S PAULO, Brazil — A recent ceremony in Brazil's largest city has proved it's never too late to pay your dues.
Moishe Urmen, 67, Chaim Bramdes, 20, and Marcelo Stilman, 19, all stood at the front of the synagogue at Beit Chabad Brooklin in S. Paulo last Sunday to perform a ritual typically reserved for 30-day-old first born baby boys, a pidyon haben.
Three Brazilian Men Participate in Ancient Practice Typically Reserved for Infants
S PAULO, Brazil — A recent ceremony in Brazil’s largest city has proved it’s never too late to pay your dues.
Moishe Urmen, 67, Chaim Bramdes, 20, and Marcelo Stilman, 19, all stood at the front of the synagogue at Beit Chabad Brooklin in S. Paulo last Sunday to perform a ritual typically reserved for 30-day-old first born baby boys, a pidyon haben.
At the event – its name in Hebrew translates as “redemption of the firstborn” and come from a command in the Torah to redeem all first born males who are not from the Kohein and Levite priestly classes – the traditional silver platter bearing an infant graced with jewels could not be found. The three men, however, weren’t lacking in regality.
Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yacov Gerenstadt, co-director of the S. Paulo community center, explained that the duty to redeem a firstborn son falls on the father. Should he fail to do so, however, for whatever reason, the son can redeem himself.
Benjy
Wow! That’s a lot! How much is a brazillion?