QUESTION: The Gemara teaches that a person cannot appoint a Shali'ach to do an act which he is not yet able to do himself. Therefore, a man cannot appoint a Shali'ach to betroth to him a woman -- who is presently married to someone else -- after she gets divorced.

TOSFOS and the ROSH ask that according to this rule, one should not be able to appoint a Shali'ach to make his flour into dough and separate Chalah from that dough. Since Chalah may be separated only from dough and not from flour, at the time the Shali'ach is appointed Chalah cannot be separated (since the dough was not yet made).

RABEINU TAM answers that one may appoint a Shali'ach to separate Chalah in such a case because the owner has the ability ("b'Yado") to take other dough from his house and separate Chalah on behalf of the flour. It suffices that the Chalah itself has been made into dough, even though the rest is still flour, since it is "b'Yado" to make the rest of the flour into dough.

However, Tosfos cites another Gemara which seems to contradict the answer of Rabeinu Tam. The Gemara in Yevamos (52a) states that a man may appoint a scribe to write a Get for his wife who is an Arusah (betrothed) in order to give the Get to her after the marriage, when she becomes a Nesu'ah. The Gemara explains that since it is "b'Yado," in his ability, to divorce her now, during the Erusin and before the Nisu'in, he may have the Get written now even though he plans to use it only after she becomes a Nesu'ah. The Gemara says that the Halachah in this case does not prove that a Yavam may appoint a scribe to write a Get for his Yevamah before he performs Yibum, with intent to give it to her after Yibum, because it is not "b'Yado" to divorce her now (he must perform either Yibum or Chalitzah). As Tosfos points out, it is in the ability of the Yavam to perform Yibum with the Yevamah (since Yibum may be performed against her will), and nevertheless the Yavam may not appoint a Shali'ach to write a Get for his Yevamah. Why does the element of "b'Yado" in the case of the Yavam not give him the right to appoint a Shali'ach to write a Get for the Yevamah, just as the element of "b'Yado" in the case of Chalah gives the owner the right to appoint a Shali'ach to separate Chalah?

(a) The AVNEI MILU'IM (#35) and the ORACH MISHOR understand that Tosfos indeed rejects his original suggestion based on the proof from the Gemara in Yevamos. Tosfos concludes that "b'Yado" does not allow a person to appoint a Shali'ach to make flour into dough and then to separate Chalah from the dough. "B'Yado" allows a person only to separate Chalah himself before the flour is made into dough and becomes fit for Hafrashas Chalah, but it does not allow him to appoint a Shali'ach to do it. He may appoint a Shali'ach only when the flour is presently fit for separating Chalah. Accordingly, Tosfos leaves his question (how is one able to appoint a Shali'ach to knead dough and separate Chalah) unanswered.

(b) The KEREN ORAH here and RAV SHIMON SHKOP (Sha'arei Yosher 6:17) note that this does not seem to be the intent of Tosfos. The objective of Tosfos is to justify the practice of appointing a woman to make dough and separate Chalah. Since the comments of Tosfos do not end with a question, it seems that Tosfos successfully justifies the practice.

They explain Tosfos like the MISHNEH L'MELECH (Hilchos Ishus 9:6), VILNA GA'ON (YD 327), and REBBI AKIVA EIGER (Teshuvos 141), who explain that Tosfos indeed answers his question. Since a person may separate Chalah from dough on behalf of flour, he may give flour to a Shali'ach and appoint him to make dough and separate Chalah. Tosfos cites the Gemara in Yevamos as proof that had the person who appointed the Shali'ach not been able to separate Chalah from dough on behalf of the flour, he would not have been permitted to appoint a Shali'ach to separate Chalah for him just because he (the Meshale'ach) could have kneaded the dough himself. The Meshale'ach must be able to actually separate Chalah at the moment he appoints the Shali'ach, and it does not suffice to be merely "b'Yado" to knead the dough now and then to separate Chalah.

However, REBBI AKIVA EIGER (in Gilyon ha'Shas) and the KEREN ORAH ask that if this is the intent of Tosfos, why may a Yavam not appoint a scribe to write a Get for his Yevamah? After all, the Yavam himself is able to write a Get for his Yevamah since it is "b'Yado" to do Yibum with her and then divorce her.

The KEHILOS YAKOV (#3) answers that the principle of "b'Yado" does not enable a Yavam to write a Get for his Yevamah because "b'Yado" serves only to remove the problem of "Davar she'Lo Ba l'Olam" -- a Yavam who writes a Get for his Yevamah writes a Get for a woman who is not yet married to him. There is, however, a second problem: a Get written for a woman to whom one is not yet married is not considered written Lishmah (with specific intent to divorce this woman) since the Get cannot take effect at the time it is written. (See also RAV ELAZAR MOSHE HA'LEVI HOROWITZ.) "B'Yado" does not remove this second problem, and therefore a Yavam does not have the ability to write the Get himself and he cannot appoint a Shali'ach to write it.

However, the Gemara in Yevamos implies that if the Yavam appoints a Shali'ach to write the Get, the Shali'ach may not write the Get even after the Yavam marries the Yevamah. At that point in time, however, there is no lack of Lishmah since the Yevamah is already married. It must be that one cannot appoint a Shali'ach when the object of the Shelichus is a "Davar she'Lo Ba l'Olam" (in this case, the woman was not yet married). It is evident from there that "b'Yado" does not enable one to appoint a Shali'ach to effect a change of status on a "Davar she'Lo Ba l'Olam." "B'Yado" enables only the person himself to effect a change of status on a "Davar she'Lo Ba l'Olam." (See also SHA'AREI YOSHER, ibid., who suggests a different approach.)

QUESTION: The Gemara teaches that a person cannot appoint a Shali'ach to do an act which he is not yet able to do himself. TOSFOS and the ROSH ask that according to this rule, one should not be able to appoint a Shali'ach to make his flour into dough and separate Chalah from that dough. Since Chalah may be separated only from dough and not from flour, at the time the Shali'ach is appointed Chalah cannot be separated (since the dough was not yet made).

RABEINU TAM answers that one may appoint a Shali'ach to separate Chalah in such a case because the owner has the ability ("b'Yado") to take other dough from his house and separate Chalah on behalf of the flour. It suffices that the Chalah itself has been made into dough, even though the rest is still flour, since it is "b'Yado" to make the rest of the flour into dough.

Why, though, is the owner of the flour (the Meshale'ach) able to appoint a Shali'ach to separate part of the flour -- after it is kneaded into dough -- as Chalah on behalf of the rest of the dough? Since it is not "b'Yado" of the Meshale'ach to make part of the flour into Chalah at that moment since it was not yet kneaded into dough, why is he allowed to appoint a Shali'ach to do it? (OR SAME'ACH, Hilchos Terumos 5:9; NODA B'YEHUDAH in DORESH L'TZION, Derush #13 and footnote there)

ANSWER: The CHASAM SOFER explains that the Meshale'ach does not have to appoint the Shali'ach to separate Chalah from this flour in particular. He merely appoints him to separate Chalah, and the Shali'ach may choose whatever he wants to make into Chalah for the Meshale'ach, even if it is not fit to be made into Chalah at the time of the appointment of the Shali'ach. Since the owner of the flour could have separated Chalah himself from any dough that he has in the house, he may appoint a Shali'ach to make Chalah from any of his dough.

The question of Tosfos is how may a person appoint a Shali'ach to exempt a particular measure of flour from Chalah (by separating Chalah for it) when that measure of flour was not yet able to have Chalah separated for it. Tosfos answers that it is possible to separate Chalah for it even while it is flour.