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August 27, 2004
A haircut with Jewish roots
Just one more religious snip for boys, before heading off for
school.
OZZIE NOGG SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Summer's winding down and all across the country kids are gearing
up for school. Gear being the operative word. Futuristic, multi-zippered,
ballistic cloth backpacks – also known as homework haulers
– are designed to carry Gameboys, CD players and cellphones
(books, too, I'm told), and are shlepped to school even by the kindergarten
set.
Garden variety black ballpoints have been replaced (or at least
upstaged) by eye-candy pens that scribble in metallic blue, lime
green and cinnamon red. According to the manufacturer, these pens
are "a leap forward into fashionable accessories that kids
can't do without." (The suggested retail price of $6.79 US
may be a leap some parents refuse to make, however.)
Funky, custom-dyeable basketball sneakers are literally walking
out of the shoe stores on the feet of elementary and middle-school
students. ("Bubbe, they are totally crunk," my 10-year-old
grandson informed me in a patois understood only by other fifth
graders.)
Yes. It's back-to-school time, and youngsters are buying supplies,
going to their doctor, dentist and eye appointments, and (according
to the buzz) getting haircuts.
Now, I find no biblical or talmudic references to backpacks, sneakers
or colored pens. But a haircut before school starts? It could be
argued that this phenomeon has ancient Jewish roots in the ceremony
known as upsherin. Here's some evidence to support the theory:
Upsherin (from the Yiddish word meaning "to cut off")
is a custom that originated with the kabbalists of the 16th century.
The basis of upsherin is found in Leviticus 19:23, which says: 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. The rabbis then took another Torah verse –
A person is like the tree of a field – and, in their mystical
manner, declared that small boys are persons. Like trees, they come
from seeds. And since the Torah says we should not pick any fruit
during the first three years of growth, so too shall we leave the
child's hair grow wild until his third birthday, at which time he
shall get a haircut and also start going to school. Now, for those
of you who wonder why upsherin (and education, too, it would seem)
are for boys only, please consult your rabbi. The philosophical
and theological nuances are far beyond my comprehension or ability
to explain. The upsherin haircut itself, however, we can discuss.
Unlike today's boys who line up at Bob's Barber Shop for their back-to-school
haircuts, the upsherin should be held in a holy place with a righteous,
learned person wielding the scissors. In Israel, the ceremony is
often held in Meiron, near the grave of the great kabbalist Rabbi
Shimon Bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar, where –- over the
centuries – thousands of three-year-old boys have received
their first haircuts and their first taste of Jewish education.
(More about this in a minute.)
For families who don't live near an historical holy place, the upsherin
is typically held in a synagogue or house of study with plenty of
relatives and friends around to help with the shearing. The first
cut (an honor often given to the rabbi or a person of distinction)
is made at the front of the head at the spot where the boy will
later put his tefillin when he becomes bar mitzvah. Then each guest
takes a turn with the shears. After the upsherin is finished and
the locks are heaped at his feet, the boy is showered with candy
and blessings and given an aleph-bet card (plastic-coated, please!)
with a bit of honey on each letter. He then licks the honey while
saying each letter, ensuring that Torah study will be "sweet
on his tongue." Word has it that Torah-shaped lollipops are
now available for this part of the ceremony, and caterers happily
whip up cupcakes frosted with Hebrew letters, as well as other foods
decorated with biblical verses, to symbolically feed the boy's appetite
for learning. Bottom line – with its singing, dancing (plus
clowns and klezmers, in some cases), the upsherin is a joyous rite
of passage.
Each new school year is a rite of passage, too, as our children
grow and move from grade to grade, gaining maturity and a clearer
understanding of the world, their place in it and responsibility
to it. (Ah, the little trees are getting bigger and bearing fruit!)
We can only hope that this new school year will be as joyous and
blessed a rite of passage as an upsherin. But the back-to-school
haircut can, without doubt, bring joy and blessing to children other
than the ones in the barber's chair. Here's how.
A charming custom invites the boy's parents to weigh his hair after
an upsherin and give the equivalent value in gold or silver to tzedakah.
Today, after your boys – and girls – have gotten their
back-to-school-gotta-be-cool spiked bangs or flapper bobs, send
the shorn-off curls to a group such as Locks of Love, which makes
wigs for children who have lost their hair because of cancer. That
simple act guarantees that the school year will get off to a truly
meaningful head start.
Ozzie Nogg is a freelance writer in Omaha, Neb. Her self-syndicated
features take a slightly off-beat look at the history and observance
of Jewish holidays, festivals and lifecycle events. Her Web site
is www.rabbisdaughter.com.
Locks of Love can be contacted at 2925 10th Ave. N., Suite
102, Lake Worth, Fla., 33461. 888-896-1588, www.locksoflove.org.
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