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 can 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 when 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’ Yitzchok Zilberstein (Kovetz Vovay HoAmudim, gilyan 13, pg. 110) cites proof from this week’s parsha 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 worlds 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 cites an answer: 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.
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, ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד. 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?].
The words of the Sifsei Chachomim are very difficult, as we know from Chazal that Klal Yisroel never suffered from the Ten Plagues. However, according to the Sifsei Chachomim it seems that the frogs effected the Jews as well, and that’s why Moshe had to shout so loud. If this is true, then every time a Jew wanted to speak to his wife he would have to shout, and surely this would be considered a terrible plague and would suggest that Klal Yisroel also suffered from the plague?
R' Ben Tzion Felman in the aforementioned sefer raises this question: He says, that surely the croaking and terribly loud noise from the frogs was part of the plague, therefore, it’s logical that when a Jew entered Egyot he never heard any of this, and he heard complete silenece, if so, why did Moshe had to rasie his voice, he ends off tzorich iyun.
R’ Reuven Malin shlita suggests, it’s very possible that in Goshen where the Yidden were there were no frogs, and the Yidden never suffered from the frogs. However, Moshe davened as soon as he left the house of Pharaoh whilst in Egypt, therefore, he heard the terrible noise from the frogs.
There is another question on the words of the Sifsei Chachomim. If the frogs made such a loud noise, that one had to scream, how come we find that when Moshe spoke to Pharaoh it says in the pasuk, ויאמר משה לפרעה – “Moshe said to Pharaoh”, surely, it should say, ויצעק משה לפרעה – “Moshe screamed to Pharaoh”, as otherwise Pharoah wouldn’t be able to hear him?
There is a kuntros called Be’aros Yitzchok (Pesach 5784) written by R’ Yitzchok Kopel shlita, in which he suggests that in Pharaoh’s house, there were only the frogs that were sent to attack Pharoah, and with difficulty it was possible to hear another person talking. However, outside Pharaoh’s house, there were many more frogs, the frogs destined for the entire Egypt, and that noise was much louder, and when davening in the presene of those frogs one needed to scream.
