[Avodah] eruv tavshilin

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

Regarding an eruv tavshilin which one plans on not needing, R' Micha Berger wrote:
> The berakhah is on the mitzvah of making an eruv. In order
> for your question to stand, you would have to argue that an
> eruv that isn't used isn't an eruv, and thus there is no
> mitzvah. Interestingly, this seems to be assumed -- and I
> don't see why.

Please compare it to the following case:

One plans on *not* eating bread. But I'm not asking about Hamotzi, I'm going to ask about the bracha on the mitzvah of washing hands. A netilas yadaim which isn't used -- Is it a real mitzvah of netilas yadayim, or is it not?

It is one thing to plan on eating bread, washing, and then changing one's mind. In such a case, we say that the washing was a mitzvah, and there's no bracha levatala. But no one would suggest that we could say such a thing when one plans on *not* eating bread.

I would suggest that the similarity is simple. Both netilas yadayim and eruv tavshilin are procedures which Chazal required us to do as a *preparation* for another act, such that without the preparation we are forbidden to do the other thing. As long as you're planning to do the other thing, then, yes indeed, the preparation is a mitzvah. But if you're not planning to do the other thing, then the preparation is *not* a mitzvah.

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

Akiva Miller

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