Pidyon Shvuyim - Redeeming Captives
Join Rabbi Chaim Brovender and Ambassador Dore Gold for a three part discussion of the Jewish sources for the mitzva of Pidyon Shevuyim – the redemption of captives – and its implications in the current, political state of affairs in Israel and the Jewish world. The current struggle in Israel for the release of Gilad Schalit, captured by Palestinians in Gaza three-and-a-half years ago, is based on this mitzva.
Maimonides writes in the Mishneh Torah that the mitzva of pidyon shevuyim takes precedence even over supporting the poor or clothing them (Hilchot Matanot Aniyim 8:10). The Shulchan Aruch also states that, “every moment that one delays in freeing captives, in cases where it is possible to expedite their freedom, is considered to be tantamount to murder”(Yoreh Deah 252:3).
Rabbi Chaim Brovender is the Rosh Yeshiva of WebYeshiva and President of ATID - The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education, in Jerusalem. He was the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hamivtar and Michlelet Bruria (today, Midreshet Lindenbaum) where he pioneered the teaching of Gemara to students for whom the Talmud had been a closed book. For over forty years he has been a leading force in teaching Torah in Israel and enabling his students to "learn how to learn" according to the renowned "Brovender Method."