[Avodah] Besamim and Havdala

[Akiva Miller]

.
Mechaber 298:5 writes: "One who cannot smell does not say the bracha on
besamim, unless he intends to be motzi his children of chinuch age, or to
be motzi someone who doesn't know [how to do it himself]."

Mishne Brura 298:13 differs: "All the acharonim disagree with this. They
hold that it's *only* his children that he can be motzi, because their
chinuch in mitzvos falls on him. But he can't be motzi someone who doesn't
know how, because [of the rule that] he isn't obligated and therefore can't
be motzi others. Even though, essentially, one *can* be motzi others for
kiddush and havdala even if he isn't obligated (such as if he already
yotzay), these [kiddush and havdala] are different, because they are a
Chovah on every Jewish man and all Jews are responsible for one another,
whereas this [besamim] is only a Minhag Chachamim, for which you don't have
to go out of your way,  as above in se'if 1. [Therefore] it is like any
Birkas Hanehenin, which one can't be motzi others unless he himself is
benefiting at the same time, as above in 167:19."

Here's my question: Why are we allowed to interrupt between the Hagafen and
the drinking, to do this non-chiyuv minhag of the besamim? Why is it not a
hefsek?

To my mind, there is a very simple reason why the bracha of *Havdala* is
not a hefsek, namely that I already said Hagafen, but it is assur to drink
the wine without Havdala. Therefore the bracha of Havdala is necessary for
the Hagafen and is not a hefsek. (That's my understanding of Beis Hillel's
shita on Brachos 51b, although it is expressed there in terms of kiddush,
not havdala.)

But there's no real *need* to interrupt Havdala Al Hakos for the besamim,
is there? Why was it set up like that? Why couldn't Besamim simply be part
of Seder Motzaei Shabbos, either before or after Havdala Al Hakos?

Point of comparison: The Simanim of Rosh Hashana Night are not a recent
innovation; it's mentioned in Gemara Krisos 6. But no one (to my knowledge)
ever suggested doing these Simanim in the middle of Kiddush. It is
certainly relevant to RH, but there's no connection to Kiddush, so it is
done as a separate ritual from kiddush. Besamim ought to be the same:
relevant to Motzaei Shabbos, but unconnected to Havdala. So why is it
inserted?

Brachos 52a considers various different sequences for the Havdala
procedure, but I don't see that this idea was even considered. They discuss
whether to say Besamim/Ner or Ner/Besamim, but it is just taken as a
"given" that they would come between the Hagafen and the drinking. Why?

Akiva Miller

Note: I imagine that this whole question  applies equally to the Ner,
because it too is in the category of "you don't have to go out of your way
to get it", as per Mechaber 298:1. The reason I focused on the Besamim is
simply because that's where I found the MB explicitly saying that it's not
a "chovah".
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