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Tempering Tamuz & Firstborn Formalities
Parshat Korach & Chodesh Tamuz
The Torah reading this week outside of Israel is Korach. In Israel – been there, done that; we are reading Chukat this week. Next week, we will read Balak, and in Chutz LaAretz, Chukat and Balak will be read together. And poof! – we are back in sync for Parshat Pinchas.
As we’ve said, Chukat and Balak are never combined in Israel and are only combined outside of Israel when Shavuot is Friday (and Shabbat). That occurs 28.57% of the time (that’s very close to twice in seven years, but is not evenly distributed – it happened three years ago and is scheduled to happen next year).
Before we get into Parshat Korach, let's take a look at the new month, Tamuz. Rosh Chodesh Tamuz is always two days (in our fixed calendar) because Sivan has 30 days. Tamuz has 29 days, so Rosh Chodesh Av to follow is only one day.
Say “Tamuz” to someone and the immediate association is Shiv’a Asar b’Tamuz, the beginning of the Three Weeks and a period of mourning.
Not wrong, but not the whole picture. True, Tamuz and Av are considered months of sakana, danger. But let’s do a calculation and then let’s look at Tamuz from a different angle.
The calculation is that there are 13 mournful days in a 29-day month. That’s less than half. Significant as the mournful nature is, it should not color the whole month. Also keep in mind that with the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash and everything that comes with that, the four fast days associated with the Churban will not simply disappear – they will be transformed into Yamim Tovim, festive days.
Which brings us to the third of Tamuz, which this year is Thursday, June 18. Sefer HaToda’ah by R’ Eliyahu Ki Tov writes that the unique miracle invoked by Yehoshua (recorded in perek 10 of Sefer Yehoshua) that the sun should stand still in Giv’on and the moon in Emek Ayalon took place on this date. G-d complied and extended the day of the end of the battle so Yehoshua and his army were fighting for 36 hours of daylight. Or something like that – the details are not important for the point I’d like to make. Nor are the opinions as to exactly what happened.
What is important is that the miracle belongs to the category of miracles known as nissim g’luyim, open miracles – the kind of miracles that get a big “Wow”! Neis nistar, a hidden miracle, is more subtle – easier to dismiss or deny, but miraculous nonetheless. A very significant sub-category of neis nistar is nature. Every natural occurrence is one of the miracles of Creation. The “problem” with natural miracles is that they are taken for granted.
Take the sun, for example. Yehoshua demanded that it stand still, and G-d made it happen. That was a one-shot deal. But think about the sun when it doesn’t step outside its nature. Think of its size, power, temperature, flares, emissions of energy. Think of the fact that we live far enough from the sun not to be burned up and close enough to it to benefit from its many features.
Halacha is geared to prevent us from taking nature for granted and rather to appreciate the many gifts of life Hashem has given us.
In Anton Chekhov’s short story The Bet, the young man who accepted the wager and had no direct human contact for 15 years comments on (among other things) the fact that humans would be amazed if orange trees bore frogs, but they are not amazed that they bear oranges.
We are guided on the path to appreciate even the most mundane things and experiences and very often to recite a prayer or a bracha to help us not take things for granted. We say, “Ma rabu maasecha Hashem” – How many are Your creations, Hashem, and “Ma gadlu maasecha Hashem” – How great are Your deeds, Hashem. And the bracha “Shehakol nihyah bidvaro,” that everything exists because You, Hashem, commanded it to exist.
Because Yehoshua’s miracle is dated in Rabbinic literature, it allows us to feel that Tamuz is starting out on the right foot, and sadly – but temporarily – ends up darker.
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Korach is the 38th of the 54 sedras, the fifth of 10 in Bamidbar. It is written on 184 lines (ranking 32nd) in a Sefer Torah.
Korach has 13 parshiyot – just about average for the whole Torah – seven open (p’tucha) and six closed (s’tuma).
Its 95 p’sukim give it 39th place on the list. But its 1,409 words lift it to 36th place, and its 5,325 letters raise it one more notch to 35th.
It is ninth in Bamidbar in these three categories. As you can see from the rankings, Korach’s p’sukim are above average in words and letters per pasuk. Korach is a short sedra (in a Book with many long sedras) with fairly long p’sukim (in a Book with many short-pasuk sedras).
Korach has nine mitzvot – five positives and four prohibitions among the Torah’s 613 mitzvot. But note that only 17 sedras have more mitzvot; 35 have fewer. Korach just makes it into the top third (tied with Ki Tisa).
Similar to Sh’lach (and I think they are the only two sedras like this), Korach is made up of two parts (comprising three p’rakim). The first two-thirds of the sedra is the story of Korach’s rebellion and everything that followed in its wake – including Aharon’s rod flowering and bearing almonds. Then, in the last third, we have nine mitzvot – all related to the distinctions between Kohanim and Leviyim and Yisraelim. Included are mitzvot delineating the Levi’s function in the Mikdash, gifts that are due Kohanim, maaseir that is to be given to a Levi, and the tenth of the tenth that a Levi is to give to a Kohen.
Among the mitzvot in this week’s sedra are two that relate to b’chor, firstborns. The mitzvah to redeem a firstborn baby is presented in the context of gifts due the Kohanim from the people. But we might also relate Pidyon HaBen to the Korach story since he was a Levi and witnessed the exchange of Leviyim for the non-Levi firstborns of the nation. Furthermore, the partnership with Korach of Datan and Aviram from the tribe of Reuven has an aspect of the b’chor issue since Reuven was Yaakov’s b’chor. And there are commentaries who say that the 250 ketoret-offerers who were part of Korach’s challenge to Moshe’s authority were b’chorim who felt they should have retained their role as functionaries in the sacred service of the Mishkan.
The amount that a father is commanded to give to a Kohen to redeem his one-month-old firstborn is five silver (Biblical) shekels, which is deemed to be approximately the value of 100 grams of silver. At today’s silver prices, we are talking about $220 (650 ILS). Using five silver dollars of old is standard in the U.S. The Israeli government mint has issued a Pidyon HaBen set of five silver coins (costing a lot more than the above amounts). Just for fun, I weighed two silver kiddush cups and had to add a silver spoon I have to get to 100 grams. Those three items can be used for Pidyon HaBen, as well as anything of material value that equals or exceeds the above amounts. I’ve never heard about it being done, but a father could give the Kohen a piece of furniture or a cell phone as kesef pidyon.
The firstborn to be redeemed must be the first issue of the mother’s womb. Therefore, if a woman’s first child is delivered by C-section, he is not considered petter rechem imo, since he did not come from the womb in the normal manner. If her next baby is also a boy and delivered naturally, he too is not considered a b’chor that needs pidyon.
If you think of how many Brit Milas you have been to compared to how many Pidyon Habens, you will realize that Pidyon HaBen is not that common. It is difficult to accurately give a percentage, but it’s estimated that between 5% and 10% of births require a pidyon.
Aside from the firstborn being a girl, and the above-mentioned C-section situation, there is also no pidyon for the son of a Kohen or Levi or a bat Kohen or a bat Levi. That is, if either grandfather of the baby boy is a Kohen or Levi – no pidyon.
Here is a lesser-known little detail: First of all, if a Jewish woman gives birth to a b’chor and the father is non-Jewish, the baby is Jewish and a pidyon is required if the regular conditions are met.
But watch this. If a bat Levi has a b’chor from a non-Jew, the baby does not get a pidyon, because the mother still retains the Levi-lineage that exempts her b’chor from needing to be redeemed. But if a bat Kohen has a firstborn from a non-Jew, that baby requires pidyon since his mother loses the sanctity of kehuna. Small but interesting difference.
There is a brief mention in the sedra of the firstborn of a donkey, which also is to be redeemed (or the much less favored alternative – see the end of Parshat Bo for details).
And then there is the prohibition of attempting to redeem or exchange the firstborn of the kosher domesticated animals that were able to be offered as korbanot in the Mikdash – cow, goat, and sheep. Rather, the mitzvah (counted elsewhere) is that if the firstborn lamb, let’s say, is a male, then the owner must take care of it for 30 days and then give it as a gift to the Kohen of his choice. The Kohen must bring the b’chor b’heima t’hora (firstborn of the above-mentioned farm animals) as a korban to the Beit HaMikdash within the animal’s first year of life. If the animal has a disqualifying blemish and it cannot be brought as a korban, then it is the possession of the Kohen, free and clear.
You might be surprised to know that the mitzvah of b’chor of cow, goat, and sheep applies today – even without a Beit HaMikdash or Mizbei’ach (Altar). This means that the owner of the animal still must take care of it for 30 days (50 for a calf) and give it to a Kohen. The Kohen must accept the gift and must take care of the animal – without ever benefiting from it – until he will be able to bring it as a korban or until the animal dies of old age. Not much of a gift for the Kohen – expenses and bother and no benefit.
Therefore, the Shulchan Aruch tells us something very unusual for the halachic work that is supposed to teach us how to keep mitzvot. It says that in the case of this category of b’chor, it is rabbinically forbidden to do this mitzvah.
Think about that for a moment.
And how does one not do this mitzvah? If a cow, nanny-goat, or ewe gives birth to a b’chor, the baby animal is kadosh, holy, and the mitzvah must proceed. So how do you not do it? Shulchan Aruch says that when the mother animal is still pregnant, you go to a non-Jewish neighbor or friend and sell him a token share in the mother animal. Say to him, “Give me 25 cents for a tenth of a percent share in my pregnant goat.” Once that happens, the animal is considered jointly owned (no matter how unbalanced the ownership shares) by a Jew and a non-Jew, and the b’chor born subsequently has no sanctity at all and nothing need be done with it. The Jew can then buy his non-Jewish partner out by offering him a quick way to quadruple his investment: “I’ll give you a dollar for your share in my animal.” Technically, it is not that he isn’t doing the mitzvah – the mitzvah just doesn’t apply under these conditions.
* * * * *
I want to share an idea with you that belongs to the third passage of the Sh’ma. That passage comes from the end of Parshat Sh’lach – last week’s sedra (or the one before last), but it connects to Korach also because it is the portion of tzitzit. Our Sages point to the juxtaposition (I love that word) of Korach’s rebellion to the parsha of tzitzit by teaching us that Korach dressed his gang in garments made of t’cheilet-dyed wool and asked Moshe if such a garment requires the p’til t’cheilet, the blue thread. Korach was taunting Moshe about lording himself over a people that had all witnessed Divine revelation at Sinai.
The portion of tzitzit consists of five p’sukim, totaling 69 words. I would like to divide the parsha of tzitzit into two unequal parts. This first part, from the beginning and into the third pasuk – the first 29 words – deals with the mitzvah of tzitzit itself. “Hashem said to Moshe, saying: ‘Speak to Bnei Yisrael and say to them that they shall make for them tzitzit (fringes) on the corners of their [four- or more cornered] garments, for the generations, and that they shall put a blue thread on the corner fringe. Ur-item oto, and they shall see it...’” That’s the end of the first part according to my division.
The second part of the parsha explodes from one specific mitzvah into remembering and doing all of G-d’s mitzvot. “Uzchartem, and you shall remember all the mitzvot of G-d and do them. And you shall not follow the negative temptations of your hearts and minds” (although it mentions eyes, we should realize that the eyes transmit what is seen to the brain, which interprets and understands what is seen). This is not only one of the 613 mitzvot – one of the 365 prohibitions of the Torah – it is one of very few mitzvot which are categorized, in today’s language, as 24/7: mitzvot t’midiyot.
The Torah continues: “In order to remember and do all of My mitzvot and become holy to your G-d.” Then, the concluding pasuk: “Ani Hashem Elokeichem... I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of Mitzrayim to be your G-d; I am Hashem your G-d.” This pasuk can be seen as a restatement of the very first words we heard from G-d, the first pasuk of the Aseret HaDibrot: “Anochi Hashem Elokeichem.”
All of the above is the introduction to the thought I want to share with you. And I warn you in advance: I have no source for this thought; it is mine, from my head (and heart). Here it is, finally:
Take the first part off for the moment and replace it with another mitzvah. (Don’t do this in your Chumash or siddur, just figuratively. I think any mitzvah will do for this thought; let’s use giving tz’daka. It is a mitzvah to give tz’daka to the needy. So, you do the mitzvah. And when you look at the coins or bill that you are giving, remember all the mitzvot and commit yourself to keeping them... Remember and do them... Be holy to Hashem. And remember that He took us out of Egypt in order to be our G-d.
Same thing for taking a lulav and etrog or bentching after a meal or making Kiddush or eating matzah or davening or learning Torah or doing chesed or refraining from sin... There are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. The Torah refers to mitzvot in the plural, but sometimes it refers to the body of mitzvot in the singular: “kol hamitzvah”– literally “all the mitzvah.” This refers to all the mitzvot, which are really parts of one whole.
Even look at the wording of a bracha for a mitzvah. Take matzah at the Seder, for example: “...asher kid’shanu” – Who sanctifies us with His mitzvot, “v’tzivanu” – and commands us, “al achilat matzah” – on the eating of matzah. The bracha could have just said, “Baruch Ata…Melech ha-olam she-tzivanu...” Perhaps, the “asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav” serves to remind us that the specific mitzvah we are about to perform is part of a whole system by which we sanctify ourselves.
I don’t usually ask for feedback (although I would appreciate it, in general), but I’d love to hear what you think of my idea.
On that note, whatever sedra you will hear this Shabbat (forgive me, but I can’t always say that), have a Shabbat Shalom. And Chodesh Tov.
