May I answer Amen to a Brachah heard via Webcam?

May I answer Amen to a Brachah heard via Webcam?

There was a massive shul in Alexandria, Egypt, the Gemara relates, with a hall that held over one million people. Since it was so large that it was impossible to hear the chazzan (prayer leader) from one end of the shul to the other, the gabbai (shul attendant) stood on the bimah (central stage in a shul) and waved a flag when the time came to answer “Amen,” signaling the entire congregation to respond.

Many centuries have passed since that Jewish community of Alexandria was decimated by Roman forces, and little remains of the ruins of their magnificent shul. What might be learned from the unusual practice of the gabbai of Alexandria two thousand years ago?

Radio, telephone and internet communication have advanced to the point that it is now possible to hear Havdalah, Megillah and brachos from a distant location. Is a person permitted to answer “Amen” when hearing a brachah from a voice that reaches them remotely?

Halachic authorities have extrapolated from the story of the Alexandria shul that it is not necessary to actually hear a brachah to answer “Amen”—it is sufficient to be aware that it was recited. It is therefore permitted to answer “Amen” via the telephone, webcam, FaceTime or the like, as long as the listener is certain that there is no significant delay in the transmission.

But what about Havdalah and Megillah? Is a person able to be yotze (fulfill a mitzvah obligation) virtually? Halachah discusses issues du jour based on existing knowledge of science and mechanics. Though in the past some poskim allowed remote “listening” to participate in these rituals, most authorities today reject this conclusion. The previous generation worked with the information provided to them by the experts of yesteryear; now we have more sophisticated data to interpret the function of technological apparatus. Therefore, maintain most contemporary poskim, since it’s common knowledge today that the sound emanating from an electronic device is not “live,” but converted to digital voice (or a mechanical one, in the case of a corded phone or a radio), a person cannot fulfill their religious duty of “listening” to Havdalah, Megillah or the like from a loudspeaker or a screen, but must hear it from a live human being.

https://halacha2go.com?number=642

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.