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Pidyon Shvuyim
Contributed by Noraa Kaplan

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Once, the great Talmudic sage Rav Yosef received a strange present from the mother of the king of Persia. She sent him a purse full of valuable coins and told him to use the money for a mitzvah rabbah, a great mitzvah. Wanting to make sure he used the funds appropriately, he sat and puzzled over what she meant. “What qualifies as a great mitzvah?” he wondered. Abaye, another great Talmudic sage, answered him, “redeeming prisoners is a great mitzvah.” The importance of pidyon shvuyim, the mitzvah of redeeming prisoners, is derived from Jerimiah 15:2, which says, “Those destined for death, [will go] to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; those destined for imprisonment, to imprisonment.” The Talmud explains that each fate listed here is worse than the last: a violent end worse is worse than merely dying, slowly dying of hunger is worse than being murdered, and captivity is worse than all the rest because it includes elements of all three. Prisoners are hungry, subjected to violence, and in danger of death, so setting them free saves them from a fate worse than death. 
Pidyon shvuyim is the only mitzvah rabbah the Talmud mentions, and as such it’s considered extremely important in Jewish law. Rabbi Yosef Karo wrote in the Shulchan Aruch, “every moment that one delays the freeing of a prisoner, it is as if he is shedding blood.” Maimonides wrote:

There is no greater mitzvah than the redemption of prisoners, for a prisoner is among those who are hungry and thirsty… and he is in mortal danger. He who averts his eyes from redeeming prisoners violates the commandments “[if there is a person in need among you,] do not harden your heart or close your hand [to them]” (Deuteronomy 15:7) “do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is being spilled,” (Leviticus 19:16) and “do not cruelly oppress [your brother.]” (Leviticus 25:53) He also fails to observe the commandments “you shall certainly open your hand to [your brother in need]” (Deuteronomy 15:8) “let [your brother in need] live by your side as your kin,” (Deuteronomy 19:18) “love your neighbor as yourself,” (Leviticus 19:18) and “if you refrained from rescuing those taken off to death, those condemned to be killed, even if you say, ‘we didn’t know about this,’ the One who weighs hearts will know what you did,” (Proverbs 24:11) and many other decrees of this nature. You cannot find a mitzvah greater than the redemption of prisoners.

To be clear, the ‘redemption’ we’re talking about here is mostly monetary, not spiritual. Pidyon shvuyim is considered the greatest use of tzedakah, a word often inaccurately translated as ‘charity’. The English word ‘charity’ refers to voluntary ‘good deeds’ performed occasionally by individuals who want to feel good about themselves. The word tzedakah, on the other hand, comes from tzedek, a Hebrew root meaning justice. Tzedakah is the pursuit of justice through the redistribution of resources. Far from being an occasional nicety in Jewish life, it is a perpetual, collective practice that all are expected to participate in. It is the part of repairing the world performed through reparations. Before B’ney Yisra’el left Mitzrayim, they took the Egyptians’ gold and silver as reparations for slavery. Descendents of antebellum slavery in the United States have not had the same luxury. Therefore, we must “open our hands” to our Black siblings in need, especially for the purposes of getting them out of jail.
Many families have the tradition of ‘ransoming’ the afikomen. The afikomen is considered to be so precious that it’s worth negotiating with kidnappers (who, in a delightful twist, are the kids) to get it back. We should show this same love to prisoners, whose lives are infinitely more precious than a piece of matzah. Setting up bail funds to spring protesters from jail and cover their legal fees is a great mitzvah, but we should be willing to share these funds with all prisoners, regardless of their crimes To be sure, paying the police their ransom will not bring about abolition. But until the revolution comes, we are obligated to practice pidyon shvuyim to save prisoners’ lives.  
 
haggadah Section: Tzafun
Source: Min Ha-Meitzar: An Abolitionist Haggadah from the Narrow Place by Noraa Kaplan

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