Pidyon shevuyim (Hebrew: פִּדְיוֹן שְׁבוּיִים, romanized: piḏyon šəvuyim, literally: Redemption of Captives) is a religious duty in Judaism to bring about the release of a fellow Jew captured by slave dealers or robbers, or imprisoned unjustly.
The Talmud calls pidyon shevuyim a mitzvah rabba "great mitzva", as captivity is viewed as even worse than starvation and death according to Bava Batra 8b.
Ignoring the need to redeem captives goes against these Torah laws: “Do not harden your heart or shut your hand against your needy fellow” (Devarim 15:7); “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed” (Vayikra 19:16).
And misses out on the following mitzvot: “You must surely open your hand to him or her” (Devarim 15:8); “...Love your neighbor as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18); “Rescue those who are drawn to death” (Proverbs 24:11) and "... there is no mitzvah greater than the redeeming of captives.” (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim 8:10-11)[2]The Shulchan Aruch adds, "Every moment that one delays in freeing captives, in cases where it is possible to expedite their freedom, is considered to be tantamount to murder.” (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 252:3)[3] Despite the importance of the mitzva, it should be performed within several boundaries, the most significant of which is: “One does not ransom captives for more than their value because of tikkun olam (literally: “fixing the world”; for the good order of the world; as a precaution for the general good) and one does not help captives escape because of Tikkun Olam."
[1] In April 2010, several American and Canadian Haredi Judaism|Haredi rabbis from different Jewish sects released a public pronouncement (Kol Kore), asking for pidyon shvuyim on behalf of former kosher meat plant Agriprocessors' top manager Sholom Rubashkin,[8] a Lubavitcher, awaiting sentencing after being convicted on 86 charges of financial fraud in November 2009 by a federal court in Iowa.