[Avodah] Redemption

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

.

I would like to start a new thread to discuss exactly what we mean by
"redemption". I will begin by quoting most of R' Micha Berger's recent
post from the thread "Elimelech's land":

> ... it pays to just stick to trying to find a common theme to
> all the various meanings of ge'ulah (ordered in a way that
> strikes me as a progression):
>
> - the go'el hadam
> - the go'el of yibum, unless go'el is the term only when he's
>      not an actual halachic yavam. (Eg Yehudah, Boaz)
> - the ge'uilah of nachalah (Vayiqra 25:25)
> - and of people (ibid v 48)
> - the end of galus
>
> To me it seems a common theme of restoration. Perhaps even
> something familial; restoration of the family to wholeness on
> its nachalah.
>
> But I'm just thinking out loud. My intent in posting was more
> to suggest a exploring a slightly different question first --
> "What is ge'ulah?" before trying to get to a general theory of
> redemption. There may not even be one, which would explain why
> there are different words in lh"q.

Several years ago I tried working on this as part of my preparations
for Pesach. The first obstacle I encountered was (as RMB mentioned in
the last line here) that there are so many interchangeable synonyms.
The first two that came to my mind are "geulah" and "pidyon", such as
in Yirmiyahu 31:10:

> Ki fadah Hashem es Yaakov,
> Ug'alo miyad chazak mimenu.

I agree that a good starting point, as suggested by RMB, is
"restoration". This carries over to English as well, and I could cite
several pieces of literature whose theme is "the chance to redeem
myself," where someone suffered a significant loss of status
(justified or not) and is trying to correct that loss, and restore
himself to his prior status.

This is very much what Naomi was trying to accomplish. But I'm not so
sure how relevant it was to Mitzrayim, where the problem was not
merely social status, but physical danger. And that brings more
synonyms into the mix: yeshuah and hatzalah.

A useful tool for distinguishing synonyms is when they occur near each
other in the same context. I brought an example of pidyon and geulah
above from Yirmiyahu, and here is a case of hatzalah and geulah:

Shemos 6:6-7: "V'hotzaysi... V'hitzalti... V'gaalti... V'lakachti..."
On this, Rav SR Hirsch explains: "Whereas hitzil is deliverance from a
threatening danger, gaal is deliverance from a destruction which has
already occured."

In Shemos 8:19, RSRH seems to say that "padah" refers to redemption
when "anything has fallen into the power of someone else, to bring it
out of that power." I suppose that relates to kedushah (Pidyon Haben,
Maaser Sheni, etc) because the redeemed object is no longer encumbered
by the halachos that applied before. On the other hand, Vayikra
25:24-54 teaches about using money to redeem land, or a house, or an
eved. In those pesukim, the word "redeem" appears as some form of
geulah 17 times, but as pidyon not even once.

How does a "goel hadam" work into all this? There is no restoration of
any kind. If the goel hadam was interested in justice, or even
punishment, he would bring the murderer to court. But in the heat of
the moment, his only thought is revenge. This is redemption?

Looking forward to your thoughts
Akiva Miller