Pidyon Haben: Who, When, How, and Why

Michael* is 20 and the oldest of three children. His parents are proud Jews but have little religious background. Michael has been attending Torah classes for the past four months and brushing up his Hebrew reading skills. One day, a new friend approached him with a question he didn't at first understand:

"Michael, did you have a pidyon haben?"

"What's that?" Michael replied.

The mitzvah of brit milah (circumcision) is practiced by the overwhelming majority of Jews around the world, even those who are far from Jewish practice. But many Jews are not even aware that there's another important mitzvah that applies to Jewish babies. This is the mitzvah of pidyon haben, the "redemption of the firstborn son," which, as the name suggests, applies only to the firstborn son of the family.

Who

• The Torah commands us to redeem all firstborn sons born through natural childbirth at the age of thirty days. While it is the father who redeems his firstborn son, the term “firstborn” applies to the mother — thus, only if the child is her first child and male, is a pidyon haben necessary.
• The firstborn son must be born naturally for a pidyon haben to apply (i.e., not by C-section). If the mother’s firstborn son was stillborn G-d forbid, no pidyon haben is done for the baby or any subsequent son.
• Pidyon haben is only performed if both the father and the mother are Israelites and not children of Kohanim (Priests) or Levi’im (Levites).

When

• The father of the firstborn son must redeem the child, ideally when the child reaches 30 days of age. If he fails to do so, he remains obligated to redeem the child until the boy reaches the age of bar mitzvah.
• If the child does not have a Jewish father (for any reason, e.g., he has passed away, or the father is not Jewish), the mother should consult a rabbi as to the proper procedure.
• If the boy reaches the age of bar mitzvah without having been redeemed, he becomes obligated to redeem himself.

How

• It is customary to dress the baby in festival garments and adorn him with gold jewelry and then place him on a silver tray.
• The father takes the tray with the baby and brings him before a Kohen, and states: “My Israelite wife has borne me this firstborn son.”
• The Kohen responds: “Which would you rather have: your firstborn son, or the five coins which you are obligated to give me for the redemption of this your firstborn son?”
• The father answers: “I want this, my firstborn son, and here you have five coins which are required of me for the redemption.”
• The father then gives the Kohen five silver coins (valued at between 97 and 104 grams of pure silver) and recites the brachah, “Al Pidyon Haben.”
• The brachah of Shehechiyanu is also recited.
• A festive meal is held.

Why

• In the Torah, Hashem tells us: “Consecrate to Me every firstborn: the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites, both man and beast, is Mine.”
• All firstborn sons are uniquely consecrated to Hashem as they were spared in the Plague of the Smiting of the Firstborn in Egypt, as the Torah tells us: “For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated all the firstborn in Israel for Myself.”
• Originally, Hashem intended the firstborn son of each family to serve in the Holy Temple and be dedicated to a wholly spiritual life. However, after the Sin of the Golden Calf in which almost all the Jews participated, the firstborn sons lost this special sanctity which was transferred to the Levi’im (the tribe of Levi), who did not worship the Golden Calf. However, a level of obligation to Divine service remains and therefore the firstborn sons must still be redeemed in order to live a life that combines the material and the spiritual.
• The Sefer Hachinuch (the Book of Commandments) explains that the mitzvah of pidyon haben resembles the mitzvah of bikkurim, the dedication of the first harvest fruits to Hashem. After our efforts bear fruit — be they literal fruit or children — we offer them back to Hashem in acknowledgment that only His blessings enable us to achieve anything in this world:

“Hashem wished to grant us merit by performing a mitzvah with the first of our produce [bikkurim], so that we would know that everything is His, and man has nothing in this world except what Hashem grants him in His kindness. Upon seeing that after a man has labored greatly and exerted much effort in his world and reached the time when he has produced fruit, and the first of his offspring is dear to him as the apple of his eye, he immediately gives it to Hashem, removing it from his possession and placing it into the possession of his Creator.”

*not his real name