QUESTION: Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar rules that an Eved Kena'ani cannot accept his own Get Shichrur. Rather, someone else must accept it for him. The Gemara asks whether an Eved Kena'ani may appoint a Shali'ach to accept his Get Shichrur on his behalf, according to Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar.

What is the Gemara's question? Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar clearly states that another person may accept a Get Shichrur for the Eved Kena'ani, which clearly implies that the Eved may appoint a Shali'ach. If the reason why another person may accept a Get for the Eved Kena'ani is the principle of Zechiyah ("Zachin l'Adam"), why does the Gemara ask whether an Eved Kena'ani can appoint a Shali'ach? In any case, the other person acquires the Get on behalf of the Eved through Zechiyah. If the Gemara is discussing a case in which the Eved, upon his receipt of the Get, complains that he does not want it (and it is not a "Zechus" for him), in both cases (the case of Zechiyah and the case of Shelichus) he should not acquire the Get because he shows that he has no interest in being freed and that freedom is a liability (Chov) to him. (RASHBA, RITVA; see TOSFOS DH Mahu.)

ANSWERS: The explanation of the Gemara's question depends on a more fundamental issue which the Rishonim discuss in many places: Does Zechiyah itself function through Shelichus (by way of an "Anan Sahadei" -- it is obvious to us ("we are witnesses") that the recipient would want the person to be his Shali'ach to receive the item on his behalf), or does it function through a different mechanism? (See TOSFOS to Kesuvos 11a, DH Matbilin, and the RAN to Kidushin 42a.) The explanation of the Gemara's question here depends on how Zechiyah functions.

(a) The RASHBA and other Rishonim prove from the Gemara here that Zechiyah and Shelichus are separate concepts. The Gemara asks if an Eved Kena'ani may appoint a Shali'ach to receive his Get Shichrur, even though it knows that he may acquire the Get through Zechiyah. The Rashba, Ritva, and Tosfos (in his first answer) explain that the Gemara means that if an Eved does not have the ability to appoint a Shali'ach, then when he asks someone to receive his Get through Shelichus and the master gives the Get to that person and says, "I want you to accept this Get in the manner the Eved wants you to accept it," indeed the Get is not valid.

The logic for this is that although the Eved's representative could have received the Get for him through Zechiyah, once he chooses to receive it through Shelichus and not through Zechiyah he does not acquire the Get for the Eved through Zechiyah. Since the Eved cannot appoint a Shali'ach, the representative cannot acquire the Get for the Eved as a Shali'ach, and thus the Eved is not freed.

(b) The RITVA cites RABEINU YITZCHAK HA'LEVI who agrees that Zechiyah does not function through Shelichus, but who answers the question in a different manner. The practical difference whether an Eved may appoint a Shali'ach or not exists when an Eved appoints a Shali'ach to accept his Get, the Shali'ach accepts it and brings it to the Eved, and then the Eved says that he changed his mind and did not want the person to receive the Get for him at the time he accepted it. If the person acquires the Get for the Eved through Zechiyah, the Eved is not freed because he changed his mind and decided that he did not want a Get, and thus the Get was not a benefit (Zechus) for him, but rather a Chov. However, if an Eved may appoint a Shali'ach, and the person accepted the Get for the Eved through Shelichus, although the person cannot acquire the Get for the Eved through Zechiyah (because the Eved decided that the Get is a Chov to him) he nevertheless acquires the Get for the Eved through Shelichus, since the Eved did not explicitly annul the appointment of the Shali'ach but merely lost interest in being freed. Since the Eved did not annul the Shelichus, the Shali'ach is able to acquire the Get for the Eved. Since the Eved consented to the Shichrur at the time of the appointment of the Shali'ach, the Eved's disinterest in the Shichrur at the time the Shali'ach actually received it is irrelevant, as long as the person he sent is still a Shali'ach. (See the SHITAH LO NODA L'MI who gives a similar explanation.)

(c) RASHI in Gitin (9b) and TOSFOS in Kesuvos (and elsewhere) write that Zechiyah does function through Shelichus. How do they understand the Gemara here which says that even if an Eved Kena'ani may not appoint a Shali'ach because he cannot receive the Get himself, nevertheless someone else may receive the Get on his behalf?

TOSFOS and the TOSFOS HA'ROSH explain that when the Gemara suggests that an Eved Kena'ani cannot appoint a Shali'ach, it understands that the reason why another person may accept a Get for the Eved is neither because of Shelichus nor because of Zechiyah. Why, then, may another person receive a Get for the Eved?

Apparently, Tosfos understands that Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar disagrees with the logic of Rava and Abaye (on 23a) who differentiate between Kesef and Shtar. He maintains that just as Kesef may be accepted by someone else on behalf of the Eved and does not have to be accepted by the Eved himself, the Shtar may be accepted by someone else (since the master may free the Eved against his will). It makes no difference that the Shtar is received not by the master but by the other person; the other person still may free the Eved against his will without relying on Shelichus.

Tosfos writes that according to this understanding, the Gemara's question is as follows. Does a Shtar Shichrur take effect, according to Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar, when it is received by someone else ("Shtar Al Yedei Acherim") because the Shtar does not need to be accepted by the Eved himself but may be accepted by anybody, or does a "Shtar Al Yedei Acherim" take effect because of Zechiyah and Shelichus, and therefore if the Eved insists that he does not want to receive the Shtar he cannot be freed against his will? The Tosfos ha'Rosh notes that this also appears to be Rashi's understanding of the Gemara's question (in DH k'Ishah, and DH O Dilma). The Gemara's question is how does "Shtar Al Yedei Acherim" work according to Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar.

(d) RASHI, however, adds that there is another practical difference to the question of whether an Eved may appoint a Shali'ach. Rashi (DH O Dilma) writes that if an Eved Kena'ani cannot appoint a Shali'ach, Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar's statement that a "Shtar Al Yedei Acherim" works to free the Eved means "either that the master may be Mezakeh to him the Shtar through another person or that another person may take the Get without the Eved's knowledge." The second half of Rashi's statement is clear -- if the Eved cannot appoint a Shali'ach, a "Shtar Al Yedei Acherim" works without the Eved's consent, against his will, as Tosfos writes. However, what does Rashi mean in his first explanation, that the master may be Mezakeh to the Eved a Get by giving it to another person, even though Shelichus does not work? If Zechiyah works through Shelichus, how can Zechiyah work if Shelichus does not work? (See BIRKAS SHMUEL #11, DEVAR SHMUEL, IMREI BINYAMIN.)

Apparently, Rashi is unsure about whether Zechiyah works through Shelichus or not. In his first explanation, he assumes that the question of the Gemara is whether Zechiyah works through Shelichus. If an Eved may appoint a Shali'ach, there is no reason to suggest that Zechiyah is a separate form of freeing the Eved; rather, it works through the assumption that the Eved would have appointed the person as his Shali'ach. If the Eved cannot appoint a Shali'ach, it must be that Zechiyah does not work through the mechanism of Shelichus, and that is why the Eved goes free through a "Shtar Al Yedei Acherim." The conclusion of the Gemara is that Zechiyah functions through Shelichus. (See RITVA at the end of the Sugya.)