Redeeming your Donkey
#139 Redeeming a Firstborn Donkey
There is a very important mitzvah in the Torah called the mitzvah of Peter Chamor, redeeming a firstborn donkey. This mitzvah is inscribed in our tefilin, and stipulates that if a person has a firstborn male donkey he should redeem it with a sheep or a goat; if it is not redeemed it should be killed by breaking its neck. It is written in Shulchon Aruch that this mitzvah applies in all places and at all times. The Ramban says that this mitzvah applies only in Eretz Yisroel, but the consensus among poskim is that it applies as well in chutz la’aretz, outside of Eretz Yisroel. The Derech Pikudecha writes that he has not seen the mitzvah fulfilled in chutz la’aretz, perhaps because nowadays the vast majority of kohanim do not have an acceptable pedigree to verify that they are kohanim. Nonetheless, there were Gedolei Yisroel who fulfilled this mitzvah in chutz la’aretz as well. In Eretz Yisroel, where the mitzvah unquestionably applies, it is common to fulfill it.
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