[Avodah] eruv tavshilin

[Saul Mashbaum]

RAMiller asks:

> Hmmm... Are there any other *optional* acts which are *forbidden*
> unless a certain mitzvah-procedure is done beforehand?


The mitzva-procedures of  sh'chitah and hafrashat trumut umaasrot,
which I thought of, have been mentioned.

What about t'vilat nashim, over which a bracha is made?
The nature of "mitzvat tvila" seems similar to that of sh'chitah and
hafrashat trumut umaasrot, a matir of a subsequent activity. It seems
that even if the subsequent activity is not engaged in for any reason,
the t'villa itself warrrents a bracha ( a bit like sh'chita of an
animal which is later found out to be treif; the bracha on the
sh'chita is perfectly legitimate. Similarly n'tilat yadayim and not
eating bread).

In our practice, a woman who has no intention of engaging in the
subsequent activity (ie, an unmarried woman) does not perform this
mitzva.
I wonder if, in the time of the BhM, when unmarried women practiced
tvila, a bracha would be recited. This question can be asked about men
in the time of the BhM as well.

If an unmarried woman nowadays does t'villa (not an entirely
theoretical question, in this day and age , vd"l), does she make the
bracha? This seems to me  knotty question.
On the face of things, m'ikkar hadin, the answer would seem to be be
yes, but I wouldn't want to be the poseq (or yoetzet) to whom this
question was addressed.

Going back to n'tilat yadayim, it is the Rashba who says that if one
washed intending to eat bread, and then changed his mind and didn't
eat bread, the bracha he said al n'tilat yadayim is not a bracha
l'vatala. I have a question. Someone washed and made the bracha at
work, and then discovered that he left his sandwich at home, and had
nothing to make hamotzi on.  Does the Rashba's psak cover this case as
well, or is this a b'racha l'vatala according to the Rashba? I am
inclined to believe that this is not a bracha l'vatala, since at the
time of the bracha the person  fully intended to eat bread, but  I am
unsure on this point.

Saul Mashbaum