[Avodah] Shaliach for a mitzvah

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

In the thread "Vihgadto Levincho", I asked:
> If everyone's chiyuv is satisfied by simply listening to
> the leader read the Hagada, then how do they get relieved
> of the chiyuv to tell it themselves? "Shomea k'oneh" would
> seem to NOT be the mechanism ...

and I quoted the answer of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach:
> Because the ikar chiyuv on the father is that his children
> will hear the Sipur Yetzias Mitzraim on this night, and
> since they are hearing the story properly, it is enough.
> He doesn't even have to appoint the storyteller as his
> shaliach for this; rather he is yotzay automatically.

I mentioned this to a certain friend, because we had previously discussed a pet question of his, about sending tzedakah by mail. He wondered how one could be yotzay in that case, because the mail carrier is presumably non-Jewish and therefore posul as a shaliach.

I conjectured that tzedakah is different than gittin. By a get, the giving is a critical part of the act, and so either the husband must give it himself, or it can be given by someone who is a real shaliach of the husband. But if it is given by a pasul shaliach, then the husband did not "give" it, and they are still married. In contrast, the mitzvah of tzedakah does not require any "giving", but only that one's efforts accomplish the goal of helping the organization. Thus, as long as the money leaves my possession (or my bank account) and enters theirs, by any (legal) means whatsoever, then I have done the mitzvah of tzedakah, regardless of the halachos of the shlichim or kinyanim involved.

This seems very similar to what RSZA is saying about Maggid: In both cases, the procedure actually used is irrelevant to accomplishing the mitzvah. All we really care about is the end result.

Similarly, I have a sefer which quotes Likutei Kol Sinai pg 240 and Shu"t Chelkas Yaakov 1:102-103 as saying that Mishloach Manos may be sent even through a child or a non-Jew. Apparently, in that case too, the end result is what really matters.

Akiva Miller
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