“It’s a boy!” announced the doctor as he delivered the Jacobs’s first child.
“Baruch Hashem!” exclaimed Mr. Jacobs. “We get to do a bris and a pidyon haben!”
A week after the bris, Mr. Jacobs began arranging the pidyon haben. He bought five Silver Eagle U.S. dollars for the occasion, and arranged with his close neighbor, Mr. Cohen, to serve as the recipient Kohen.
During the course of the festive meal, Mr. Jacobs introduced Mr. Cohen to his brother-in-law and sister, who was holding a newborn.
“They also just had their first boy,” Mr. Jacobs said. “B’ezras Hashem, they will also be doing a pidyon in another two weeks!”
“How nice! Mazel tov!” exclaimed Mr. Cohen. “Do you live in the neighborhood?” he asked.
“Not at all,” laughed the brother-in-law. “We drove three hours to join in the simchah!”
“Indeed, a pidyon haben is a special simchah not frequently encountered,” commented Mr. Cohen. “It seems to run in your family, though.”
Mr. Cohen was also pleased to meet Rabbi Dayan, who attended the pidyon. They sat together at the head table, along with Mr. Jacobs and the grandparents. *
When the pidyon celebration was finishing, Mr. Cohen approached Mr. Jacobs. “I’d like to return the coins to you,” he said. “You can give them to your brother-in-law to use for his pidyon.”
“Thank you for the offer,” said Mr. Jacobs, “but how can you do that? If you return the money, my son won’t be redeemed anymore!”
Rabbi Dayan overheard the discussion. “What’s the issue?” he asked.
“I offered to return the coins to Mr. Jacobs,” Mr. Cohen said, “but he’s concerned that it would invalidate the redemption.”
“That’s not a problem,” replied Rabbi Dayan, “although it’s questionable whether it’s proper to return them on a regular basis.”
“I don’t understand” Mr. Jacobs wondered. “How is my son redeemed if Mr. Cohen returns the coins?”
“The Mishnah (Bechoros 51a) teaches that the Kohen is allowed to return the coins as a gift to the father,” answered Rabbi Dayan. “Once the Kohen receives them, they are his and the son is redeemed. The pidyon payment is not annulled when it is returned as a gift (C.M. 189:1; 245:10; Y.D. 305:8).
However, the Gemara relates an incident about Rabi Chanina, who would often return the money when the father lingered around, indicating his clear expectation to receive the money back. Rabi Chanina commented that this father did not give with full intention, so that the son would not be redeemed, because from the beginning the pidyon payment was never given sincerely, even for the moment (Taz and Shach, Y.D. 305:6).
Nonetheless, the Gemara (Kiddushin 6b) teaches that something given on condition to return (matanah al menas l’hachzir), is considered as having been given. For the duration of the giving, the intention is to grant full ownership. Thus, if the father explicitly stipulated with the Kohen that he is giving the coins on condition that he return them, the pidyon haben is valid. This is similar to the common practice of giving the lulav and esrog on the first day of Yom Tov as a matanah al menas l’hachzir (C.M. 241:6; Rashba, Responsa 1:198)
Shulchan Aruch writes, though, that the Kohen should not consistently return the money nor accept it with a stipulation to return it, so as not to cause a loss to other Kohanim. This can also lead to a situation that the father does not give with full intention or thinks that he only has to hand the money to the Kohen as a formality (Gra, Y.D. 305:13-14; Aruch Hashulchan 305:27).
“Some Acharonim recommend, nonetheless, that nowadays the Kohen should return the money,” concluded Rabbi Dayan, “since the priestly lineage has become weak, he could be withholding money not rightfully his. However, others refute this opinion” (Pischei Teshuvah,Y.D. 305:12).
Verdict: After the Kohen receives the coins as a sincere pidyon, he can return them as a gift to the father.
_______________________________
*Editor’s note: This was BCE: Before the Corona Epidemic
[I must tell my favorite Asimov story. This is a classic case of motivational manipulation. During his nine months in the Army in 1946, he wanted to avoid the really bad jobs that privates normally get. He could type incredibly fast. So, when he was sent to a new base, on the first day, at 5:05 p.m., he walked into the typing pool’s office and asked the desk sergeant if he could use a typewriter to type a letter to his wife. “Sure, soldier,” was the reply. He put a piece of paper in the machine and started to type, which he did at 80 WPM or so. The sound carried across the empty room. The sergeant was at his side within minutes. “Say, soldier, we could use someone like you in this office. Would you like to sign up?” Poor, naive Isaac the grunt said, “I guess so, sergeant. I just got to this post. You’ll have to contact my commanding officer. I haven’t been assigned to anything yet.” Done. He made it to corporal this way.]
ללמד זכות אין פירושו לסלף את התורה שתתאים למעשים, ח”ו, אלא לדון את המעשים בעצמם לכף זכות לפי התורה המסורה בידינו.
סנהדרין כ”ו א’:
רבי חייא בר זרנוקי ורבי שמעון בן יהוצדק הוו קאזלי לעבר שנה בעסיא פגע בהו ריש לקיש איטפיל בהדייהו אמר איזיל איחזי היכי עבדי עובדא חזייה לההוא גברא דקא כריב אמר להן כהן וחורש אמרו לו יכול לומר אגיסטון אני בתוכו תו חזייה לההוא גברא דהוה כסח בכרמי אמר להן כהן וזמר אמרו לו יכול לומר לעקל בית הבד אני צריך אמר להם הלב יודע אם לעקל אם לעקלקלות…
ATLANTA, GA—CNN has retracted a recent report related to President Trump after realizing the article was 100% factual and as such did not reflect the editorial standards of the news organization.
CNN’s regular readership took to social media to demand a retraction after finding no obvious bias or slant to the piece.
“We just reported on what Trump did and things that were said,” Brian Stelter said in an on-air apology. “We realize now this was not consistent with what we’ve done in the past or who we are as a news organization. It was dangerous and irresponsible.”
All links to the piece were quickly pulled, and CNN assured its readers that it would never happen again.
Note from Daniel Alman: I originally made this blog post on May 5, 2020. At the time, there were 34 things on the list. Since them, on multiple occasions, I have added other things to the list. The last time that I updated this list was on May 22, 2020.
1) Sweden did not have a lockdown. Experts predicted that it would have 40,000 COVID-19 deaths by May 1. The actual number was 2,769.
4) Dr. Deborah Birx admitted that the lockdown was based on a false, gross overstatement of the true fatality rate.
These are her exact words:
“I think we underestimated, very early on, the number of asymptomatic cases. And I think we’re really beginning to understand there are people that get infected — that those symptoms are so low-grade that they don’t even know that they’re infected”
“The COVID-19 death risk in people <65 years old during the period of fatalities from the epidemic was equivalent to the death risk from driving between 9 miles per day (Germany) and 415 miles per day (New York City)”
Note from Daniel Alman: The above may be a good reason for a lockdown in the New York City metro area (which includes parts of New Jersey and Connecticut), but certainly not for the rest of the U.S. And certainly not for Germany.
9) A report by the United Nations cites the predicted harm that will happen to tens of millions of children in low income countries as a result of the COVID-19 global wide shutdown.
Examples of this harm to children include increases in malnutrition, loss of education, increased rates of teen pregnancy, reduced access to health care, reduced rates of vaccination, increased rates of infectious disease, increased rates of water borne illness, and increased rates of death:
14) As of April 22, 2020, New York and New Jersey, combined, accounted for more than half of U.S. COVID-19 deaths. Both of these states require nursing homes to admit patients who have tested positive for COVID-19. In my opinion, this policy constitutes mass murder. Instead of shutting everything down, New York and New Jersey should stop committing mass murder.
As of the afternoon of April 22, 2020, the U.S. has had a total of 46,771 deaths from COVID-19.
20,167 were in New York.
5,063 were in New Jersey.
In other words, as of April 22, 2020, these two states, combined, accounted for more than half of all COVID-19 deaths in the entire country.
Here’s a link to my source, with a screenshot. The screenshot was taken on the afternoon of April 22, 2020:
New York and New Jersey both have ordered nursing homes to admit patients regardless of their COVID-19 status.
In my opinion, this policy constitutes mass murder.
Nursing home patients are elderly. And they have major health conditions. No one is more vulnerable to dying from COVID-19 than people in nursing homes.
Ordering nursing homes to admit patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 is an extremely mean, dumb, stupid, irrational, irresponsible, and insane thing to do.
This policy has already killed a huge numbers of people.
And who knows how many more will die as a result.
Instead of shutting everything down, New York and New Jersey should stop committing mass murder.
15) Cancer surgeries and organ transplants are being put off for coronavirus
