One who recites the Shema without causing himself to hear it fulfills the obligation. R. Yossi says: He does not fulfill the obligation. [For it is written (Deuteronomy 6:4): "Hear" — Let your ear hear what your mouth utters. And the first tanna holds: "Hear" — in any language that you are accustomed to hear. And the halachah is according to the first tanna.] If he recited it without being precise with its letters [to enunciate them clearly, in an instance of two words where the second word begins with the same letter with which the first letter ends, as in "al levavcha," "esev besadecha," "va'avadetem meherah." If he does not leave space between them to separate them, it sounds as if he is pronouncing two letters as one.] — R. Yossi says: He has fulfilled his obligation. [And the halachah is according to R. Yossi. However, ab initio, he must enunciate the letters. Likewise, he must take care not to rest the mobile sheva and not to move the quiescent, and not to weaken (by pronouncing without a dagesh) a strong form and not to strengthen a weak one. And he must accentuate the zayin of "tizkeru," so that it does not sound like "tiskeru," that is, "so that you amass reward." For it is not fitting to serve the Master for the sake of reward.] R. Yehudah says: He has not fulfilled his obligation. If one recites it in inverted order [If he recites the third verse before the second, the second before the first, and the like], he has not fulfilled his obligation [it being written (Deuteronomy 6:6): "and these words shall be" — they shall remain in their original form, i.e., as they are ordered in the Torah. However, if he advances the section, reciting vayomer before vehaya im shamoa, and vehaya im shamoa before Shema, it would seem that this is not considered "inverted," and he fulfills his obligation; for they are not thus arranged, one after the other, in the Torah.] If he recited it and erred, he returns to the point of the error. [If he erred between one section and another, not knowing with which section he left off and to the beginning of which section he should return, he returns to the first verse, vehaya im shamoa. (Rambam says: Veahavta eth Hashem.) And if he stopped in the middle of a section, knowing which section, but not knowing where in that section he left off, he returns to the beginning of that section. If he recited "uchethavtam," but did not know whether it were that of Shema or that of vehaya im shamoa, he returns to the "uchethavtam" of Shema. And if he were in doubt after he began leman yirbu, he does not return, for he can rely on "the habit of his tongue."]
Tosefta Megillah
One who reads the Megillah out of order does not fill [his obligation], and so too with Hallel and so too with tefillah (i.e., the Amidah), and so too with the recitation of the Shema. [If] the [public] reader of the Megillah errors or skips over one of its verses, he does not go back and read the verse by itself, but he begins from the same verse and continues until the very end [of the Megillah], and so too with Hallel, and so too with tefillah, and so too with the recitation of the Shema. One who enters the synagogue and found that they had [already] read half [of the Megillah], and he finishes with them, he does not go back and read it from the beginning until the place [where they were when he arrived], but rather he starts from the beginning and continues until the very end, and so too with Hallel, and so too with tefillah, and so too with the recitation of the Shema.
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Tosefta Berakhot
One that reads the Shema backwards [i.e. out of order] does not fulfill his obligation [of saying the Shema]. And the same [applies] to Hallel, to prayer [of Shemoneh Esreh], and to the Megillah [of Esther].
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Tosefta Berakhot
One who was reading the Shema and made a mistake, and skipped in it one verse, [he] should not begin to read that verse by itself, but rather should go back to that verse and complete [the Shema, from that point on] until the end. And the same [applies] to Hallel, to prayer [of Shemoneh Esreh], and to the Megillah [of Esther]. One who entered a synagogue and found that [the congregation] has read half of it (i.e. the Shema) and [he] completed [the remaining half of the Shema] with them, [he] should not go back and read it (i.e. the Shema) from the beginning until that place, but rather [he] should begin from the beginning and complete it until the end. And the same [applies] to Hallel, to Tefillah (prayer) [of Shemoneh Esreh], and to the Megillah [of Esther].
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Tosefta Berakhot
One who reads the Shema and makes a mistake, and [he] does not know where he made the mistake, [he] should go back to the beginning of the [first] paragraph. If he made a mistake in the middle of a paragraph, he should go back to the beginning of [that] paragraph. If he made a mistake between the first [verse that mentions] writing and the second [verse that mentions] writing, he should go back to the first [verse that mentions] writing.
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Tosefta Berakhot
“A man who had a seminal emission (Baal Keri) who does not have water to dip in may read the Shema, but he may not [read it loud enough so that he can] hear [himself talking] with his own ear, and does not say the Beracha (blessing) not before it and not after it.” [These are] the words of Rebbi Meir. And the Chachamim (Sages) say, ”He may read the Shema and he may [read it loud enough so that he can] hear [himself talking] with his own ear, and he says the Beracha [both] before it and after it.” Rebbi Meir said, “One time we were sitting in the Bet Midrash (Study Hall) in front of Rebbi Akiva and we were reading the Shema, but we were not saying it loud enough to be able to hear ourselves, because of one inquisitor who was standing by the door.” They (i.e. Chachamim) said [back] to him, “The time of danger is not a proof.”
