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coin shop by Daniel’s brother-
in-law, Dani Ungar. Isaac pur-
chased the coins from Daniel so
he could use them at the event.
The entire ceremony took
about two minutes, after which
the guests enjoyed a delicious
dairy brunch catered by Spreads
Bagels.
Centerpieces were party bags
of sugar cubes and garlic cloves.
“Both of these ingredients
are easy for guests to cook
with at a later date, so that
people who couldn’t attend
can still get a taste of the fes-
tive meal,” Isaac said of the
tradition.
During the meal, Isaac took
the opportunity to explain the
mitzvah of Pidyon HaBen to
the crowd. He also praised his
wife for everything she’d done
the past 10 months from car-
rying, birthing and now car-
ing for Jacob. He finished by
expressing gratitude to both
his and Malka’s families as
well as the Young Israel com-
munity. Isaac ended his speech
with: “Five shekalim is a small
price, indeed, for this much
happiness.”
AN APT NAMESAKE
Jacob was named after two of
his paternal great-grandfa-
thers. One, Yaakov Yitzchak
ben Chaim Yisroel z’l (Leslie
Weiss) was born in Hungary
in October 1942. His status
of first-born son entitled him
to a Pidyon HaBen, but the
family was busy surviving
the Holocaust and this mitz-
vah would have fallen to the
wayside.
According to Leslie’s moth-
er, Elizabeth Rein Weiss,
on her survivor testimo-
ny through the Zekelman
Holocaust Center website,
she amazingly, miraculously,
received the appropriate coins.
Shortly after she’d given birth,
an older gentile lady knocked
on Elizabeth’s door. This gen-
tile lady had received a letter
from her son who was in a
labor camp; he had request-
ed that she give Elizabeth’s
family money in return for
some unknown kindness
that Elizabeth’s husband had
shown him. It was precisely the
amount needed for a Pidyon
HaBen, and while war raged
around them, 1-month-old
Leslie was redeemed on time
according to Jewish tradition.
How apt that 72 years later,
Leslie’s great-grandson was
able to experience the same
mitzvah — sadly, also in the
background of war.
This same namesake also
played another role in Jacob’s
first simchah. Isaac said,
“Sixteen years ago, when my
mother was pregnant, my
grandfather bought a bottle of
wine ‘to use at the baby’s bris.’
That baby turned out to be
my sister! All these years later,
we finally opened his bottle of
wine at Jacob’s bris.”
A RARE MITZVAH
At the Pidyon HaBen, many
of the attendees happily remi-
nisced about the last time they’
d
attended one; for most, it was
decades ago. Part of the special-
ness of the event is its rarity.
Isaac said, “This is not
something that comes up very
often. There are many require-
ments for the baby to qualify,
most of them relating to the
mother.”
For one attendee, the event
brought back especially warm
memories: Daniel Kotsias of
The Weiss family at
Jacob’s Pidyon HaBen
The five coins used
to “redeem” Jacob
continued on page 46
TED RODGERS
TED RODGERS
Extraordinary
LIFE EVENTS...AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN