לע"נ חיים גבריאל בן ידיד נפשי הרב אהרן חנינא הכהן פינקלשטיין שליט"א
When a corpse
is found near a city, the Beis Din of that city must wash their hands
on the Eglah Arufah [Dvarim 21/6] and make a bracha of Al
Netilas Yodaim.
When the
corpse is found in between two cities and it is a safek from which
city the corpse was from, the Batei Din of both cities must wash
their hands out of doubt.
With respect
to the bracha – it would seem that neither make a bracha because of
the rule that ספק ברכות
להקל.
However, the Nachal Eisan [7/3/7] suggests that one Beis Din should
make the bracha and have kavvana to “be motzi” the other Beis Din
and either way – ממה נפשך -
things will work out. If they are in fact the Beis Din from the city
from which the corpse came, then the bracha is for them. If the other
Beis Din is the correct one – then the bracha counts for them
[because of the din ערבות
assuming
that the Beis Din that makes the bracha is considered מחוייב
בדבר since
if the corpse was from their town they would be obligated].
This chiddush
of the Nachal Eisan provokes some thoughts….
A] According
to this, if two people washed their hands for a meal and then they
discovered that one of the Netilas Yodaim cups had a hole [which
disqualifies the cup], and we don't know which person used which cup,
if they come to ask together [where we can't pasken לקולא
for
both of them because we know for a fact that one of them must wash
his hands again], they both must rewash their hands, one of them
makes a bracha and is motzi himself or his friend and they are both
taken care of ממה נפשך.
B] What would
be the halacha with respect to a Pidyon Ha-ben where there are two
women married to two different men who gave birth [MAZEL TOV!!:-)],
one to a boy and one to a girl, and we are not sure who gave birth to
the boy-bechor. Which father makes the bracha on the Pidyon?
Apparently – one should make the bracha and be motzi his friend so
ממה נפשך they
are both taken care of.
However, we
may argue and say that monetary issues are different [as we know, Pidyon Haben involves giving money to the Kohen], since we must
rule that they are both patur from Pidyon because of the rule המוציא
מחברו עליו הראיה,
therefore we don't say the ממה
נפשך and
no bracha should be made.
C] Bedikas
Chometz – The gemara says that if two houses are checked and a
mouse comes and we aren't sure which house the mouse entered, we say
that if both came to ask simultaneously they both need to recheck and
as far as the bracha is concerned, one should be motzi the other.
[מאוצרותיו של הגר"א גנחובסקי זצ"ל]
