The Shach (CM 382) rules based upon the Rosh that a father can not appoint a shliach to fulfill his commandment to do a bris milah on his son. The Ketzos says the reason is that it is like appointing a shliach to shake lulav or put on tefillin; it is something incumbent on the individual's body, and therefore, one can't nominate a shliach in their stead. However, it is difficult to understand why this mitzvah would be an obligation on the physical body of the father? The Degel Reuvain (volume 3, #37) says that the Rosh and the Shach concur that the physical mitzvah of milah can be performed through a shliach. However, there is an element of bris milah that can not be accomplished through a shliach, and that is that a bris is a bris, a covenant formed between the child and Hashem. The father is the one entrusted to escort the child into the covenant. The DR says, based upon a Midrash, that the bris is a bris of misiras nefesh, and just as one can't appoint a shliach to do an act of misares nefesh, so too the father can't pass on his obligation of participation in misaras nefesh to someone else. The same idea is cited in the name of Rav Simcha Zissel Broide, with a slightly different twist; the act of bringing the child into the covenant is given to the father to pass on the tradition of the previous generations, and that concept can't be copied by a shliach.
Besides the beracha on the mitzvah of milah, the father also says a beracha להכניסו בבריתו של אברהם אבינו. Why do we have a second beracha on the mitzvah? According to the previous explanation, this additional beracha is said on the bris that is established at the time of the physical mitzvah of the bris milah. The Rambam (Milah 3:1) is of the opinion that if there is no father present at the milah, then the beracha of להכניסו is not said. Why does the Rambam hold that the beracha is not said if the father is not present? Now it is understood perfectly, for it is the father who can establish the covenant for the child; therefore, the beracha is only applicable for him to say (Likutay Sichos, volume 30).
The Beis Yosef (YD 265) cites a machlokes if the father himself does the milah, does he say two berachot, or does it make no sense for one person to say two berachot on one mitzvah. According to the Rambam, though, it makes perfect sense to say two berachot, as they are about two different functions. The Raavad disagrees with the previous Rambam. He would fit with the opinion that the father does not say two berachot, for he holds the beracha is on the mitzvah; therefore, the beracha can be said by someone other than the father, but the father can't himself say two berachot on one mitzvah (Siach Erev on Pesachim).
It remains difficult, though, to understand why the Raavad holds that there are two birchot hamitzvah for one mitzvah?
There is a machlokes among the Rishonim regarding when the beracha of להכניסו should be said, before the milah or after the milah. The Rashba (cited in Tosfos Shabbos 137b and Pesachim 7a) says it should be said before the milah like any other bracha on a mitzvah. Rabbenu Tam says it should be recited afterward. One of the explanations given for the pesak of Rebbenu Tam is that the beracha is to demonstrate our thanks for the commandment of milah and that we are doing it to fulfill the mitzvah of Hashem. Simply understood, Rabbenu Tam is saying the beracha is a ברכת השבח (and therefore, may be recited after the mitzvah since a birchas hashevach does not need to precede the action according to some versions in the Rishonim, or according to other versions, this justifies the nusach of להכניסו, usually used to indicate a future action.) Rav Solevetchik, however, explains the Tosfos differently. He asks if it just a birchas hashevach why would we say אשר קדשנו במצותיו? He explains that Tosfos means that the beracha is on the chalos of being מהול. Since it's on the chalos, one should say the beracha after the milah has been done. In light of this, we can say that this is also the opinion of the Raavad. Although להכניסו is a beracha on the mitzvah that does not have to be said by the husband, it is on the chalos kium of the mitzvah and a kium of being מהול requires a second beracha.
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