Rav Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the Sephardic religious Shas Knesset party is expected to arrive in Sderot today to take part in the rare mitzvah of redeeming the first-born donkey.  Heavy security precautions are being taken in the area.

The opportunity to fulfill the Torah commandmant of redeeming a first-born donkey is relatively rare. According to the Torah, the innate holiness of the first-born, even of the ritually impure donkey, must be redeemed by exchanging it with a sheep (a ritually pure animal).