Parshat Korah

In this week’s parsha we are given the details of how to perform the mitzva of Pidyon Haben (redeeming our first born sons). Already at the Exodus from Egypt we were told that our first-born sons are to be dedicated to Hashem (Shmot 13:12) . In this week’s parsha we are told that when a family’s first child is a boy then there is a mitzva to redeem him by giving five sela’im (sela’im is how the Talmud refers to the Biblical-era coins known as shekalim) to a Kohen.

The mitzva obligates the child’s father to redeem his son. The Rambam (Hilchot Bikurim 11:5) describes the procedure as being the simple matter of saying the appropriate brachot (al pidyon haben and shehechiyanu)) and then paying the Kohen. The Tur (Yoreh Deah 305) records a more elaborate ceremony based on the practice of the Geonim . The Geonim said that the ceremony begins with the father informing the Kohen that this child is his first-born son. The Kohen then asks the father, what do you prefer? Do you prefer your child or do you prefer to keep your five sela’im? The father then replies that he wishes to keep his son and to redeem his child. The ceremony then proceeds more or less along the lines described by the Rambam but the Geonim added a rather long bracha to be said by the Kohen and the child’s parents.. Some siddurim (such as Siddur HaGra) omit this bracha, while others (such as the siddur of Rav Ya’akov Emden) print it in small type and refer to it as “an optional bracha.” The Tur writes that his father, the Rosh, objected to the bracha, because the blessings that we say are based on the Talmudic literature and the Geonim had no right to add to those brachot . Also,the Rosh pointed out, the Kohen does not play an active role in the mitzva and there is no reason for him to recite a blessing. Following this blessing, the Tur writes that the Kohen blesses the child, but he does not say what form this blessing should take (Rav Yakov Emden zt”l, in his siddur, provides the text of such a blessing).

The ceremony described by the Geonim provokes a question. How are we to understand the Kohen’s question, “Which do you prefer, your child or the five sela’im?” The mitzva of redeeming the child does not provide an option of giving the child to the Kohen. The Bach in his commentary to the Tur says that the question is meant to emphasize that the father is paying the five sela’im willingly and that there is no expectation that the Kohen will return the money. The Halacha recognizes the validity of conditional gifts. They law is that matana al m’nat l’hachazir shma matana. In English this means that if I give you a gift on the condition that you return the gift to me, then the gift is valid . While the gift is in your possession it is yours even though you must return it. This rule is most well-known to those studying the halachot of lulav and etrog. The Torah requires that on the first day of Sukkot we perform the mitzva of the arba minim with a set that we own. If a person does not own a set of the arba minim he can ask his friend to provide him with a set via matana al m’nat l’hachazir. His friend agrees and now the set is legally his to perform the mitzva, even though he must return it. Even though this sort of gift can be used on Sukkot, it is not to be used by pidyon haben. The Shulcha Aruch (305:8) explains that if the father is poor man then the Kohen may return the money, but matana al m’nat l’hachazir should be avoided since there are poor Kohanim who need the five sela’im. If even one Kohen agrees to perform the mitzva via matana al m’nat l’hachazir, then no one will go to a Kohen who keeps the money because he really needs it.