(Heb. pidyon ha-ben). The practice of redeeming the firstborn male child from a priest. In biblical times, preeminence and authority attached to the firstborn son (Gen. 49:3). The firstborn sons were consecrated to Divine service and were the original priests in the Sanctuary until they were replaced by the Levites (Num. 3:12). Just as the First Fruits and the firstborn of animals (Num. 18:15-18; Deut. 15:19-23) had to be given to the priests (Deut. 26:1-10), so the male firstborn belonged to God.
The obligation to redeem a firstborn son is first mentioned in connection with the slaying of the firstborn of the Egyptians (Ex. 13:13, 22:28, 34:20; Num. 3:13). "For every firstborn among the Israelites, man as well as beast, is Mine; I consecrated them to Myself at the time that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt" (Num. 8:17). The dim background of this connection may echo the Canaanite practice of sacrificing first-born sons, a practice sharply denounced in the Bible.
The Book of Exodus speaks of the obligation to redeem the firstborn son, and in Numbers (3:44-51) it is noted that this redemption is to be effected by payment of five shekels to a priest. The passage in Numbers describes how Moses required such payment from the firstborn Israelites, who were more numerous than the number of Levites supplanting them as priests assigned to service in the Sanctuary. Moses gave the money collected in this manner to Aaron and his sons.
The detailed laws of the Redemption of the Firstborn are to be found in the eighth chapter of the Mishnah tractate Bekhorot and are expanded in the
Aside from the statutory requirement of the payment of five shekels to a priest, the Talmud does not indicate any fixed form in which such payment was to take place. In the geonic period, a ceremony was formalized. In it, the father of the child---on the 31st day after its birth (unless this falls on a Sabbath or festival, in which case it is held on the evening after the end of the Sabbath or festival)---declares to the priest that this is the firstborn son of his mother and that the father is obligated to redeem him (here the father quotes Numbers 18:16 and Exodus 13:1). The priest turns to the father and asks whether he prefers to give his son to the priest or to redeem him for five shekels. The father replies that he wants to redeem his son and thereupon hands the priest the five shekels. The father then recites two blessings, one on fulfilling the commandment (of pidyon ha-ben) and one expressing gratitude to God (She-Heḥeyanu). This ceremony is found in the sources both in a Hebrew and an Aramaic version. It is the latter version that has been in use ever since the late Middle Ages.
