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24 January 2010

Who is Responsible for the Redemption?

This added immensely to my Oneg Shabbos and I want to share it with you:

A Torah perspective on Who is Responsible for the Redemption

Parshas Bo
From the Teachings of
Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh
(excerpts, [...] = portions omitted)

Redeeming the firstborn and redemption

The mitzvah to redeem our firstborn sons (pidyon haben) appears at the end of parashat Bo, and requires us to redeem our firstborn sons who belong to G-d, because G-d spared the lives of the firstborn children of Israel during the plague of the birstborn (the tenth and last plague). He commands, "Consecrate to Me, from among the Israelites, every firstborn of man or beast which is the first issue of every womb; it is Mine.

From the time the Jewish people entered the Land of Israel, redeeming the firstborn has been performed by giving five silver coins to a Cohen when the baby is a month old, as 'payment', as it were, for the priest functioning in his stead. Indeed, the name of the parasha, Bo, alludes to this commandment as its letters (בא) are the initials of 'the firstborn of man' (בכור אדם), an idiom found only once in the Torah, in our parasha, in the description of this mitzvah.

Since the mitzvah of redeeming the firstborn son appears in context of the termination of the Ten Plagues and the ensuing exodus from Egypt, it serves as a spiritual model for redemption.

Indeed, following the Torah's lead, Chassidic commentaries and Kabbalistic works discuss the mitzvah of redeeming the firstborn in connection with our own final redemption, who future description is likened by the prophets to the exodus from Egypt, 'Like the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show you wonders.' (Michah 7:15)

The Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds differ on the question of upon whom the Torah places the responsibility of redeeming the firstborn son: the father or the firstborn himself. According to the Babylonian Talmud the responsibility is the father's; however, the Jerusalem Talmud places the responsibility on the firstborn himself. [...] just as a baby cannot circumcise himself, the son is unable to redeem himself, thus the Torah temporarily gives the obligation to the father. But once the firstborn son is old enough the responsibility reverts back to him to redeem himself if his father has not yet done so.

Who holds the key to redemption?

Because of the parallel between the mitzvah of pidyon baben and the redemption from our present exile, we may interpret the difference between the T almuds as representing two opinions regarding this question of 'Who holds the key to reemption?' In other words, who is responsible for acting in order to redeem us from our current exile, G-d or we, the Jewish people? [...]

Revelation or consciousness?

[...] Is the redemption about 'revelation' or about 'consciousness'? In more technical terms, is it about 'wisdom' or 'knowledge'?[...]


Read further to delight in the comparisons between the Talmuds, wisdom or knowledge, G-d or the son, Pidyon HaBen

About a Pidyon HaBen at Chabad


Redeeming your firstborn donkey.



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