Havdalah Over the Telephone
Question: Can one fulfill the obligation to hear Havdalah by listening to the words recited over a telephone, a microphone or a loudspeaker?
Discussion: In order to be motzi another person with Havdalah (or any other blessing or mitzvah), the listener must hear the words directly from the speaker’s mouth. But is a voice heard over the telephone considered as if one is hearing the speaker’s actual voice? In the early days of voice amplifying technology, when the science was not well understood, some halachic authorities were of the opinion that the amplified sound was the speaker’s actual voice, only amplified.189 Accordingly, a person who hears Havdalah recited over the telephone would be yotzei. But today, it is universally agreed that what the listener hears is not the speaker’s actual voice but, rather, an electronically generated version of his voice. [Both the telephone and the microphone “transform” sound waves in the air, the spoken words, into an electrical current within the instrument, and ultimately back into sound waves. Those sound waves are then heard by the listeners.] In that case, according to the vast majority of poskim, one cannot fulfill the obligation to hear Havdalah by listening through a telephone or microphone, and the Havdalah would have to be repeated even bedieved.190
Still, a minority view among the poskim suggests that even if we assume that the voice heard over the telephone is not the actual voice of the speaker, one may, perhaps, be yotzei nonetheless, since the voice that is heard is still generated by the power of the speaker’s voice, and the Havdalah is heard at the exact same time that it is recited.191 The poskim who suggest this approach stress that they remain undecided as to whether or not their argument should be relied upon, and therefore, it is only under extenuating circumstances—when no other option exists—that one may fulfill one’s obligation by hearing Havdalah through a microphone or telephone.192
In practice, therefore, it is clear that when there is another option, voice amplifiers or transmitters should not be used for fulfilling a mitzvah or listening to a berachah.193 For example, a woman who is home alone and has no one to make Havdalah for her should recite Havdalah herself194 rather than listen to it being recited by someone else over the telephone. Even if she cannot or will not drink wine, grape juice, or beer, it is preferable that she recite Havdalah over coffee,195 tea (with or without milk),196 or milk alone197 (or, according to some poskim,198 undiluted grapefruit, orange or apple juice) rather than listen to Havdalah recited over the phone.199
A person who cannot recite Havdalah and can be yotzei it only by hearing it over the phone-e.g., a person who is in a hospital and has no one who can come to make Havdalah for him until Tuesday evening200-may have to rely on the poskim who permit listening to Havdalah over the telephone.201 If someone else can come and recite Havdalah for him before Tuesday evening, though, the correct course of action is to wait until then for Havdalah to be recited.202 In this scenario, the person may eat before hearing Havdalah, but if he expects to hear Havdalah before chatzos on Sunday and he does not feel weak, he should refrain from eating until then.203
A related issue is whether it is permitted to answer Amen to a berachah or Kaddish heard through a microphone or telephone, or during a live telecast transmitted by satellite. Some poskim204 permit this and do not consider the Amen response to be l’vatalah (“for naught”), since they remain undecided about the halachic status of amplified or transmitted sound waves, as explained above. Other poskim205 permit answering Amen based on the ancient precedent set in the great synagogue in Alexandria,206 where most of the worshippers could not hear the actual berachos being recited due to the vast size of the building, but were nevertheless permitted to answer Amen when signaled to do so by the waving of a flag. In our case as well, the Amen is said in response to the recital of a berachah – even though halachically the berachah is not being “heard.”
Rav S.Z. Auerbach, though, rejects this comparison and rules that it is prohibited to answer Amen upon hearing a berachah in this manner.207 He agrees, however, that a person who is in the same room as the speaker may answer Amen even if he hears the speaker’s voice only over a microphone, etc. This is similar to the situation in Alexandria, where all of the people were inside the shul and were part of the congregation that was davening.208
189. Minchas Elazar 2:72; Minchas Aharon 18 (quoted in Tzitz Eliezer 8:11).
190. Da’as Torah, O.C. 689:2; Gilyonei ha-Shas, Berachos 25a; Eretz Tzvi 1:23; Kol Mevaser 2:25; Mishpatei Uziel 1:5; 1:21; Rav Y.E. Henkin (Gevuros Eliyahu, O.C. 98:8); Minchas Yitzchak 1:37, 3:38; She’arim Metzuyanim b’Halachah 129:25; 193:6; Minchas Shlomo 1:9; Ashrei ha-Ish, O.C. 2:13-15; Kinyan Torah 1:75; Yechaveh Da’as 3:54; Moadim u’Zemanim 6:105. See also Teshuvos Peas Sadcha 1:126, which quotes a similar ruling from Rav C. Soloveichik.
191. Rav T. P. Frank (Mikraei Kodesh, Purim 11 and in Minchas Yitzchak 2:113); Igros Moshe, O.C. 2:108; O.C. 4:126. [See, however, Igros Moshe, E.H. 3:33 and O.C. 4:84.]. See also Minchas Shlomo 1:9, quoting an oral conversation with the Chazon Ish.
192. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:91-4 (and oral ruling quoted in Kol ha-Torah, vol. 54, pg. 18); Tzitz Eliezer 8:11. See also Shevet ha-Levi 5:84.
193. Rav Auerbach makes it clear that the same ruling applies to hearing-impaired individuals who cannot hear without a hearing aid. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:85, however, is hesitant about comparing a hearing aid to a microphone.
194. Women are obligated to recite Havdalah and may recite it themselves. Although there is a well-established custom that women do not drink the wine from the Havdalah kos, this custom is disregarded when a woman must fulfill her obligation of Havdalah; Mishnah Berurah 296:35; Aruch ha-Shulchan 296:5.
195. Either instant or brewed (Rav S.Z. Auerbach, Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 60, note 18).
196. The tea or coffee should be cool enough that one can drink at least 1.6 fl. oz. of it within 3-4 minutes.
197. Aruch ha-Shulchan 272:14; Igros Moshe, O.C. 2:75.
198. Tzitz Eliezer 8:16; Shemiras Shabbos K’hilchasah 60:5.
199. If a woman refuses to recite Havdalah on her own and there is no one available to recite it for her, her husband (or another man or woman) may repeat it for her, even if he has already fulfilled his obligation; see Mishnah Berurah 296:36; Aruch ha-Shulchan 296:5; Da’as Torah 296:8; Ben Ish Chai, Vayeitzei 22. The blessing over the candle, though, should be omitted, according to several Poskim.
200. O.C. 299:5.
201. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:91-4; Tzitz Eliezer 8:11.
202. In this case, he should definitely not listen to Havdalah over the phone, since then it may not be repeated for him when the visitor comes.
203. Mishnah Berurah 296:19, 21. Rav Y.S. Elyashiv, too, rules that it is preferable to eat before Havdalah rather than listen to it over the telephone (Ashrei ha-Ish, O.C. 2:13-1).
204. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:91-4.
205. Yechaveh Da’as 3:54.
206. See Succah 51b and Tosafos, ibid.
207. See Ashrei ha-Ish , O.C. 1:10-14 for a concurring opinion.
208. See Minchas Shlomo 1:9 and Halichos Shlomo 1:22-15.