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When a woman (or, if need be, a man) lights candles for Shabbat, she covers her eyes before making the bracha to "pretend" that the candles aren't lit yet because we generally say the bracha before fulfilling the mitzvah, but once the bracha has been made, shabbat would start and she would be unable to light the candles. [Rm"a [quoting the Maharil] in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 263:5].

Are there any other mitzvot that we fulfill using some measure of pretense? I'm not talking about having a tnai in mind, or doing something incorrectly or incompletely until the bracha is made (like holding an etrog upside down), but about having to pretend that something is different from what it is.

Double AA
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rosends
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    Many hold that a man doesn't need to follow this procedure and says the bracha before, because men generally accept Shabbat through maariv not candlelighting. – Double AA Mar 01 '13 at 14:33
  • @DoubleAA I haven't seen that -- can you show me a source which explains why there would be a difference? TIA – rosends Mar 01 '13 at 14:37
  • Have a look at the Beiur Halacha to the se'if you quoted. It depends how much you want to say lo plug. And related http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/20243/759 – Double AA Mar 01 '13 at 14:44
  • He seems to be citing an opinion that one should make the bracha first and, with no pretense, then light; this is pointed to in the Ramo, itself, where he says yesh mi she'omer shemevarchim kodem. Maybe I'm missing something but he still seems to say that while a man doesn't need to make a tnai, there is no difference in the order of operations (ידליקו ויפרסו ידיהם ואחר כך יברכו) – rosends Mar 01 '13 at 15:02
  • This is my version of the third biur halacha on that seif ביאור הלכה על שוע אוח סי' רסג סעיף ה

    אחר ההדלקה - עיין במ"ב ואשה שמתנית שאינה מקבלת שבת בהדלקה או איש דקי"ל לקמן דאין צריך להתנות משמע בדה"ח דאפ"ה ידליקו ויפרסו ידיהם ואח"כ יברכו משום דלא פלוג וכדעת המ"א אבל מדברי הגאון רע"א בחדושיו ומדברי ח"א מוכח דבזה יברכו ואח"כ ידליקו: Meaning it's a machloket Magen Avraham and Divre Chaim vs Chaye Adam and R Akiva Eiger IIUc.

     – Double AA Mar 01 '13 at 15:17
  • yes, but that would seem to apply to everyone, not just men with the issue being that one does not need to cover eyes if, through a tnai (for women) shabbat isn't chal via the lighting. – rosends Mar 01 '13 at 15:21
  • Ok so it applies to men and women-who-make-tnais. What's the problem? – Double AA Mar 01 '13 at 15:31
  • How about covering the Chalah before saying Qidush? – Tamir Evan Mar 03 '13 at 21:11
  • @TamirEvan I do see what you are getting at but there is a valid reason to cover (and I don't think that the covering or not is part of the kiyum of a mitzvah - quibbling, I know, but it seems like a presentational issue, not an integral part of what I am making a bracha on). – rosends Mar 03 '13 at 21:29
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    The Rama doesn't say "pretend". – Double AA Mar 14 '13 at 03:23

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