Q&A: Blessing on Commandments That a Gentile Is Eligible to Perform
Blessing on Commandments That a Gentile Is Eligible to Perform
Question
Hello, honored Rabbi. In the Talmud in Menachot 42a, Rav Chisda’s reasoning is brought: “Any commandment for which a gentile is eligible, a Jew does not need to recite a blessing; any commandment for which a gentile is not eligible, a Jew does need to recite a blessing.”
So I can sort of understand the first side, that a blessing would not apply, because if this is a commandment that a gentile can in principle perform, and for a gentile it is obviously not relevant to recite “Who sanctified us with His commandments,” then it makes sense that the commandment in general does not require a blessing. But the reverse does not sound necessary to me: why, if only a Jew can do it, should the commandment specifically require a blessing? Is it always possible to say “Who sanctified us with His commandments”?
And I’m asking myself whether this is really because in all those commandments in which a gentile is eligible, we are dealing with result-oriented commandments, and for result-oriented commandments it indeed does not make sense to recite a blessing. That would then explain the other side of the rule: where a gentile is disqualified from performing them, that is because the commandment is, at least also, on the act itself, and therefore a blessing is relevant there (because the commandment is on the person to do it, and in that it is evident that He indeed sanctified me through what He commanded me, and one should therefore recite a blessing over it). But then I do not understand why one would not recite a blessing over a commandment whose focus is the result. Even then, if a Jew performs it, why shouldn’t he say “Who sanctified us with His commandments” (for example, reciting a blessing over the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying before the birth)? Or perhaps this whole distinction between result-oriented commandments and action-oriented commandments is not relevant.
I would be happy if you could make some order in this topic for me.
Answer
Simply speaking, the connection between a gentile’s eligibility for the commandment and the blessing when the performer is a Jew is not as you wrote—that because the gentile cannot recite the blessing, it follows that the Sages did not institute one. The explanation is that if a gentile is also eligible for it, then the words “Who sanctified us with His commandments” are not accurate, because in this commandment He did not sanctify specifically us. Therefore one cannot recite a blessing over such a commandment.
I did not understand your first question. Who said that whenever a commandment applies only to Jews, a blessing necessarily applies? There are commandments that apply only to Jews and yet no blessing is recited over them for various reasons—for example, if they depend on another person, and so on. But absent such side reasons, indeed for any commandment that applies only to Jews one should recite a blessing. What is the difficulty with that?
Regarding your suggestion linking this to result-oriented commandments, I found here in the Radal, whose words are quoted in note 10 in the Chavruta edition there:
And the Radal further explains that if a gentile’s performance is invalid, that proves that the making of the tzitzit is part of the commandment, and therefore the blessing over commandments is relevant to it. But if a gentile’s performance is valid—meaning that hanging the threads is only preparation and qualification for the commandment and is not itself a commandment—then the Sages did not institute the blessing over commandments for it. Along these lines, Rashba in his novellae explained the Talmud’s conclusion later on, that the blessing over the making depends on whether tzitzit is an obligation of the garment or an obligation of the person. And Rashi there explained that Rav Chisda requires a blessing because he holds that it is an obligation of the garment. They asked against Rashi: but Rav Chisda himself explained his reason as being that a gentile’s performance is invalid. Rashba answered that Rav Chisda holds that the making is an act of commandment, and he proved this from the fact that a gentile’s performance is invalid; and the Talmud rejects that a gentile’s performance is proof regarding the obligation of a blessing, but the underlying reasoning is correct—that the obligation of a blessing depends on whether there is a commandment in the act of making.
But as I said, in my opinion there is no necessity at all to say this.