24 Jan REDEEMING A CAPTIVE CAUGHT IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM

I. Important
Mitzvah
In Jewish law and
tradition, redeeming
a captive (pidyon
shevuyim) is the
highest form of charity.
The Talmud (Bava
Basra 8a) refers to it with the unusual
term of “great mitzvah” and Shulchan
Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 252:1) says that
“there is no mitzvah as great as pidyon
shevuyim.” Redeeming a captive takes
precedence over all other forms of charity.
Shulchan Aruch continues that someone
who ignores the need to redeem a captive
violates numerous biblical prohibitions
and commands. However, these rules were
formulated in a different time. Someone
who was kidnapped or taken hostage by a
lawless government requires a ransom for
release. Does this apply to someone who is
caught up in a legal system that allows for
due process?
In the past, we discussed whether pidyon
shevuyim applies to someone who is
guilty. According to some authorities,
there is a mitzvah to free someone from
captivity even if he is guilty, and even
if he committed crimes against his own

community. However, according to most
authorities, there is no mitzvah to redeem
someone who brought the captivity on
himself, even if the punishment is greater
than the crime. There is no debate, though,
about paying the ransom for someone
innocent. If bandits or a rogue government
kidnapped an innocent Jew, the community
must pay the ransom to free him, albeit
with certain limitations against paying an
exorbitant ransom to prevent encouraging
kidnappings.
But what about governments that follow
rules and provide relatively safe prison
environments? If someone innocent is
caught up due to a false conviction, is
there a mitzvah to redeem him? Of course,
prisons are full of inmates who claim to be
innocent. Criminal behavior usually goes
hand in hand with lying. However, some
people are truly innocent. If we could
conclusively verify someone’s innocence,
are we obligated by a “great mitzvah” to
help free the innocent victim of a faulty
justice system?
II. A Captive in Danger
The key text to answering this question is
the Talmudic passage in Bava Basra (8b):
“Rabbi Yochanan says… The sword is

worse than death… Famine is worse than
the sword… Captivity is worse than all of
them, as it includes all of them.”
According to this passage, captivity
inherently involves death. Someone who is
held captive is at the whim of his captors,
who can starve him, torture him and even
kill him. He lives under constant risk to his
life. If so, the “great mitzvah” of pidyon
shevuyim only applies to a captive whose
life is at risk. That applies to anyone who
is kidnapped or held in a lawless, foreign
prison. It does not apply to someone held in
a modern country governed by laws.
Rav Aharon Aryeh Katz (cont., Israel;
Pesakim U-Teshuvos, Yoreh De’ah 252:1),
the son-in-law of the author of Piskei
Teshuvos, rules that pidyon shevuyim only
applies to captives who might be killed
by their captors. He writes that pidyon
shevuyim applies today to those living in
countries that do not care about innocent
life and to those captured by underworld
criminals. However, in countries where
they do not wantonly kill innocent people
and the only danger is imprisonment,
pidyon shevuyim does not apply. In other
words, someone innocent who is caught
in the US or Israeli legal systems does
not fall under the “great mitzvah” of
pidyon shevuyim. Rav Katz adds that
helping such an innocent victim still
consists of a great mitzvah that falls
into the category of chesed, just not
pidyon shevuyim. Similarly, Rav Chaim
Kanievsky (Derech Emunah, Hilchos
Matenos Aniyim, 8:66 and n. 198)
says that pidyon shevuyim applies to a
captive who is at risk of being killed by
his captors.
III. All Innocent Captives
However, Rav Shmuel Eidels
(Maharsha, 17th cen., Ukraine; Bava
Basra 8b, s.v. kulhu) explains that
when the Talmud says that all of the
previous punishments are included
in captivity, it does not mean that the
captors might kill the prisoner. Rather,
it means that someone in captivity is
in a weakened condition and might
die naturally. According to Maharsha,
pidyon shevuyim applies even to a
captive who is not in danger of being
killed by his captors. According to
this understanding, someone innocent
who is caught in even the US or Israeli
legal systems would fall under the great
mitzvah of pidyon shevuyim.
Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan (Chafetz
Chaim, 20th cen., Poland; Ahavas
Chesed, part 2, ch. 20, par. 2n) says that
captivity applies even when there is no
threat of death. He bases this on a ruling

of the Shach (Yoreh De’ah 252:10). That
case is complex but Rav Avraham Danzig
(19th cen., Lithuania; Chochmas Adam
145:15) restates it simply and clearly: “A
man and a woman who are in captivity in
which there is no life danger, the woman
[is redeemed] before the man… In a place
where there is life danger, the man [is
redeemed] before the woman.” Rav Danzig
clearly applies the mitzvah of pidyon
shevuyim to a case in which there is no life
threat and only changes who is redeemed
first based on the risk.
IV. Conclusion
If a truly innocent person is caught in
the modern legal society, he can quickly
go bankrupt from the costs to defend
his innocence against an aggressive
prosecutor. Even if he wins and clears his
name, he will suffer from the immense
burden of the financial debt he had to incur
to defend himself. All authorities agree
that it is a mitzvah to help alleviate this
burden for someone who is truly innocent
– again, I lack the expertise to determine
who is innocent and therefore make no
claims about specific individuals. Some
believe that the mitzvah is chesed. As we
have seen, other authorities, including the
Chafetz Chaim, believe that the mitzvah
rises to the level of pidyon shevuyim,
redeeming a captive from bondage. Even if
his life is not at risk from his captors – the
police, prosecutors and prison guards – the
stress and prison conditions weaken him
and the lack of freedom inhibits him. May
all the innocent be redeemed from their
captivity speedily.