In our community it is customary to name the newborn with an Hebrew name and an English name.  Sometimes these two names are related, like Rebecca and Ribka. Sometimes both names are identical in English and in Hebrew, like: Daniel or Gabriel. And sometimes there is no relationship between them.

While the choosing of the English name is done more or less arbitrarily, the Hebrew name is normally given after the grandparents. (When more babies come, BH, they are named after the great-grandparents and so on). The source of this custom is literally pre-Abraham Abinu. The first recorded case of a man that named his son after his father was Terach, Abraham’s father. His father’s name was Nachor and he named one of his sons Nachor (Thanks to Mr Edward Dilamani for sharing with me this insight!).

In most Sephardic communities the first son or daughter is named after the father’s parents and the second son or daughter after the mother’s parents.

Parents should definitely keep away from asking mystical rabbis what Biblical names have “good luck or bad luck” or which “combination of names brings good luck or bad luck”. Those are mere superstitions and foreign practices that could bring unnecessary conflicts into the families. One example of a real case that happened in our community. A naive mother was told by a rabbi: Don’t name your newborn daughter “Rachel”, because Rachel (the Biblical Rachel imenu) died young”. Obviously, this absurd consideration does not make absolutely any sense. But the impressionable mother was now very scared for her daughter’s well-being and she refused to name her child after her own mother, Rachel, because of that ridiculous advice, causing a lot of pain to her mother.

Our Rabbis suggested in the case of Aharon and his sons, Nadab and Abihu, that actually when not naming one’s parents–especially when they have asked or wanted to be named–we should feel a great deal of consternation, for the consequences of depriving our parents from this high honor.

The name-giving of the daughter –known in Sephardic communities as Zebed haBat and in some Ashkenazi communities as Shabua haBat— takes place usually during the first Shabbat or within the first month after the birth of a girl.

As to the ceremony, there are many different traditions. I describe the ceremony according to Siddur bene tzion (there are no talmudic sources for it).

1.The father is invited to the Torah and after he finishes his Aliya a prayer is recited:

2. Before the prayer, the Chazan or the Rabbi recites a verse from Shir haShirim (The Song of Songs 2:14) praising the pristine beauty and the sweet voice of the baby girl. If she is the first girl to be born in the family, another verse (6:9) is added, describing her as a unique beautiful creature, the new Princess of the home.

3. Then, the name is giving:

“He Who blessed our mothers Sara and Ribka, Rachel and Lea, the prophetess Miriam, Abigayil and Queen Esther, the daughter of Abichayil, may He bless this beloved girl and let her name in Am Israel be known as:…   (here her Hebrew is pronounced and the name of her father: for example, “Rachel bat Abraham”. In many communities they mention the name of the mother as well, i.e., Rachel bat Abraham and Sara…)… with good mazal and in a time of blessing. May she grow up with good health, peace and tranquility; and may her father and her mother merit to see her joy and her wedding, with sons, prosperity and honor; and may they be healthy and fresh, and live until an old age; and so may this be His will, and let us say, Amen!”.

4. In many Sephardic communities the mother is also welcomed to say from her seat the thanksgiving blessing (Birkat haGomel)  .

Video of a Ceremony of Pidyon haBen in Manchester, England (Ashkenazi)

 

 

Last week we explained the Mitzva of Pidyon haBen, and why the first born males have to be redeemed from a Cohen.

The Pidyon HaBen applies only to males (women were not bound to the service of the Tabernacle and Bet haMiqdash).

To be redeemed, the baby must be a bekhor, a natural-born-first-born-boy, who “opened his mother’s womb” (peter rechem). Therefore, if his mother have previously given birth to a baby girl, the boy who is born after her is not considered a first-born.

If the mother had a miscarriage or an abortion, the first-born is not considered a bekhor. This is when the miscarriage occurred after the third month of pregnancy. However, if the miscarriage occurred during the first 40 days of pregnancy, redemption is required. If it occurred after forty days, but before the fetus developed distinguishing physical characteristics, redemption of the first-born is still required, but the ritual berakha said by the father is omitted.

The bekhor, has to be born naturally (peter rechem). Therefore, if the first born is a boy, but he was born via C-section, he is not considered a naturally born bekhor and he is not redeemed.

Also, if the father or the mother are Cohen the Pidyon is not performed. And lastly, if the mother or father are Levites (levy), the Pidyon is not done. Why? Because the Levites are still obliged to assist the Cohanim in Divine service, andcannot be redeemed from this religious obligation. Levites remain irredeemably to this day, and are expected to report for duty as soon as B’H our Bet HaMiqdash will be rebuilt.

All these conditions mean that Pidyon haben is rather the exception, not the rule. It happens in approximately in 35% of all first time births.

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In Biblical times, the first-born males would be consecrated to the service of God, assisting the priests (similar to what Channa did with his son Shemuel). That was the tradition among the Jews and even among other nations, like the Egyptians, Babylonians. etc. Once the Tora was given to Am Israel, Aharon and his descendants were granted the Priesthood. They serve HaShem in the Mishkan (mobile sanctuary in the dessert or tabernacle) and later on in the Bet haMikdash. Following the ancient custom , the first-born males should have been appointed to assist the Kohanim. God Almighty, however, consecrated the tribe of Levi to assist the Kohanim. The Leviim were then responsible, for example, of assembling, transporting, maintaining the Tabernacle and many, many other chores related to the Sanctuary and its service. At the time the Leviim were appointed, the Israelite first-born males were ‘released’ from serving in the Sanctuary, however, they had to be formally redeemed by his parents from a Kohen.

This is a Biblical commandment, found in Bamidbar (numbers)18:15 (“You must redeem every first born…”).

The redemption is performed by given to a Kohen five silver coins, in accordance with the instructions given by the Torah in the next verse, in Bamidbar 18:16 “You should redeem them at the redemption price of five sheqels of silver“.

The equivalent weight of the five sheqalim is a 96.1 grams of pure silver (Rab Hayim Nae). The custom, however, is to round up the number to 100 grams of silver.

In our days, the Israeli government issues a silver coin, weighting 20 grams each, to be used for this Mitzva.