Chesed for Pesach heart-felt gifts CHESED toy box gift package siblings without rivalry what can children do shorashim flashcards CHILDREN Israeli salad PFI: mashed potatoes PFI: fried fish PFI: ramen soup fig arak his and hers latkes coffee candy beans cheese cups hot and berry salsa PFI: spaghetti PFI: salmon PFI: hot fudge Plain Food Institute PFI: fried potatoes PFI: fried chicken fingers PFI: steamed rice PFI: grilled lamb PFI: French fried potatoes PFI: fried fish fingers PFI: boy's own French toast PFI: chicken salad PFI: a boy's own grilled cheese sandwich PFI: a boy's own milkshake PFI: a boy's own omelette PFI: a boy's own pancakes PFI: a boy's own tuna melt PFI: a boy's own chili dog shul fundraiser prepare frozen lasagna PFI: pizza 1 - the bottom PFI: pizza 2 - the top PFI: pizza 3 - the rest cooking on the road PFI: a boy's own tuna mac salad PFI: a boy's own tuna mac casserole Apple Pie PFI: boy's own hamburger PFI: macaroni salad tomato and chickpea soup washing dishes PFI: fried chicken hardboiled eggs cup of coffee hashed browns turkey sandwich pretty good hamburger PFI chili emergency oven clementine liquer lentil soup washing fruits and vegetables Bug Check wrap up panko'd tilapia tilapia: throw-down protein beefsteak grapefruit EZ challah chocolate dessert kwik pizza Soveya slo-rise bread A Boy's Best Hamburger spaghetti 2 Soveya Vegetable Medley Steak2 Knife 123salmon 123omelette 123spaghetti 123tilapia 123hamburger FOOD lemons into lemonade inside information blooming bath basket sew grown up Tillie the Toiveler baby clothespins shtender giftwrap as gift frame and photo album Editor's pick: DU-ART make waves happy to have you pocket posies Box o'Sox gifts not given gifts over the top gift box baby gifts paper good! fancy frames GIFTS/WRAP dress-up napkins seder table settings fold-up flower vase color it beautiful big leaf holding it together gummi napkin rings favorite things citrus vase fruits and flowers succos centerpiece seasonal placemats carved fruit shower bouquet compact centerpiece draping centerpiece yuntiff table flowers TABLE DECOR the trip box the trip book Traveling with the Maggid TRAVEL grab-bars home toolkit science: hanging pictures MKH kitchen design remodeling shuls: 4 design studies fix leaky shower plata + timer Shabbos Lite DESIGN rosy soap shatnez MISC

boots on the table colorful containment BRIS/NAMING birthday grab bag BIRTHDAY BAR/BAS MITZVAH GRADUATION cheese cups sweet shower bouquet The Kosher Cook SHOWER/VORT take a bow monogrammed gifts framed gifts WEDDING ANNIVERSARY Going Away Party upshirin MISC

leaning for tachanun shofar during Elul carrying with an eruv hand washing havdolah cup overflow wine and grapes wrapping tefillin 7 times posture for kiddush dipping apples in honey Gesundheit! sitting and standing children's brocha what's a brocha Aleinu Shabbos candles wearing a kippah the red heifer why we wear tzitzit priestly hand-spread Sefirat HaOmer thunder Ashrey 3 times a day making a zimun why the ten commandments Haftorah shofar mitzvah leaving for Yizkor mussaf on rosh chodesh black tefillin Modim d'Rabbanan kiddush levanah II dreidel kiddush levana 1 praying for rain chollent L'Chaim kabbalat shabbat Adar Tefila haDerech first aliyah to cohen motzei shabbos blech hagbah and gallilah 4 parshas zachor: remembering amalek purim masquerade birkat haIlanot parshas haChodesh elijah's cup: the message why sefira? aliyah: why and how? bentching gomel facing east why a minyan Rosh haShana when to bentsch gomel meat and fish together Shalom Zachor baruch sh'potrani chanukia: oil or wax? praying in Hebrew Eliyahu at the bris sendak at the bris tu b'shevat Pidyon haBen brides wear white wedding ring stomping out Haman chuppah birchat haChama afikomen haTov v'haMeitiv lag b'omer haTov v'haMeitiv II standing for Sefer Torah Rabbi Kessler's Videos TORAH TALK SHABBOS YOMIM NARA'IM succos placemats EZ-BILD Sukkah Succos centerpiece elegant bunch sukkah centerpiece leaf placemats preserving your lulav sukkah table flowers EZbild Sukkah II SUCCOS dreidel centerpiece crafty boxed gelt latkes real simple chanukia case for gelt dreidel by the slice upscaled Chanuka notecard CHANUKA m'shloach manos packages m'shloach manos candy m'shloach manos contents m'shloah manos themes m'shloach manos fantasies m'shloach manos season m'shloach manos emergencies m'shloach manos features m'shloach manos on parade real simple purim anatomy of m'shloach manos m'shloach manos 2008 m'shloach manos 2010 m'shloach manos for breakfast m'shloach manos 2011 2015 model m'shloach manos 2016wearables PURIM eggs out of Egypt Dayenu decorations unusual uses: mousepad Israelicious: Pesach brownies chometz blowout seder table diorama who knows one all dressed up seder memories seder table decor 2008 Pesach Preparation PESACH > SHAVUOS tu b'shevat gifts tu b'shevat table decor tu b'shevat treats dried up little pkgs potatoes and bananas MISC ED 11/21/06 ED 12/13/06 finding things here test kiddie cupcakes Editor's Letters

What Is a Pidyon Haben and Why Do We Do It?

    The pidyon haben or redemption of the firstborn, is the joyous ceremony in Judaism whereby the father of a firstborn son redeems that child from a kohen for five silver coins.  Where does this ceremony come from and why do we do it?  The short answer is:  it comes from the Torah and we do it because it’s a mitzvah.  For a more complete answer, we have to give a little background and review exactly how the Torah tells us to perform this mitzvah.

    The Torah tells us that all firstborn, of both man and of animals, are claimed by God and rightfully belong to Him.  When someone or something belongs to God, or is dedicated to God, it is kadosh, holy.  If it’s an animal, it is given to the Beit Hamikdash or the kohen, to be offered as a sacrifice on the altar.   If it’s a human being, the Torah tells us that it must be redeemed from God.  With respect to the firstborn son, the Torah tells us that this redemption should take place when the boy is a month old by way of a payment of five silver shekalim to the kohen.
   
    The Sefer Hachinuch explains the meaning behind this mitzvah. He writes that by doing a mitzvah with our first fruits it teaches us to dedicate our very first achievements to God. When we consider the tremendous emotional and financial investment that is wrapped up in the pregnancy and birth of a firstborn child, including all the yearning, prayer, sacrifice, worry and pain, it’s easy to understand how very precious and beloved that child is to us once it’s born.   The idea of the mitzvah is that this “first fruit”, so to speak, of our labor, in reality, belongs to God and is dedicated to Him.  Only after we redeem him does he become ours.  What this teaches us is the idea that, in reality, everything we have in this world comes to us through God and His kindness.

    The Sefer Hachinuch gives an additional reason for this mitzvah. He writes that when Hashem brought the plague of makat bechorot, the slaying of the firstborn, down upon the Egyptians, He spared the Jewish firstborn. In doing so He made them holy. Thus, the mitzvah of pidyon haben is a reminder of that great miracle.
   
    An interesting aspect of this mitzvah of pidyon haben is that there are a number of qualifying factors that limit those who can fulfill it.  Indeed, perhaps only one in ten fathers get the opportunity to do the mitzvah.  For instance, the Torah spells out that the bechor has to be the first offspring to emerge naturally from the mother’s womb.  If a woman has a late term miscarriage first, the boy born afterwards will not to be a bechor for purposes of this mitzvah. Similarly, a son delivered by caesarian section will also not be a petter rechem and will not require a pidyon. Additionally, if either the mother or the father is a kohen or a levi, the baby will not need a pidyon. The Gemara explains that originally the firstborn were supposed to serve as the kohanim in the Beit Hamikdash. After the chait haeigel, the sin of the golden calf, that right was transferred from the bechorim to the kohanim and leviem. This was done in a ceremony in which each bechor was matched to a levi and the holiness and right to serve were transferred from the bechor to the levi. The Gemara logically deduces that if a levi could relieve a bechor from his kedusha then certainly a bechor born to a kohen or levi will not have kedusha and hence not need a pidyon.
   
    There are many interesting minhagim that have developed over the years regarding pidyon haben. A seudat mitzvah or festive meal is served as part of the ceremony. Normally when a mitzvah such as a brit milah is performed, the mitzvah is performed and then the meal is eaten. It is very interesting that the meal of a pidyon haben is the only seudat mitzvah where the guests wash and eat bread before the mitzvah is performed. The reason for this is inherent in the historical origin of the mitzvah. As we mentioned, by performing a pidyon haben we are remembering and publicizing the miracle that God performed in sparing the Jewish bechorim. Hence, by performing the pidyon in the middle of the meal, we are performing it in the most public manner possible. Another common custom is that the baby is placed on a on a fancy silver tray surrounded by jewelry during the pidyon. This is in order beautify the mitzvah. Just as one might have a fancy menorah or etrog box to show his love for the mitzvah, so too, the baby is surrounded by jewels to show our love for the mitzvah of pidyon haben.  Some communities have the custom to give out cloves of garlic or sugar cubes at a pidyon haben. This is in keeping with the kabalistic notion that whoever eats from a pidyon haben is considered as if he completed eighty-four fasts. By distributing garlic or sugar, which has the ability to flavor or sweeten an entire meal, the hosts enable others to reap the spiritual benefits of partaking from the seudah.
   
    Although we never know all the reasons for any particular mitzvah, with respect to this one, at least one very special purpose seems clear.  Namely, to help impress upon us the feeling and knowledge that everything we have in this world comes from the kindness and beneficence of our Creator.  May we have the merit of participating in many pidyonim haben and may that participation continuously keep this message close to our hearts.

Rabbi Eliezer Kessler
Houston, Texas