
If one missed hearing a word, the best solution is to read from that word onwards, until he catches up with the Ba’al Koreh. [This is necessary because each word of the Megillah must be read/heard in the correct order.] This should be done even when one is following along in a Chumash and not a proper Megillah.
One need not recite the words with the Trop if this will detain or prevent him from catching up to the Ba’al Koreh. However, one must ensure that all the words are properly enunciated and vowelized.
If one missed a word and did not follow the guidelines above, or he left during the Megillah reading for even a short time, he must hear the Megillah again. Nevertheless, he does not need to start again from the beginning, but may instead resume hearing it from the place where he was interrupted. In such an instance, one does not repeat the Brachot unless he diverted his attention from the Mitzvah of Megillah.
As mentioned above, one should not speak during the Megillah reading. If one said anything unrelated to the Megillah between the Brachot and the very start of Megillah, he needs to recite the Brachot again. If one spoke after this time – even matters unrelated to the Megillah – he does not repeat the Brachot again. Nevertheless, being that he could not have properly heard the words that the Ba’al Koreh was reading whilst he was talking or repeating the Brachot, he must follow the guidelines above for one who missed a word.
One should not pause unnecessarily whilst reading the Megillah. Nevertheless, if one paused even for an extended period of time, he may resume from the place where he paused. The exception is if he was forced to pause due to circumstances beyond his control, and the pause was for more time than it would have taken him to finish reading the Megillah. In such a case, one needs to start reading the Megillah again from the beginning.
