[Avodah] T'uM

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 06:48:11PM -0400, Richard Wolpoe wrote:
: On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 2:16 PM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
: > 3- Mitzvos that are defined in sheqalim, such as pidyon haben and
: >   machatzis hasheqel.
: 
: Corecton Kitzur SA re: pidyon  164:1. Further, Morechai Eliyahu Kitzur says
: se Chasam Sofer 289. KSA says bransilber is kosher, Banotes are not. IIRC he
: says shaveh kessaf IS OK which means shaveh kessa and banknotes are NOT one
: and the same

Yeah, turns out pidyon's issue isn't that the mitzvah requires kesef but
that the shaveh kesef must be assessed as such by the kohein before the
pidyon. See R' Yosef on Qidushin 8a, as explained by the Rashba.

BTW, RSShkop (Chidushei RSS #16) writes that if the kohein thinks the
calf used for pidyon haben is worth less then 5 sela'im, he will sell
it for that amount, and thus it is really worth less than 5 sela to him.
This seems to reflect directly on the market value of little green pieces
of paper.

RSS seems to provide a basis for my instinct that the value of fiat money
is like the value of artwork -- as long as you can find a buyer for it,
it has value as opportunity to get something else.

(Kind of like money as potential energy...)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Life is complex.
micha at aishdas.org                Decisions are complex.
http://www.aishdas.org               The Torah is complex.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                                - R' Binyamin Hecht