By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com The obligation is to read the Megillah at night and in the day in commemoration of the miracle, where they cried out day and night. The daytime reading begins at sunrise and continues until the end of the day.  If it was read from Amud HaShachar – dawn, the Mitzvah has still been fulfilled.   It is interesting to note that the Mishna does not mentione the night reading at all. The reader must read the Megillah as if it was an iggeres – a letter.  Therefore, he should not pause between the Psukim more than a breath.  This is the ruling of the Tur and the Mogain Avrohom. The chapter splits of Megilas Esther are NOT OF JEWISH ORIGIN.  Therefore, it is wrong for the reader to end off a chapter with a different tone or melody.  (Kuntrus Toras HaKoreh). The nighttime reading begins when three stars come out and continues throughout the night until 1 and 1/5th hours before sunrise. If one lives far away and can only travel to hear one reading of the Megillah, it is preferable to hear the day reading rather than the night reading. If it is absolutely impossible to hear the Megillah otherwise, and one cannot read the Megillah by oneself, may one fulfill the obligation by telephone?  Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l (IM OC IV 91:4) permitted a woman to hear Havdallah in a hospital through the telephone if there was no other possibility.  Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Minchas Shlomo Vol. I #9) disagreed but did hear a ruling from the Chazon Ish that it is not so simple to dismiss this possibility.  Some Poskim therefore rule that when there is no other choice at all, one should opt for the telephone option. The most preferred manner of fulfilling the Mitzvah is to read the Megillah publicly, and in the Synagogue.  When attending the Megillah in a bigger place one should have in mind that he or she is giving greater glory to Hashem by hearing the Megillah there.  This Kavannah serves to bring us closer to Hashem, and is an action similar in purpose to the recitation of Kaddish, an extremely holy endeavor.   Pirsumei Nissah   Reading the Megillah involves the notion of Pirsumei Nissah – publicizing the miracle.  Because of this, it sets aside any other Mitzvah – even a Torah Mitzvah.  Even the study of the Torah is set aside for the reading of the Megillah. The only Mitzvah which is not pushed off is the Mitzvah of providing burial for a dead person, when there is no one else available to do so.  This is interesting because reading the Megillah is only a Rabbinic Mitzvah.  If the other Mitzvah cannot be performed later, however, and it is a Biblical Mitzvah – that Mitzvah would come first.  A Bris Milah is an exception to this halacha.  The Bris Milah is performed before the reading of the Megillah. Even if there are many people in one’s company, he should not read the Megillah at home, but should rather go to the Synagogue, since, ‘In a multitude there is Majesty;’ and the miracle is made known more widely. The Brachos on the Megillah Before reading it, the reader of the Megillah recites these three blessings: “Al […]

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