1. Happy coincidence of Pidyon Ha-Ben on Pesach. 2. Commandment of Pidyon Ha-Ben is evidently one of the most important – it is one of the four passages included in our tefillin. 3. In that passage of "Kadesh li kol bekhor," we find a strange turn of events. God tells Moses very briefly and succinctly, "Kadesh li kol bekhor peter kol rechem bivnei Yisrael ba'adam uvabehemah, li hu." And then Moses turns to Israel and gives them a whole string of three various laws, plus a reminder that God took them out of Egypt. Specifically, he recalls the mitzvot of (a) chametz and matzah, (b) korban Pesach, and then (c) bekhorot. Why this elaboration over and above what God had commanded? 4. The answer strikes at the very core of the meaning of Pidyon Ha-Ben, and also at one of the major motifs of Judaism. For the Exodus story is essentially based on the competition between Nature and History – between subservience to the natural forces and the transcending of them by the development of individuality and uniqueness, by personality and soul, by rising to a high, preordained historic purpose. According to the inexorable laws of nature that determine both physical welfare and community configuration, Israel should have remained a slave people. Yet God intruded into the scene, bypassed Nature, and took us out umah mitokh umah, to meet our destiny as the am hanivchar at Mt. Sinai. Yetziat Mitzrayim is thus the triumph of History over Nature. 5. Chametz and matzah reflect the same theme. The Jews in Egypt were sitting down to their meal – eating is the most natural of natural expressions. They were indulging their natural appetites. But History called at that moment – yetziat Mitzrayim. Which takes precedence? The answer: History. Israel had to leave bechipazon – immediately – responding to the historical challenge and at the expense of a good meal. Let the dough not rise – history was beckoning. And so: no chametz, only matzah. 6. Similarly: Pesach – the passing over of the Jewish h…