פדה תפדה את בכור האדם (חקת יח: טו)

You shall surely redeem the firstborn of man…

Harav Hachassid R’ Moshe HaKohen Gross z’l of Geneva, Switzerland, made his first trip to Eretz Yisroel for the occasion of the Belzer Rebbe shlita’s bris. However, his plane was delayed, and he arrived to Eretz Yisroel the day after the Bris.

When R’ Moshe arrived, Maran, Reb Aharon of Belz zt’’l, told his brother, the Bilgorai Rav zt’’l, to honor R’ Moshe to be the Kohen at the Pidyan Haben. The Bilgorai Rav replied, “We already have a Koehn, Harav Hachassid R’ Chaim Nuta Katz z’l, planning to come for the Pidyan Haben.”

Maran said, “First honor R’ Moshe, and when R’ Chaim Nuta arrives, we will see then.”

After the Pidyan Haben, R’ Moshe went to Maran Reb Aharon to present a kvittel – since he heard it was an honor to present a kvittel to the Rebbe and present him with a coin from the ‘pidyan’ along with it.

R’ Moshe was so awed by the idea that he offered two coins to Maran.

After a few days, Maran summoned R’ Moshe and told him: “For several reasons, I can’t take the pidyan coins you gave me. Please go to that cupboard and take them back.” When R’ Moshe repeated the episode to the Bilgorai Rav, he told him: “When my brother, Reb Aharon says ‘for several reasons,’ I don’t comprehend them at all, but there’s one reason I can think of. Since my brother and I receive our income from one source, Maran is afraid that I used the pidyan coin from that source, and now it is being returned to him, and it is prohibited from being used by the father of the redeemed.” (Since we both receive our income from the same source.)

Filed under Parshas Korach | Rabbi Aharon of Belz