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Upsherin,Upsheren,[1]Opsherin orUpsherinish (Yiddish:אָפּשערן,romanized: opshern,lit. 'shear off',Judeo-Arabic:חלאקה,romanized: ḥalāqa[2]) is afirst haircut ceremony observed by a wide cross-section of Jews and is particularly popular inHaredi Judaism. It is typically held when aboy turns three years old.
The upsherin tradition is a relatively modern custom in Judaism and has only become a popular practice since the 17th century.[citation needed]
Yoram Bilu, a professor of anthropology and psychology at theHebrew University of Jerusalem, suggests that there is little or no religious basis for the custom and its popularity is probably mainly social. The following are some quotes from his paper,
Two disparate hair-related practices appear to have converged in the haircutting ritual: the growing of ear-lockspayoth – s.d.] and the shearing of the head hair. ... Ritual haircut, probably modeled on the Muslim custom of shaving male children's hair in saints' sanctuaries, was practiced by native Israeli Jews (Musta'arbim) as early as the Middle Ages. RabbiIsaac Luria Ashkenazi, the 16th-century founder of the celebratedLurianic School of Kabbalah who assigned special mystical value to the ear-locks, was instrumental in constituting the ritual in its present form. The ritual remained primarily a Sephardi custom following Luria, but in the last 200 years it became widespread among East European Hasidim. From Palestine it spread to the Diaspora communities, where it was usually celebrated in a more modest family setting.[3]
Hayyim ben Joseph Vital wrote in theGate of Repentance ("Shaarei Teshuva", O.C. 493, 8) that "Isaac Luria cut his son's hair onLag BaOmer, according to the well-known custom." However, the age of his son is not mentioned. An obvious problem raised by Avraham Yaari, in an article inTarbiz 22 (1951), is that many sources cite that Luria held one should not cut one's hair for the entirecounting of the Omer, including Lag BaOmer[4]
We know from travellers that by the 18th and 19th centuries, theyom hillula at Meron onLag BaOmer with bonfires and the cutting of children's hair had by then become an affair of the masses. A well-knownTalmud scholar from Bulgaria, Abraham ben Israel Rosanes, wrote that, in his visit toPalestine in 1867, he saw anAshkenazi Jew giving his son a haircut at the hillula. Rosanes says that he could not restrain himself and went to the man and tried to dissuade him but was unsuccessful. He also complained that most of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews participated in this "insanity," with "drinking and dancing and fires."[citation needed]
A Hasidic rebbe, Yehudah Leibush Horenstein, who emigrated in the middle of the 19th century, writes that "this haircut, calledhalaqe, is done by the Sephardim inJerusalem[clarification needed] at thetomb of Shimon bar Yochai during the summer, but during the winter they take the boy to thesynagogue orBeit Midrash and perform the haircut with great celebration and parties, something unknown to the Jews in Europe."[citation needed]
InHasidic Judaism, the upsherin marks a boy's entry into the formal educational system and the commencement ofTorah study. He will now wearyarmulke and thetzitzit and will be taught topray and to read theHebrew alphabet. So that theTorah should be "sweet on the tongue," the letters are covered with honey and the children lick them as they read.[5][failed verification]
Sometimes, the hair cut off in the upsherin is weighed and charity is given in that amount. If the hair is long enough, it may be donated to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients.[6]
Other customs include having each person attending the ceremony snip off a lock of hair and encourage the child to put a penny in atzedakah box for each lock as it is cut. Sometimes, they sing a Hebrew song based on the Biblical verseDeuteronomy 33:4: "WhenMoses charged us with the Teaching / As the heritage of thecongregation of Jacob."
Among some Hasidic sects, such asGur, the upsherin is held at age two.[7] This custom is based on the tradition thatAbraham celebrated his son Isaac's second birthday, hinted at inGenesis 21:8: "The child grew up and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day thatIsaac was weaned." Among some Sephardic communities, particularly in Jerusalem, the practice, known to them asḥalāqa, is performed at age five.[8]
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Cutting hair is not allowed during the time of theCounting of the Omer but is permitted onLag BaOmer. This is why boys who turned three betweenPassover and Lag BaOmer celebrate upsherin on this date. It is customary that at the Lag BaOmer celebrations by thetomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai inMeron, Israel, boys are given their first haircuts while their parents distribute wine and sweets. Similar upsherin celebrations are held in Jerusalem at the grave ofSimeon the Just for Jerusalemites who cannot travel to Meron.[9]
In 1983,Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, the secondBostoner Rebbe, reinstated a century-old tradition among Bostoner Hasidim to light a bonfire and conduct upsherins near the grave ofRabbi Akiva inTiberias on Lag BaOmer night. The tradition had been abandoned due to murderous attacks on sojourners to that relatively isolated place.[10]
In the Bible, human life is sometimes compared to the growth of trees. According toLeviticus 19:23, "When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten." Some Jews apply this principle to cutting a child's hair, so boys are not given their first haircut until the age of three. To continue the analogy, it is hoped that the child, like a tree that grows tall and eventually produces fruit, will grow in knowledge and good deeds, and someday have a family of his own. Hasidic Rabbis have made this comparison, and in some communities, a boy before his first haircut is referred to asorlah, a term also used for a tree that cannot be harvested.
Chabad Hasidism has another explanation. "For the first three years of life, a child absorbs the surrounding sights and sounds and the parents' loving care. The child is a receiver, not yet ready to give. At the age of three, children’s education takes a leap—they are now ready to produce and share their unique gifts."[11]
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