[Avodah] Choice in mitzvot

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 23/02/17 13:08, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
>> What do you mean by Pidyon Haben/Give to Cohen?  Giving the money to the cohen *is* the pidyon.  There is no other
> -----/--
> Perhaps not the best example of the lot but we do have the practice of the Cohen asking mai bait tfei which the commentaries struggle to explain.

The cohen asks which do you value more, so he should realise that the 
money is not nearly as valuable as his son, but I assume the unspoken 
alternative to paying is that Hashem may ch"v take the child back to Him.

In any event there's no question that the chiyuv to redeem the son is 
unconditional, and if he'd really prefer to keep the money then it's his 
tough luck.

-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
zev at sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all