Question:
- Must I hear every word or just the חסימה? A rav told me it fine as long as I hear the חסימה, which is the main part of the bracha.
- If I always by mistake said מיקר instead of ויקר and I can’t hear my father say the words …ליהודים, was I ever yotzei Havdala?
Do I have a chiyuv to repeat Havdala today?
Answer:
- When hearing Havdalah from someone else we must hear every single word and we should not miss any part of it. In retrospect, if one didn’t hear some of the words, there is controversy which words are meakev, that if one didn’t hear them that he has to make havdalah again. Some poskim say that one must hear all four “types of havdalah” (“bein kodesh lchol” “bein ohr lchoshech” “bein Yisroel L’oamim” and “bein yom hashevi’e l’sheshes yimei hama’aseh”), that it should be heared again. However others say that it is sufficient if one heard only one out of the four, (even if it was only the words “hamavdil bein kodesh l’chol” at the end). Therefore, although it is preferable to try to hear it from someone else, if one couldn’t, he is still yotza. .
- The pesukim that Ashkenazim say before the bracha are not meakev, as it is merely in order to start off the week with a siman bracha Therefore if you said them wrong or didn’t hear them you were still yotza.
Best wishes
Sources:
M:B 296-33, Shmiras Shabbpos Khilchoso 47-40, Kovetz halachos (Shabbos) 1 pg. 721, Piskei Teshuvos 269-ftnt. 31
