The Messenger Or The Message?
‘How Do We View This Agent?’
(Bava Kamma 104a)
As part of the Yom Kippur service, a goat was led for a three-hour walk from the Beis HaMikdash to the stop of a steep cliff. There, it was thrown down to its death by the person who accompanied it, thus achieving atonement for the sins of the Jewish Nation.
The Torah instructs us to appoint a specific person on erev Yom Kippur to perform this task: “It will be sent to the desert with a designated man” (Vayikra 16:21). Our Sages interpreted this pasuk to mean that the goat for Azazel must be sent even when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos (although this may entail the violation of certain melachos) and even if the appointed escort is impure.
Mishloach Manos On Purim
On Purim there is a mitzvah to send mishloach manos to the poor, our friends, and our associates. The Binyan Tzion (44; see Mishnah Berurah 695:18) wonders: Must mishloach manos be given personally or must they be given via a messenger? Megillas Esther calls these gifts mishloach manos, a “sending of gifts” from each person to his friend. The word “sending” seems to imply that they should be sent through a messenger.
A Minor Messenger
If we assume that a messenger must be used, need the messenger be an adult Jew? There is a general principle that a messenger appointed to perform a mitzvah must be an adult Jew who is obligated to perform mitzvos. A shliach in Torah law stands in place of the person who sent him and the mitzvah he performs is directly associated with the person who sent him. Therefore, a person who is not obligated to perform mitzvos cannot perform this role.
Since children and gentiles are not obligated to send mishloach manos, they should not be able to deliver them on our behalf. Yet, the Dvar Avraham (I, 13:4; II, 8) argues against this conclusion. If a person who is expected to perform a mitzvah on his own appoints an agent to perform it on his behalf, the agent takes his place; therefore, only an agent who is obligated to perform mitzvos is eligible. However, when we say that a mitzvah should be performed through an intermediary, we are essentially saying that the person need not perform the mitzvah per se; rather, he must see to it that the mitzvah is performed. It therefore makes no difference whether the messenger delivering the mishloach manos is a Jew or gentile, adult or child. The point is not to do the mitzvah, but to make sure that the mitzvah gets done.
The Shliach For The Goat
The same reasoning can be applied to the shliach sent to accompany the goat to Azazel. Since the Torah instructs us to send the goat specifically with a shliach, even a child or gentile should be eligible. Why then need we send it with an adult Jew when Yom Kippur falls out on Shabbos and the laws of Shabbos must be violated to bring the goat? Would it not be better to instruct a gentile to take the goat?
The Dvar Avraham answers that, indeed, as far as the principles of appointing a shliach are concerned, appointing a gentile would be permissible. However, the Torah specifically states that the goat must be sent with a “designated man,” implying that he must be an adult man, not a child. Furthermore, the Torah tells us that the shliach must immerse in a mikveh after bringing the goat to Azazel. This rule implies that he must be a Jew, who is subject to the laws of ritual impurity. (Gentiles are not.) Thus, children and gentiles are unfit to bring the goat to Azazel on Yom Kippur.