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44 | MARCH 28 • 2024 
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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