Derech Emunim
Pearls of Halachah in the Weekly Parashah
ולגר ללוי נתתיו וגם הבית מן הקדש בערתי” לא צויתני אשר מצותך ככל ולאלמנה וליתום (יג כו) “שכחתי ולא ממצותיך עברתי
The Mishnah (Ma’aser Sheini 5:11, cited in Rashi) explains the words “velo shachachti”: “I did not forget to bless and mention Your Name upon it.” The commentators ask: Even if indeed we recite “birchas hamitzvos” before the mitzvah of separating terumos and ma’asros, the way we make brachos on all the mitzvos, still, the source of the obligation to say this brachah is only d’Rabbanan, like the brachos made on other mitzvos. How is it possible that the passuk should obligate the one separating to confess that he made this brachah?
The Tosafos Yom Tov (ibid) explained that indeed, Chazal were the ones who instructed that we make a brachah on the separating, and they also obligated the one doing the tithing to confess that he did not forget to make the brachah. The words of the Mishnah here are not a complete drashah, but rather an “asmachta b’alma.” The Derech Emunah explains (Mitzvos Aseh 11:15, in the Biur Halachah) that the simple meaning of the words “velo shachachti” is that the person should confess that he did not forget even by mistake to fulfill the mitzvos that depend on hafrashah, because after he said “lo avarti mimitzvosecha” – intentionally, he then adds that a reference to the unintentional transgressions.
But Rav Eliyahu Mizrachi explains that the Mishnah is making a drashah gemurah, and indeed, there is an obligation from the Torah to bless and thank Hashem before performing the mitzvos of separating terumos and ma’asros. But the Torah did not determine a nusach for it, and Chazal are the ones who established the nusach of the brachah before separating.
Rav Meir Arik adds that we learn that the obligation of hoda’ah from the Torah is unique only to the fulfillment of the mitzvah of separating terumos and ma’asraos from the mitzvah of Viduy Ma’aser. Because if after separating and the biur, the Torah commanded the person to say a confession that includes praise and gratitude, then how much more so must he thank before fulfilling the mitzvah of the hafrashah. As the Gemara says (Brachos 35b), one can learn this obligation to recite Birchas Hanehenin before eating from the kal vachomer that the Torah obligated the person to recite Birchas Hamazon after eating and being satiated, so “if he makes a brachah when satisfied, wouldn’t he do so much more when he is hungry”?
Rav Aryeh Tzvi Frommer, the Kozhiglover Rav, offered a different chiddush to explain this: Indeed, from the Torah, there is an obligation to recite a brachah on all the mitzvos, because like the Torah obligated that we make a brachah before engaging in it (see Brachos 21a), it also obligated a brachah before fulfilling mitzvos. But according to din Torah, one is yoztei these brachos on mitzvos by reciting Birchas HaTorah in the morning, because the whole objective of learning is to bring one to fulfill mitzvos, and Chazal added a special brachah before doing each mitzvah. But one who seeks to fulfill a mitzvah before reciting Birchas HaTorah is then obligated from the Torah to recite Birchas Hamitzvos before doing so.
In light of this, we can explain that the explanation of the Mishnah “velo shachachti levarech” is said – either regarding Birchas HaTorah, in which we include the gratitude for the mitzvos of separating terumos and ma’asros, or regarding the brachah on that separation, in the event that he separated the tithes before reciting Birchos HaTorah.
Tosafos Yom Tov Ma’aser Sheini 5 11; Tal Torah Brachos 39b; Shu”t Eretz Tzvi 27
