Q. Can someone comply with shnaim mikra if he listens to a tape while he is driving?
A. Poskim disagree; Mogen Avrohom (285: 8), Chayei Adam (7: 9), Shulchan HaShabbos (60), Shesilei Zaysim (285:10), rule that after the fact one fulfilled one’s obligation by simply listening to the Baal Koreh. However, Beis Yosef (ibid.) and Rambam (H. Tefillah 13: 25) maintain that one does not comply with the mitzva by only listening. Mishna Berura (ibid. : 2) also quotes the different opinions and rules that one should read along word by word. S. A. HoRav (285: 8) opines that one should rely on the lenient Poskim only in need.
On question 619 in regards to reading from the chumash silently, we wrote; Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit”a opinion is that, as the text in the Shulchan Aruch (ibid.) implies, “likros” means to recite and you will not fulfill the shnaim mikro obligation by just reading the text silently. In regards to listening to a tape, the Rov’s opinion is similar, and one would comply when listening to a tape, only if he repeats the words while listening.
The Rov also maintains that even the opinions that are lenient after the fact when listening to the baal koreh, do so because listening to the words of the reader is considered normally like reciting them (Shomea K’oneh), which does not apply to a tape.
The Rov added that a main reason for shnaim mikro is to become a “rogil,” or experienced, familiar and well versed in the Torah. We find a similar Halacha in regards to becoming used to the yearly seasonal changes in tefila, such as Mashiv Haruach in rain times, where a repetition of ninety times or thirty days of praying the new version is necessary to establish becoming a rogil. (Shulchan Aruch O.H. 114: 8). Obviously, listening to the repetition of the amida by the shaliach tzibur does not contribute to the process, otherwise the required time would be cut by two thirds, you actually need to say the words to become rogil.
(You may add, that taking into account that many start shnaim mikro by their bar mitzva or later, learning a given parsha ninety times in a lifetime may take the needed repetition of it every year).
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a
Important Numbers
