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Forum
-> Yom Tov / Holidays
-> Purim
amother
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 Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:09 am
I'm not fluent in Hebrew. What is the point in someone going to hear megillah (and not being able to miss a single word) when they don't understand what is being said? What is the purpose? Am I supposed to be getting anything out of this other than stress and anxiety?
I don't have time to study in preparation so I will know what every word means and at the speed of the readings there's not even time for me to process what is being said even if I knew the words.
I would love some perspective on this.
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amother
Tiffanyblue
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:16 am
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Maybe you can start early for next year. It’s an interesting story with nuances about personalities, power, and standing up for oneself and one’s people at personal risk. It’s also a warning tale of allowing others to influence your thoughts without paying attention to substance (sounds like a good lesson for today.) you could buy a children’s illustrated Megillah with larger print and English translation. Then, go on YouTube and listen to a reading while you follow along and look at translations. If you do about 3 chapters at a time this should be doable.
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amother
Honey
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:21 am
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Many of them have the English translation on the left. I did learn Hebrew in yeshiva, and I still find myself scanning the English version during leining. There are also a lot of interesting meforshim.
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icedcoffee
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:22 am
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Why not use a megillah that has an English translation next to the Hebrew? It doesn't have to be an illustrated children's version. This is the one we use at my shul: https://moznaim.com/products/t.....vices
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amother
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:28 am
| amother Tiffanyblue wrote: | | Maybe you can start early for next year. It’s an interesting story with nuances about personalities, power, and standing up for oneself and one’s people at personal risk. It’s also a warning tale of allowing others to influence your thoughts without paying attention to substance (sounds like a good lesson for today.) you could buy a children’s illustrated Megillah with larger print and English translation. Then, go on YouTube and listen to a reading while you follow along and look at translations. If you do about 3 chapters at a time this should be doable. |
I don't know if I'm just not being clear or what. I'm very familiar with the actual story. I've read it many, many, many, times in English and I've studied it. I just don't understand the actual words being said as it's being read. Larger print doesn't help. I have no problem reading along in Hebrew,. I'm just not getting anything out of it in that language.
And when I say I don't have time to study, I don't understand how telling me to study should help. It's not doable. And as I said, even if I studied and learned the translation of every single word, it's too fast for me to process and translate in my head while trying to follow along. So no thank you.
I appreciate your response, but I don't think it helped me at all to understand whay someone in my situation should be getting out of megillah.
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scruffy
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:29 am
| amother OP wrote: | I don't know if I'm just not being clear or what. I'm very familiar with the actual story. I've read it many, many, many, times in English and I've studied it. I just don't understand the actual words being said as it's being read. Larger print doesn't help. I have no problem reading along in Hebrew,. I'm just not getting anything out of it in that language.
And when I say I don't have time to study, I don't understand how telling me to study should help. It's not doable. And as I said, even if I studied and learned the translation of every single word, it's too fast for me to process and translate in my head while trying to follow along. So no thank you.
I appreciate your response, but I don't think it helped me at all to understand whay someone in my situation should be getting out of megillah. |
Artscroll has an interlinear megillah.
https://www.artscroll.com/Book......html
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amother
Candycane
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:31 am
I hear you
I’m making this up, maybe your neshama needs to hear it.
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amother
Catmint
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:31 am
My Rav had an interesting speech this year.
His takeaway was that historically women (even Jewish women) were mostly illiterate. Many men were also illiterate, though significantly more Jewish men were able to read than the general public.
The concept of a baal korei, baal tefilla and chazzan and other such standards come about because of illiteracy.
Yet chazal and halacha state that everyone including women are required to listen, while knowing that they are all illiterate.
The presumption has to be that just sitting there listening to the baal korei read, assuming that there are no significant noise distracting is actually doing the Mitzva.
Of course preparing in advance, or English translations are wonderful. But according to my Rav, not required in fulfilling the Mitzva of listening.
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amother
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:32 am
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What you're getting out of it is fulfilling the mitzva of hearing megillah on Purim.
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amother
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:32 am
I used to follow along with English but then I have no idea where we're up to. I also have adhd so it's really hard for me to pay attention and I used to get very lost and frustrated if I didn't follow the Hebrew. And if I read the English I'm basically tuning out to what is being read. So, that's not an option for me.
If I'm meant to read it in English, what is the point of sitting and hearing it read in a language I don't understand?
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amother
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:35 am
| amother Candycane wrote: | I hear you
I’m making this up, maybe your neshama needs to hear it. |
That's my guess as well. Obviously, I do it because it's a mitzvah and I'm very careful about it. I just wish I understood what the point is.
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watergirl
↓
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:37 am
| amother OP wrote: | I don't know if I'm just not being clear or what. I'm very familiar with the actual story. I've read it many, many, many, times in English and I've studied it. I just don't understand the actual words being said as it's being read. Larger print doesn't help. I have no problem reading along in Hebrew,. I'm just not getting anything out of it in that language.
And when I say I don't have time to study, I don't understand how telling me to study should help. It's not doable. And as I said, even if I studied and learned the translation of every single word, it's too fast for me to process and translate in my head while trying to follow along. So no thank you.
I appreciate your response, but I don't think it helped me at all to understand whay someone in my situation should be getting out of megillah. |
I'm a BT and at this point in my life BH I've reviewed the megillah enough over the years and improved my hebrew so I can understand a good percentage of it as it's being read, but for the most part I just follow along and don't try to break my teeth trying to translate every word.
This is hard to grasp, but this mitzvah is to HEAR every word, not to understand every word. On Pesach, the mitzvah is to UNDERSTAND every word so you will see hagaddas in every language under the sun BH. On RH and YK, you will see machzorim in every language, as we daven in our own languages.
The mitzvah of megillah is to be a simple yid. Just sit and listen. Follow along if you'd like. The mitzvah here is to listen.
What are you getting out of it? You get the simple mitzvah that you heard every word.
I will tell you that I had family members (my ex's sisters and mother) who for a long time refused to daven and bentch because "I don't get anything out of it". It was my holy mother A"H who came along and taught them the meaning of prayer, which sometimes means it's not for us. It's for Hashem. She changed the way we all davened - she was the holiest Baalas Teshuvah I've ever had the zchus to meet.
A change in thought is required here. Davening and mitzvos is not transactional, it's not "what will I get out of it". It's something I do because Hashem wants me to do it. The more I learned to embrace this, the more my heart was opened and the more I gained from davening.
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amother
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:39 am
| amother Valerian wrote: | | What you're getting out of it is fulfilling the mitzva of hearing megillah on Purim. |
Yep! I've just never heard of this mitzvah being a chok. Yes, there's an obvious reason to hear megillah but in practice it makes zero sense to me to be hearing megillah this way and to be concerned about not a missing a single word.
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amother
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:45 am
| amother OP wrote: | | Yep! I've just never heard of this mitzvah being a chok. Yes, there's an obvious reason to hear megillah but in practice it makes zero sense to me to be hearing megillah this way and to be concerned about not a missing a single word. |
I don't think it's a chok per se, but really we should be doing every mitzvah like a chok.
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amother
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:50 am
| watergirl wrote: | I'm a BT and at this point in my life BH I've reviewed the megillah enough over the years and improved my hebrew so I can understand a good percentage of it as it's being read, but for the most part I just follow along and don't try to break my teeth trying to translate every word.
This is hard to grasp, but this mitzvah is to HEAR every word, not to understand every word. On Pesach, the mitzvah is to UNDERSTAND every word so you will see hagaddas in every language under the sun BH. On RH and YK, you will see machzorim in every language, as we daven in our own languages.
The mitzvah of megillah is to be a simple yid. Just sit and listen. Follow along if you'd like. The mitzvah here is to listen.
What are you getting out of it? You get the simple mitzvah that you heard every word.
I will tell you that I had family members (my ex's sisters and mother) who for a long time refused to daven and bentch because "I don't get anything out of it". It was my holy mother A"H who came along and taught them the meaning of prayer, which sometimes means it's not for us. It's for Hashem. She changed the way we all davened - she was the holiest Baalas Teshuvah I've ever had the zchus to meet.
A change in thought is required here. Davening and mitzvos is not transactional, it's not "what will I get out of it". It's something I do because Hashem wants me to do it. The more I learned to embrace this, the more my heart was opened and the more I gained from davening. |
This is a great perspective. You are right. I don't know that I felt I need to be getting something out of it, I just felt thay maybe I was missing something if everyone else is getting something out of it and I'm just going through the motions so to speak.
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watergirl
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:57 am
| amother OP wrote: | | This is a great perspective. You are right. I don't know that I felt I need to be getting something out of it, I just felt thay maybe I was missing something if everyone else is getting something out of it and I'm just going through the motions so to speak. |
Don't look at everyone else.
One of the things that hurt my growth for a long time was reading in the frum magazines and the frum novels stories which included "her tear-soaked tehillim", and also stories of women crying while they light shabbos candles. I thought there was something wrong with me because I can't relate and I felt like I was missing something and doing it wrong. I had to reframe and reteach.
I do hisbodedus and that's the time when I feel the closest to Hashem. I learned from the great Dovid HaMelech to cry out from my heart.
Don't look at everyone else. Embrace the way you daven and the way you "do" megillah.
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amother
Brown
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:57 am
I believe the mitzva is to hear, not to listen.
Personally, I think it has to do more with the Misora of passing down the Megilla , and making everyone hear it and participate as opposed to you as an individual
I hearing it, you are doing your part in the chain of the Misora
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watergirl
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 9:58 am
| amother OP wrote: | | Yep! I've just never heard of this mitzvah being a chok. Yes, there's an obvious reason to hear megillah but in practice it makes zero sense to me to be hearing megillah this way and to be concerned about not a missing a single word. |
To be fair, this mitzvah is not a chok because it's not in the Torah - a chok is one of the 613, megillah is not one of them. This is fully d'Rabinan, but the answer is the same anyway, like I and others said before.
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amother
Banana
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 10:01 am
Your soul recognizes it.
Many people go to hear it and don’t understand every word or don’t feel that there is a purpose. We are limited in what we understand. Hopefully the experience transcends beyond our human capacities.
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amother
Butterscotch
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Tue, Mar 26 2024, 10:04 am
| amother OP wrote: | | Yep! I've just never heard of this mitzvah being a chok. Yes, there's an obvious reason to hear megillah but in practice it makes zero sense to me to be hearing megillah this way and to be concerned about not a missing a single word. |
It really is so random to me too. And why do we have to hear it twice? Once should be enough.
Purim is such a frustrating, illogical holiday to me.
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