Thread by @JoshuaCypess

1/ #ReshetKeshet. I'm trying to combine my sociological work on disability with my rabbinic role by writing a Disability Shulchan Arukh, as it were: how halakha applies to full variation of humanity. BTW, the gemara is full of this but invisible disabilities are overlooked.

2/ So, notes on the mitzvah of hearing the #Megillah, which is a disability nightmare. Shas deals with things like blindness:
sefaria.org/Megillah.24b.7…
And deafness: rabbikaganoff.com/megillas-esthe…

But what about #ADHD? For a mitzvah that requires total concentration?!

3/ Or people with sensory overload issues, like #autism & others, who can be quite uncomfortable in rooms packed to the rafters with people graggin' graggers and noisemakers and full tumult (pardon my Yiddish)

4/ Halakha, and most rule based religions, have largely been taken over by people with Obsessive-Compulsive personalities & with #Literalist thinkers, which have become commonplace enough to not be considered disabilities despite their 'impairing' in the same manner as dyslexia

5/ So if OCP and #Literalism dominate halakha, I don't feel it's necessary to let those worldviews shape religious obligation or observance.

So, ADHD and #Megillah: how to concentrate on every single word for 40 minutes, especially with loud noises & loud crowds?

6/ I'd suggest that "kavvanah" - the halakhic category of "level of concentration needed to perform a commandment with intention" - needed for the mitzvah of hearing Megillah, may only require:

(1) knowing acceptance of the reader as your agent (shaliach) for the mitzvah

7/ (2) Once the brachot are made, and you say 'Amen' with full concentration, then you need to hear the words are being read. The 'amen' establishes that you accept the entire proceedings as the manner in which you will fulfill your obligation.

8/ In general, halakha is very generous with recognizing the process of "shelichut" - having an agent perform an action for you and by doing so you get full credit. Your agent's actions are yours. See this essay by my old friend Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: outorah.org/p/7187/

9/ What this means is: you don't need to understand every word, nor follow the words with the text in your mind's eye. IMO, just establish an environment where you're capable of hearing the words, so even if audibility is a passive encounter (out of reflex), you're yotzei.

10/ (3) If you space out (e.g. think about the Megillah story or think about March Madness or whatever), IMO once you've set up the conditions of audibility and mitzvah context (your amen plus sitting there in the presence of a reading), you're yotzei (fulfilled the obligation)

11/ (4) I'd add onto this that try to keep your level of 'doubt' for whether you heard the words as undefined as possible. This is a rabbinic commandment, and in a case of doubt, we're lenient.

I do get that for true OCPD or other anxiety cases this may be difficult. Sorry.

12/ IY"H and B"N there will be more entries in this type in the future, especially for conditions I have some clinical experience with. But in the future, please know that halakha MUST strive to be compassionate ("darkhei noam")
mizrachi.org/in-pursuit-of-…

13/ #ReshetKeshet #DisabilityShulchanArukh
#Megillah #ADHD

@threadreaderapp please unroll.

@threader_app please compile.

13/ An explanation of what Reshet Keshet means:

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCypess/status/1365335606012837900