In an unprecedented event, 24 Jewish firstborns – ranging in age from a one-month-old infant to a seventy-year-old man – took part in a pidyon haben ceremony in Kremenchuk, Ukraine.

By Anash.org reporter

In a historic and unprecedented event, 24 Jewish firstborns – ranging in age from a one-month-old infant to a seventy-year-old man – took part in a unique pidyon haben ceremony in the city of Kremenchuk, a central Ukrainian industrial hub.

The idea was sparked when the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Salomon, the Rebbe’s shliach and Chief Rabbi of Kremenchuk – a city with over 200 years of Chabad presence – gave birth to her firstborn son. She and her husband, Rabbi Levi Karlenstein, serve as shluchim in Dnipro, often referred to as the “Capital of Ukrainian Jewry.”

As preparations got underway for the family’s own pidyon haben at Kremenchuk’s central shul, Rabbi Salomon had a bold idea. He would turn the occasion into a mass pidyon haben for Jewish firstborns from across the region who had never had one.

Word spread quickly, and interest in the unique mitzva grew daily. By the time of the ceremony, 24 Jewish firstborns gathered for the moving event, each of them “redeemed” individually by the Kohen, Rabbi Nachum Ehrentreu, shliach and Chief Rabbi of Zaporizhzhia, who traveled for many hours to take part.

At the emotional seudas mitzva that followed, Rabbi Salomon shared a story from the Sefer Chassidim by Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid. He told of a young man on the verge of death who cried out “redeem me!” A wise man suggested he might be a firstborn. When this was confirmed, they gave a Kohen five silver coins to redeem him – and he lived another twenty-five years.

Rabbi Salomon emphasized the spiritual power of the mitzva, both for each individual and for the wider Jewish community of Kremenchuk and Ukraine as a whole, especially in light of the brutal war that has affected the country for the past three and a half years.

Rabbi Meir Stambler, Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, participated on behalf of the organization and spoke at the event. He noted the significance of holding the ceremony on Yud-Beis–Yud-Gimmel Tammuz, the Chag HaGeula of the Frierdiker Rebbe.

Turning to the group of firstborns, he said: Most of you were born during dark times, in the Soviet era, when your parents weren’t able to redeem you properly. Your merit in coming now to do the mitzva yourselves is even greater than that of a newborn whose parents redeem him. The mesirus nefesh of the Frierdiker Rebbe, whose geula we celebrate today, is still alive and active.

“Your eagerness to fulfill this mitzva surely makes great noise in heaven – may it serve to redeem all Jews of Ukraine, all of Am Yisroel, and bring the complete and final geula.”