At the early morning minyan of Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Mercer County in Princeton on Sunday, Dec. 24, Mark Killingsworth redeemed himself.

He did so quite literally, according to the ancient Jewish rite of pidyon haben — redemption of the son — reenacting a biblical ceremony in which a firstborn son is exempted from service in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Killingsworth redeemed himself, as it is commanded in the book of Numbers 18:15-16, with five silver coins weighing one troy ounce, the equivalent of five shekalim, paid to a modern-day descendant of the kohanim, the Temple priests.

But this was a pidyon haben with a twist. The ceremony is traditionally carried out on the 31st day of life for a family’s firstborn who is a son delivered in natural childbirth to parents of Israelite descent. Killingsworth, a resident of Princeton who is a professor of economics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, just turned 60.

A member of The Jewish Center who also enjoys attending Chabad’s Sunday morning minyan, Killingsworth began his journey toward redemption about two months ago, when he was present at a newborn’s pidyon haben at the minyan. He was moved to ask Rabbi Dovid Dubov, executive director of Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Mercer County, whether you have to be a newborn to have a pidyon haben.

“He said you can do it at any age. There’s no reason not to do it,” Killingsworth recalled during a recent phone interview. “So I said, ‘Well, that’s terrific. How about me?’

“I suppose one’s rational side would say it’s just an ancient ceremony,” he said. However, he added, that was precisely why he wanted to do it — because it’s an ancient ceremony, with its roots in the Exodus, when the wandering Israelites received the commandments.

“There is, for me, a very strong connection,” Killingsworth said. “When I did it, it was a huge thrill. It’s sort of an acknowledgement of one’s roots and connection to the past, and it was quite inspiring. So for everybody in the minyan, it was an affirmation, and I felt that. It was a wonderful experience and a great feeling — even better than I expected, really magical.”

Killingworth’s pidyon haben marked the first such adult ceremony ever carried out at his minyan, according to Dubov. He said he sees Killingworth’s fulfillment of the mitzva as an outgrowth of another mitzva — Chabad’s gift to him of a pair of tefillin, prayer phylacteries, last year.

“To me, it’s such a beautiful thing, to see how one good deed leads almost always to another good deed,” the rabbi said.

Many people neglect to have a pidyon haben for their firstborn sons because they simply don’t know about the mitzva, Dubov added.

“Jews who have not had an opportunity in the past are really soul searching to do the right thing,” he said. “The Torah teaches us that every little bit a person puts into the world adds up. The same thing is true in a spiritual sense. Every mitzva a person brings into the world brings on a sense of holiness and purity in the world. For the person — the soul itself — it’s a tremendous thing.”