Rabbi,
I am a "subscriber" and I love your site. I have a question about this mishnah Berahcos 15.
(a) The Mishnah in Terumos writes that a Cheresh who is deaf but cannot speak, should not separate Terumah, but that, if he does, his Terumah is nevertheless valid. Why should he not separate Terumah?"
Isn't the obligiation for terumah d'oraita? So how can the inability to make a bracha (which is d'rabbanan) trump the requirement to do a mitzvah? Or am i missing something?
Thank you!
Josh Danziger, Charlotte USA
When you put on Tefilin you have performed a Mitzvah. When you recite a B'rachah over the Tefilin, you enhance the Mitzvah.
When a Cheresh who cannot recite a B'rachah, puts on tefilin, he has performs a Mitzvah, but that Mitzvah is deficient.
By the same token, when a Cheresh separates Terumah without a B'rachah, he is performing a deficient Mitzvah. Better that somebody else should separate the Terumah, so that the Mitzvah is complete.
That is what the Mishnah means when it says that the Cheresh should not separate Terumah.
be'Virchas Kol Tuv
Eliezer Chrysler.