Daily Mitzvah, Day 142: Redeeming Firstborn Sons & Firstborn Donkeys
Study the daily lesson of Sefer HaMitzvos for day 142 with Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, where he teaches the mitzvah in-depth with added insight and detail.
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Rabbi Mendel Kaplan is the Spiritual Leader and Executive Director of Chabad Flamingo in Thornhill, Ontario, serving one of Canada’s most dynamic Jewish communities. He also serves as Chaplain of the York Regional Police Service. He is an active member of Toronto’s Vaad HaRabbanim (Council of Orthodox Rabbis), and a voting member of the COR Kashruth Council of Canada’s executive rabbinical board. Rabbi Kaplan is featured regularly on many local television and radio shows. He is a sought after speaker, with hundreds of lectures on Chabad.org. He and his wife, Faygie, are blessed with eight children. Artistically endowed, the rabbi enjoys drawing, sketching and creating charcoal portraits.
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31:50Daily Mitzvah, Day 143: The Unredeemed Firstborn Donkey & Agricultural Work in the Sabbatical Year
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28:56Daily Mitzvah, Day 144: Rendering Fields Ownerless and Forgoing Loans on the Sabbatical Year
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29:08Daily Mitzvah, Day 145: Sanctifying the Jubilee Year (No Agricultural Work & Emancipation of Slaves)
Why a donkey? Was it that the donkey represented all animals? What was the significance of a donkey?
See the following essay.
Rambam in the Guide to the Perplexed notes that donkeys were highly domesticated animals that most people owned. Think of a car today. And the reason for this Mitzvah is to cultivate our giving muscle so that we remember G-d, and that our earnings are all from Him.