Ma'akeh - Hiring a Worker

QUESTION: Can one hire a worker to build the ma’akeh? If so, who makes the bracha?

ANSWER: If possible, it is best to build the ma’akeh oneself. This is based on the concept of “mitzvah bo yoseir mi’bishlucho” – it is preferable to perform a mitzvah oneself than to delegate the mitzvah to another. If one is unable to build a ma’akeh, the mitzvah can be fulfilled by hiring a Jewish worker. In this case, however, there is a difference of opinion as to who recites the bracha. Rebbi Akiva Eiger (CM 427:1) sides with those who say that the worker should recite the bracha, since he is the one who is actively performing the mitzvah. The Aruch Hashulchan (CM 427:3) maintains that the owner makes the bracha, since it is his mitzvah. The Machaneh Efrayim differentiates between an hourly worker and one who is hired by the job: if one hires an hourly worker, since the worker’s time belongs to his employer, it is as though the employer built the ma’akeh, and the owner should recite the bracha. But if the worker is hired by the job, then the worker would recite the bracha. Because of the dispute, Rav Elyashiv, zt”l recommended that the owner should recite the bracha and then knock in the last nail.

If one hires a non-Jew to build the fence, most poskim maintain that a bracha cannot be said. Furthermore, the Minchas Chinuch (546:3) writes that if one hires a non-Jewish worker, the mitzvah was not fulfilled. However, according to the Machaneh Efrayim if the non-Jew is an hourly worker, the owner can recite the bracha, since it is as though the employer built the ma’akeh. Again, the recommendation would be to have the non-Jew leave out the last nail, and the owner can recite the bracha and then finish the ma’akeh himself.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.