Any firstborn that will be born... you shall sanctify to Hashem your G-d. (Devarim 14:1)
It says in Seforim Hakedoshim that the mitzvah of Pidyon Haben atones for sins. It is a kapparah that is equivalent to taking eighty-four fasts. But what is the connection between this mitzvah and kapparah for sins?
Let’s look at a teaching of Chazal that has a similar message.
Whoever prays on Shabbos evening and recites Vayechulu, the two ministering angels who accompany a person will place their hands on his head and say to him רָסְ ו רָּפֻכְּ תָךְאתָּטַחְ וָךֶנֹוֲע – “Your iniquity has departed and your sin is atoned for.”
Same question here. What does reciting Vayechulu have to do with kapparah?
The idea here is that every sin expresses a flawed perception. In a certain sense, the sinner thinks there a space devoid of Ha she m’s Will, and there, he can act as he pleases. But when we recite Vayechulu on Shabbos, we testify that all of Creation is from Hashem. It didn’t happen by itself and it wasn’t always there.
There is thus no place in the universe devoid of Hashem. His Will prevails everywhere.
This is the primary lesson of Shabbos. It teaches us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not merely form the world, but actually created it ex nihilo, out of utter nothingness. Yeish mei’ayin. Therefore, no reality exists outside of His Will, and the person himself is nothing but a manifestation of Hashem's will. It is out of question for a person to act against Ha she m’s will, as doing so would contradict his basic existence and nature.
Now let’s get back to Pidyon Habechor. The basic idea of this mitzvah is that we give Hakadosh Baruch Hu our firstborn, and also the first of everything we have. We give the firstborn child, the firstborn of our livestock, and we give also the first fruits that grow in our fields and orchards; we give bikurim. Simply speaking, the first is the choicest and most significant, and this we give to Hashem.
But it is deeper than that.
These mitzvos express our emunah that Hashem is the Originator of the world. The firstborn is something that did not exist before, it is the beginning of something new. So we give it to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, showing our belief that He is the Originator of all.
Our recognition that the world originates with Hashem has the power to atone, as we explained regarding Vayechulu. It expresses our awareness that there is no room in the world for sin, for transgressing Hashem’s Will. For that very reason, the mitzvah of Pidyon Haben is a kapparah for sins.
