Resources for Kesubos daf 7
1. The גמרא says that the ברכה we make on אירוסין is אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וצונו על העריות וכו׳. There is a famous discussion here as to what the nature of this ברכה is. Do we say it is a ברכת המצוה or just a ברכת השבח? This has several possible נפקא מינהs such as when the ברכה should be made and who should say it (as will be explained). The ריטב"א gives a long list of proofs that it is a ברכת השבח. First, if it was a ברכת המצוה we should have said אשר קדשנו על הקידושין. We never say a ברכה on איסור, so why would we make a ברכה that says אשר קדשנו...על העריות? There is no ברכה on eating meat called אשר קדשנו...על אבר מן החי. Second, why are we mentioning חופּה when we aren’t doing חופּה now? Therefore, the ריטב"א concludes it must be a ברכת השבח where we mention various praises of Hashem related to the קידושין in general. Consequently, the ברכת השבח should be said (by the most חשוב person in the room) as the שליח ציבור (which is the מסדר קידושין). Further, it should be said after the קידושין since this is a ברכה on a type of קדושה and all ברכות of that nature are said after the קדושה is חל. The ריטב"א’s opinion is shared by other ראשונים including the רא"ש. The רא"ש adds that if it were a ברכת המצוה there would be no reason to even mention עריות. However, the רמב"ם in הלכות אישות פּרק ג הל׳ כ"ג disagrees and holds it is a ברכת המצוה. Therefore, he says that it should be said by the חתן or his שליח and that it should be said before the קידושין like all ברכות המצוה. He even says that if you say it after the קידושין is done it is a ברכה לבטלה. How would we answer the questions the ריטב"א and others ask on the רמב"ם ? The גרי"ז on פּרשת לך לך answers as follows: there are עריות that you are born with like your mother and sister. Then there are עריות that are created by אישות ישראל such as אשת איש, אשת אח, and שתי אחיות. Therefore, even though it’s a ברכת המצוה it makes sense to mention עריותsince the מצוה of קידושין itself creates the עריות. We don’t do this by other מצוות since the מצוה doesn’t create the איסור, as opposed to here part of the ברכת המצוה is to mention that it creates the איסור. (This would not necessarily answer why we mention חופּה).
2. Related to the above, there is a מחלוקת גאונים וראשונים as to whether you need ten people for the ברכת אירוסין. The opinion of רב אחאי גאון and the בעל העיטור is that ברכת אירוסין needs ten people just like ברכת חתנים since both אירוסין and נישואין are considered עיסקי מקור. The ריטב"א and שמואל הנגיד disagree since the גמרא doesn’t mention that requirement. It is not considered עיסקי מקור since בעילה is not allowed with קידושין alone. רב שמואל רוזובסקי זצ"ל in his חידושים in סימן ט says that thisמחלוקת is תלוי in the above מחלוקת as to whether ברכת אירוסין is a ברכת המצוה or not. If you hold it is a ברכת המצוה then it shouldn’t need ten like all other ברכת המצוות. However, if you hold it’s a ברכת השבח then you would need to be מפרסם it and it would need ten. (The only question is that the ריטב"א and רמב"ם both hold you don’t need ten for ברכת אירוסין and that would seem not to fit with that explanation.) As to the need for ten for at least ברכת חתנים, the שיטה מקובצת explains that it is because it is considered a דבר שבקדושה. This fits well with the ריטב"א mentioned in the previous paragraph. However, the דברות משה in סימן ח׳ ד"ה ולכן says that the reason is משום שמחה. He says this explains the ירושלמי brought by תוספות in ד"ה במקהלות that said you might think you need twenty men for ברכת חתנים. Twenty is not usually a significant number unless the point is just to have a large crowd.
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