Mourner in Shiva when no one can read the Torah except him
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Question
A mourner has a minyan in his home, and no one can read the Torah except the mourner himself. Can he be the Baal Koreh?
Answer
He can be the Baal Koreh when there is no one else who can read.
Source
Gemara Moed Katan, page 21a: "It is forbidden to read the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, and to study Mishnah, Midrash, Halacha, Talmud, and Aggadot. But if many need him, he should not refrain." This is also ruled by the Shulchan Aruch, Siman 384, Seif 1: "If many need him to learn, it is permitted, provided he does not appoint a translator, but tells another, and the other to the translator, and the translator announces to the many." And since they are obligated in the reading of the Torah, and there is no one else who can read for them, it is considered that many need him. It seems that even if there is someone in the congregation who can read without the cantillation marks, and the mourner can read with them, it is still considered that many need him, as the Rema ruled in Siman 142, Seif 2, that the chazan is rebuked when he reads without the cantillation marks.
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