Some Doubts Regarding Tefillas HaDerech
When a group of boys are going on a trip, should one boy recite Tefillas HaDerech aloud for everyone, and they should all fulfill their obligation with shome’ah ke’onah [the halachic principal, that hearing is like speaking], or is it better that everyone says it themselves? If it’s ok for one boy to recite Tefillas HaDerech for all of them, is it okay to use a loudspeaker?
The Shulchan Aruch (110:7) writes that one shouldn’t recite Tefillas HaDerech unless he/she is travelling a parsah (4.7 km according to the Chazon Ish, and 3.85 km according to R’ Chaim Naeh). What’s the halachah if one sets out to travel more than a parsah, however, before he actually travels a parsah he changes his mind and wants to return home, is there a concern that his Tefillas HaDerech may now be a berachah levtolah [blessing in vain], and he should make sure to travel a parsah and only then return home, or is there no concern and he can return home before traveling the distance of a parsah?
What’s the halachah if a group of boys set out to travel, and after the bus leaves the city, one of the boys made Tefillas HaDerech out loud for everyone and was moitzi everyone via shome’ah ke’onah, and then he received a phone call that he needs to return home and he gets off the bus and goes home. Do all the boys on the bus need to recite Tefillas HaDerech again since they heard the berachah from someone who isn’t obligated, as he never ended up travelling a parsah?
There is also room to question: What’s the halachah regarding an oinen who is exempt from mitzvos, does he need to recite Tefillas HaDerech when travelling from city to city or from country to county to bury the dead? Similarly, what is the halachah regarding one who is traveling in the same car as the niftar [dead body], do we say oisek bemitzvah patur min hamitzvah [one who is busy with one mitzvah is exempt from another]? And what about lo’eg lerosh (the prohibition against doing mitzvos in front of the dead)? Finally, what is the halachah regarding hatzolah members who are traveling and fulfilling the mitzvah of hatzolas nefoshos [saving lives], especially when they are traveling on Shabbos, do they need to recite Tefillas HaDerech?
