TY - JOUR
T1 - Coping with the value of the pidyon ha 'ben payment in rabbinic literature - An example of a social change process
AU - Rubin, Nissan
PY - 1996
Y1 - 1996
N2 - The Torah commands that a firstborn son be redeemed from his obligation of sanctification by his father's giving the sum of five shekalim to a kohen. The true value of five shekalim, as we see from the rabbinic sources, was at first a relatively large sum for a day laborer, amounting to as much as a full month's earnings. It appears that there were fathers who tended to delay the time of the redemption, simply because of the expense involved. It is possible that there were even fathers who simply avoided the performance of the commandment. The development of the halakhah regarding pidyon haben - the "redemption of the (firstborn) son" - shows that alternate methods were found which, while enabling every father to redeem his son at the appropriate time, did not represent an economic burden. In this paper we demonstrate how the Sages interpreted the Bible and the halakhah in an era of change. To deal with a changing reality, they reinterpreted the text, which in principle is unchangeable. From the Tannaitic to Geonic eras, we find four alternative ways to cope with the value of pidyon ha 'ben payment. The first was the payment in chattels of the equivalent value rather than in cash. The second was payment in chattels whose real worth was less than five shekalim, but the kohen receiving them would proclaim that he accepted them as being worth five shekalim. The third was returning the money to the father: the kohen received the money as a gift which had been given on condition that it be returned. The fourth was through a fictitous redemption: transferring the sanctity of the redemption money to coins of a much lesser value. This development exemplifies the anthropological problem of the relationship and link between the text and context. For the text to remain relevant to reality it must be reinterpreted. By analysing the text through time we reveal the interplay between the original text and its reinterpretation by official rabbinic authority. Loyality to the text ensures a great deal of uniformity within the normative framework, even though the content of the framework may change. Adopting one of the alternatives, enabled fulfillment of the basic commandment of redeeming the firstborn for the sum of five shekalim. Moreover, the reinterpretation making such fulfillment possible, itself exemplifies a process built-in the system of halakhah. hohen receiving them would proclaim that he accepted them as being worth five sela'im. The third was the returning of the money to the father. The hohen received the money as a gift which had been given on the condition that it be returned. The fourth was through a fictitious redemption: transferring the sanctity of the redemption money to coins of a much lesser value. By accepting any of these alternatives, the basic halakhah which requires the pidyon ha'ben for five sela'im was not changed, but the halakhah was bypassed in a way which was not regarded as changing the halakhah. The case of the pidyon ha 'ben again confirms the idea that in every traditional framework there is an internal mechanism which permits - in certain conditions and in accordance with certain basic principles - change and deviance.69 The fictitious pidyon ha 'ben had the best chance of being accepted as Jewish custom because of the halakhic precedent of a fictitious pidyon, for example, of tithes and neta revai.70 The other alternatives are less practical: pidyon using an object of equivalent value does not in reality solve the problem. Redemption with an object of lesser value is problematic because it does not determine a uniform norm: the assessment is dependent on the kohen, whereas the ceremony is based on uniform norms. Finally, the return of the money to the child's father is a private, non-stable solution, ft depends on the goodwill of the kohen and one cannot always find a hohen who is willing to forgo such an income.
AB - The Torah commands that a firstborn son be redeemed from his obligation of sanctification by his father's giving the sum of five shekalim to a kohen. The true value of five shekalim, as we see from the rabbinic sources, was at first a relatively large sum for a day laborer, amounting to as much as a full month's earnings. It appears that there were fathers who tended to delay the time of the redemption, simply because of the expense involved. It is possible that there were even fathers who simply avoided the performance of the commandment. The development of the halakhah regarding pidyon haben - the "redemption of the (firstborn) son" - shows that alternate methods were found which, while enabling every father to redeem his son at the appropriate time, did not represent an economic burden. In this paper we demonstrate how the Sages interpreted the Bible and the halakhah in an era of change. To deal with a changing reality, they reinterpreted the text, which in principle is unchangeable. From the Tannaitic to Geonic eras, we find four alternative ways to cope with the value of pidyon ha 'ben payment. The first was the payment in chattels of the equivalent value rather than in cash. The second was payment in chattels whose real worth was less than five shekalim, but the kohen receiving them would proclaim that he accepted them as being worth five shekalim. The third was returning the money to the father: the kohen received the money as a gift which had been given on condition that it be returned. The fourth was through a fictitous redemption: transferring the sanctity of the redemption money to coins of a much lesser value. This development exemplifies the anthropological problem of the relationship and link between the text and context. For the text to remain relevant to reality it must be reinterpreted. By analysing the text through time we reveal the interplay between the original text and its reinterpretation by official rabbinic authority. Loyality to the text ensures a great deal of uniformity within the normative framework, even though the content of the framework may change. Adopting one of the alternatives, enabled fulfillment of the basic commandment of redeeming the firstborn for the sum of five shekalim. Moreover, the reinterpretation making such fulfillment possible, itself exemplifies a process built-in the system of halakhah. hohen receiving them would proclaim that he accepted them as being worth five sela'im. The third was the returning of the money to the father. The hohen received the money as a gift which had been given on the condition that it be returned. The fourth was through a fictitious redemption: transferring the sanctity of the redemption money to coins of a much lesser value. By accepting any of these alternatives, the basic halakhah which requires the pidyon ha'ben for five sela'im was not changed, but the halakhah was bypassed in a way which was not regarded as changing the halakhah. The case of the pidyon ha 'ben again confirms the idea that in every traditional framework there is an internal mechanism which permits - in certain conditions and in accordance with certain basic principles - change and deviance.69 The fictitious pidyon ha 'ben had the best chance of being accepted as Jewish custom because of the halakhic precedent of a fictitious pidyon, for example, of tithes and neta revai.70 The other alternatives are less practical: pidyon using an object of equivalent value does not in reality solve the problem. Redemption with an object of lesser value is problematic because it does not determine a uniform norm: the assessment is dependent on the kohen, whereas the ceremony is based on uniform norms. Finally, the return of the money to the child's father is a private, non-stable solution, ft depends on the goodwill of the kohen and one cannot always find a hohen who is willing to forgo such an income.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=53349172092&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/bf01848252
DO - 10.1007/bf01848252
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AN - SCOPUS:53349172092
SN - 0334-701X
VL - 10
SP - 39
EP - 61
JO - Jewish History
JF - Jewish History
IS - 1
ER -