[Avodah] Birkat eirusiin

[Zev Sero]

On 19/08/2012 11:32 AM, Lisa Liel wrote:
> My partner is learning from the Artscroll Brachos book with a friend,
> and they just came across something in one of the footnotes.  And it
> got me wondering.  Given that we say that someone who isn't obligated
> in a mitzvah can't be motzi someone who is, how is it that the mesader
> kedushin can say the birkat eirusin instead of the chatan?  Does anyone
> know how that works?

1. It's not necessary that he's obligated at this moment.  E.g. someone
who has already heard kiddush may make it for those who haven't; but
someone who is not obligated in kiddush may not make it for those who are.
The mesader kidushin is obligated in kidushin.

2. Indeed his obligation is the same as the chatan's, so we don't even have
to reach the issue in the previous paragraph.  Assuming the kalah is not
a close relative of his (and he's not a kohen or she's kosher for a kohen)
he could even be mekadesh her, if she were willing.  So his chiyuv is equal
to the chatan's.

3. Despite its language, there are apparently those who say that birkat
erusin is not birkat hamitzvot but birkat hoda'ah.  We got into this a
while ago,  when we were discussing standing vs sitting.

-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon