Question: I am a firstborn and I am also a Ba’al Teshuva. My parents were non-religious at the time I was born and therefore did not perform the Mitzvah of “Redemption of the Firstborn” for me. How should I proceed?
Answer: The Torah (Shemot 13) states: “Sanctify for me every firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, among man and beast, is mine.” The Torah continues, “And all firstborns among your children shall you redeem. And it shall when your son asks you tomorrow, ‘What is this?’ You shall say to him, ‘Hashem has taken us out of Egypt from the house of slavery with a mighty hand. And it was when Pharaoh abstained from sending us out, Hashem killed all of the firstborns of the land of Egypt, from the firstborn man to the firstborn beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to Hashem all that opens the womb among the males but all the firstborn of my sons I shall redeem.”
Similarly, the Torah (Bamidbar 18) states: “However, you shall surely redeem the firstborn among the man. And their redemption, from one month old shall you redeem them; according to your valuation, five silver Shekels of the Shekels of the sanctuary.”
We have thus been commanded to perform the Mitzvah of “Redeeming the Firstborn,” i.e. when a son is born to an individual and the child is a firstborn to his mother and she has not given birth or miscarried before him and the birth was regular (as opposed to a Caesarian-section), the father must redeem this child from a Kohen.
Thus, one whose wife gives birth to such a firstborn must go to a Kohen of superior lineage and redeems his son from him in exchange for five Sela’im (which is equivalent to approximately one-hundred grams of pure silver) after which the child transfers from the Kohen’s jurisdiction to the father’s. This order of the “Redemption of the Firstborn” can be found in all Siddurim.
Regarding our question concerning a Ba’al Teshuva who was not redeemed as a baby, The Rashba writes in one of his responses (Volume 2, Chapter 320) that if the father is interested in redeeming his son, he should be given the opportunity to do so no matter how old the child is. Although not redeeming his son immediately when he was thirty days old was not the proper thing to do, he precedes anyone else regarding this Mitzvah, for this Mitzvah is his and the blessing of “Baruch Ata Hashem Elokeinu Melech Ha’Olam Asher Kideshanu Bemitzvotav Ve’Tzivanu Al Pidyon Ha’Ben” is recited.
Nevertheless, if the father is not interested in redeeming his son (or if the father is no longer among the living), the son must redeem himself.
Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l writes (in his Responsa Yabia Omer, Volume 7, Yoreh De’ah, Chapter 28) that when one redeems himself, one must recite the “Shehecheyanu” blessing.
Summary: A firstborn whose father has not redeemed him must redeem himself and recite the “Shehecheyanu” blessing while doing so.
