May One Recite Tefillas HaDerech A Second Time, to Help Others Fulfill Their Obligation Based on the Principal of Arvus?
There was a story, where there was a trip with a bunch of boys who were becoming ba’alei teshuvah and the organizer already recited Tefillas HaDerech for himself. However, he later realized that the rest of the group were unable to recite Tefillas HaDerech on their own, and he wanted to recite Tefillas HaDerech a second time in order to be moitzi the group. However, he was unsure if due to arvus he was able to recite Tefillas HaDerech a second time or not?
The Eishel Avraham (110) and Shu”t Minchas Shlomah (Vol. 2, siman 58 – and also Halichos Shlomah, Tefillah, Perek 21, sif 5) brings this doubt. They write that Tefillas HaDerech is not a birchas hanenin, and if we treat it like tefillah, then certainly one can be moitzi others even if he has already fulfilled the mitzvah himself. On the other hand, by birchas hanenin there is no arvus as “one isn’t obligated to eat” (see Rashi, Rosh Hashanah 29a), therefore, perhaps when traveling as well, we can make an argument and say, “don’t travel and don’t make a berachah”.
Perhaps an argument could be made that if one is traveling to fulfill a mitzvah, then there is more room for arvus, as in such a case the journey is obligatory. However, this is not a valid argument, as if the berachah would be on the mitzvah itself it would be a good argument and we could say that there is arvus, however, here the berachah is not on the mitzvah, rather it’s on the journey which facilitates (heicha timza) one to perform the mitzvah.
