Q. A woman gave birth to a baby boy in Yerushalayim on Sunday night י"ג סיון, fifteen minutes after shkia. At the time of the Pidyon Haben the parents and baby will be iy"h in Lakewood. According to the shita that Pidyon Haben is after 29 days 12 hrs etc. the zman of pidyon will be either Tuesday morning (י"ג תמוז) or Monday night (taking into consideration the 7 hr difference between EY and the US). According to the opinion that one waits until day 31, the pidyon would be either Tuesday or Wednesday. The shaila is, being that delaying the pidyon to the next day would constitute a ביטול מצוות עשה, when is the proper time to do the pidyon? In the event that the pidyon is pushed until Wednesday, is it proper to wait until after Chatzos to do the pidyon as many are נוהג?
A. Most Poskim maintain that the pidyon haben should be done on the thirty first day (Mishna Berura 339: 27 et. al.), since he was born during the shkiah we would have to wait for the later day. See also Betzel Hachochmo (1: 75-76) who avers that when the bechor travels by different time zones, where days may be longer or shorter, we wait until thirty complete days have passed on the bechor himself. Other Poskim remain in doubt. (Sheorim Hametzuyonim 164: 6, Yisroel Vehazmanim 21)
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit”a opinion is that to comply with the different doubts and rulings the pidyon should be done on Wednesday morning. He maintains that there is no need to delay after chatzos to do it berov am or with a larger crowd.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a
Important Numbers
