Is "redeeming" the Ma'aser sheini a separate mitzva from bringing fruit and eating in Yerushalaim? We know that only if you live far away and are unable to transport your produce do you then reedem it on money. What if one lives close to Yerushalaim. Is it better for him to carry the actual produce to yerushalaim or does he get a greater mitzvah if he redeems the fruit since the torah mentiones reedeeming?
barry, ny ny
This is a very interesting question. I will cite some of the relevant sources in an attempt to reach an answer to your question.
1. Let us first look at the question of whether redeeming Ma'aser Sheni is a Mitzvah at all. The Shulchan Aruch (YD 331:137) writes that when one performs the redemption, he recites a Berachah. The source for this is the Yerushalmi at the end of the first chapter of Maseches Demai. The Ra'avad on the Rambam (Hilchos Ma'aser Sheni 4:4) writes that the fact that one recites a Berachah on the redemption proves that it is a Mitzvah.
2. The Chidushei ha'Ramban (Pesachim 7b, end DH u'Perush ha'Sugya) writes that the reason why the words of the Berachah are "Al Pidyon..." and not "Lifdos..." is that the "Pidyon" (redemption) is not an obligation. Therefore, when one separates Ma'aser Sheni itself the Berachah is "l'Hafrish" because there is an obligation to separate it, but when one performs Pidyon, which is optional (since he could take the fruit itself to Yerushalayim), he says "Al Pidyon...."
3. The abovementioned sources seem to contradict the Sha'ar ha'Melech (Hilchos Ma'achalos Asuros 15:10, cited by Tosfos Anshei Shem on the Mishnah in Bikurim 2:2, DH v'Yesh Torach), who asks (rhetorically), "Gabi Ma'aser Mai Mitzvah Ika Lifdoso?" -- "What Mitzvah is there to redeem Ma'aser Sheni?" The Sha'ar ha'Melech understands that there is no Mitzvah to redeem Ma'aser. His view is apparently at odds with the view of the Ra'avad and Ramban cited above.
4. The Gemara in Makos (19b) states that one may redeem Tahor fruits of Ma'aser Sheni even if he is only one step outside the walls of Yerushalayim. When I suggested that the reason a person might want to do so is in order to be able to say the Berachah on the redemption (and thus it would be preferable to redeem the fruit rather than take it into Yerushalayim), an outstanding Talmid Chacham here in Ramot, Yerushalayim, rejected this argument because we do not find that there is Mitzvah to look for new blessings to say. For example, we do not say that a person should put on a Talis several times each day in order to gain another Berachah every time.
5. I found in the Malbushei Yom Tov (cited in the Frankel edition of the Rambam, Hilchos Ma'aser Sheni 4:4) that the authorities who enumerate the 613 Mitzvos (such as the Sefer ha'Chinuch and the Rambam in Sefer ha'Mitzvos) do not count redeeming Ma'aser Sheni as one of the Mitzvos. On the other hand, the Ra'avad proves that it is a Mitzvah. The Malbushei Yom Tov concludes that it must be part of the Mitzvah of Ma'aser Sheni.
6. I also saw that the Tzalach (Rav Yechezkel Landau, the Rav of Prague and author of Noda b'Yehudah) on Maseches Beitzah (5b, DH Kevar) states that when the Rambam (Hilchos Ma'aser Sheni 9:5) writes that even in the time of the Beis ha'Mikdash one may redeem fruit right outside the wall of Yerushalayim, this does not mean that one is obligated to do so, but rather that one has the option to do so; if he so desires, he may take the fruit itself into Yerushalayim.
7. In summary, redeeming Ma'aser Sheni is not a separate Mitzvah from that of bringing fruit to Yerushalayim and eating it there, but rather it is a part of this Mitzvah. The two options of either eating the fruit itself in Yerushalayim or redeeming it are equal ways of performing the Mitzvah, and one has the choice to do it in whichever way he wants.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom