Q. Re- question 1904 on the need to recite Birchas Hatorah before listening to a tape of Mussar. You mentioned that many Poskim differentiate between merely thinking and actually listening to words of Torah, as Shaarei Teshuva (ibid. 3) explains, since "shomea keone" or listening is tantamount to answering, will apply.
This is surprising since we usually don't consider any bracha, tefilah, reading of the Torah or the Megilah, said via a microphone or telephone as viable to be yotze as shomea keone. Why should this be any different?
A. It is mentioned in the name of Horav Chaim Kanievsky Shlit'a, that the mitzva of learning Torah is different from the compliance of other verbal mitzvos. On those mitzvos the essence of the act is the praising of Hashem, and it has to be done by a personal verbal expression: therefore "Shomea Keone" is essential and that cannot be achieved unless one hears a human voice.
However, learning Torah,, is essentially a mental learning experience and albeit words should be also expressed, listening to a tape or any other artificial source would suffice.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is similar.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Important Numbers
