Opening up the Responsa Literature
Making Birkot Hatorah over Hearing Torah
Based on Hagaon Rav Shlomo Kluger zt"l's
Haelef Lecha Shelomo Orach Chayim 35

Authorities argue about whether one is required to make Birkot Hatorah before thinking about Torah.  According to the approach that one must (the Shulchan Arukh OC 47:4 rules this way), is it permissible to listen to words of Torah before making Birkot Hatorah?   

Why should there be any distinction between thinking and listening?

There is a halakhic principle, “Shomeah Ke’oneh,” – literally, “listening is like pronouncing” – that allows one to fulfill a mitzvah to say something even though he only heard it.  For instance, one fulfills the mitzvah of reading Megillat Esther even though he only heard the Megilla but did not say the words.  Similarly, when a group sits down to a meal and one person makes Hamotzi on behalf of all of them, they can all now eat even though only one of them actually said the words.  Does this mechanism apply to the prohibition of learning before saying Birkot Hatorah?  In other words, do we consider words of Torah one only heard (before making the blessings) as if they had been said? 

Our question, says Rav Shlomo Kluger, is related to a dispute between Rashi and Tosafot (quoted in the Tur Orach Chayim 104).  They argue over what an individual should do if he is in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei and the congregation gets to Kedusha.  Should he listen quietly to Kedusha and then return to his prayer or should he go on praying by himself throughout the congregation’s Kedusha?  Does the principle of “Shomeah Ke’oneh” force us to consider his listening like speaking during Shemoneh Esrei and therefore a prohibited interruption (Tosafot), or is it still merely considered as thinking that does not interrupt (Rashi)?   

We rule like Rashi, that if one is in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei and the congregation says Kedusha he should stop and quietly wait until they finish and then finish.  It therefore follows that “Shomeah Ke’oneh” need not necessarily be automatically viewed as actual speech (though it has that potential) and it is permissible to listen to words of Torah before Birkat Hatorah.