<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">In Avodah Digest V23#77,
RnTK replied to me:</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">>> </font><font size=2 face="Arial">OK,
so let's say the reason for this minhag isn't related to the chashash of
a b'rachah l'vatalah. </font><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana"><<</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">> </font><font size=2 face="Arial">But
it is. Why waste time thinking about a counterfactual hypothesis?</font><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">
<</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">Forgive me for not quoting
RAM's Avodah Digest V23#75 words, i.e. "</font><tt><font size=2>My
practice is to put out the ten pieces, but not because of any sort of chashash
regarding the bracha</font></tt><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">,"
when responding to him and you (in the post which entered Avodah Digest
V23#76) with a "fine, let's take that as a 'given'" theoretical
position. Those who are blinded by "but the reason *is* to prevent
a b'rachah l'vatalah!" from understanding what I subsequently wrote
in that response may want to ignore the remainder of this post ;-), but
I would ask them to, again, review the sources noted in </font><font size=2 color=#800000 face="Verdana">http://www.torah.org/advanced/weekly-halacha/5758/pesach.html</font><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">
and also to consider that the parameters of the custom (specifically 10
pieces, etc.) strongly imply that they may be missing the forest for the
tree.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">Later in Avodah Digest V23#76,
RMK replied to me:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">>> Can someone tell me re what
other mitzvah we're chosheish that the person performing the mitzvah may
not perform it as well as possible, such that we challenge him by deliberately
making it harder and/or more involved? IMHO, this smacks of lifnei eeveir,
even if the person hiding the pieces is 101% sure that s/he will be able
to find any which the searcher cannot find. (NB: I'm merely trying to understand
this minhag, not to question the sincerity or commitment of its practicioners.)
Thanks. <<</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">> The purpose is not to make the
mitzvah harder and more involved, but make it</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">more effective. As RAM wrote,
it does actually make you search more thoroughly,</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">which is the whole point of bedikas
chametz. You should be</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">looking that thoroughly in any case.
The 10 pieces is just an extra incentive to make sure. <</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">At the least, RMK is begging
my question, so I'll rephrase it in terms of his response. Re what
other mitzvah incumbent upon an individual is there a custom for someone
else to provide extra incentive in an effort to force said individual to
perform the mitzva properly?</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">So far, I can think of two
possible answers. The first one is based on private conversations
I've had with RAM, while the other one just popped (no pun intended :-))
into my head while reading RaMBaM Hilchos Chameitz uMatzah 2.</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">(1) While this mitzvah of
"tashbisu" is unquestionably not a communal mitzvah, it's the
type of individual-level mitzvah which actually is incumbent upon a ba'al
habayis, so "extra incentive" provided by one's bayis (i.e. unlike
by the case of the wedding singer, we really have here a case of ishto
k'gufo :-)) is not being provided by an outsider but rather by the entity
upon whom the proper performance of the mitzvah devolves. As such,
just as it would be OK if the bodeiq himself had previously hid some chameitz
in an effort to ensure that he properly performed the mitzvah, so too it's
OK if his wife/family hide some chameitz ahead of the z'man b'diqah, and
this activity doesn't smack of "lifnei eeveir" because LI doesn't
apply to what one's bayis does to oneself any more than it applies to what
an individual does to himself. (That said, part of me</font><tt><font size=2>
</font></tt><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">still would like
to see the minhag formulated more in terms of "if you think you need
to do this, you may, and there is no concern that, e.g., you are improperly
adding to what CHaZaL formulated" rather than "this is the way
to do a b'diqah, and while it may not rise to the level of y'hareig v'al
ya'avor, anything less is not a proper b'diqah"!)</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">(2) The language of RaMBaM
Hilchos Chameitz uMatzah 2:7 implies that the custom of hiding 10 pieces
is part&parcel of the mitzvah and not some external aspect.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">A guten Shabbes/Shabbas Shalom
and all the best from</font>
<br><font size=4 color=blue face="Monotype Corsiva">Michael Poppers</font><font size=4 color=blue face="Verdana">
</font><font size=2 face="Verdana">*</font><font size=4 color=blue face="Verdana">
</font><font size=4 color=blue face="EngraversGothic BT">Elizabeth, NJ,
USA</font>