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From Religion & Ethics Newsletter
Traditional Jews often wait until a boy’s third birthday before giving him his first haircut, which is then performed during a festive celebration called an “upsherin” (the Yiddish word meaning to “shear off”). The haircut marks a turning point in the child’s life and the beginning of his formal education. During the ceremony, the boys receive their first tzitzit (fringes of the tallit prayer shawl) and are introduced to the Hebrew alphabet. In orthodox circles, three-year-old boys also officially begin to learn Torah.
Rabbi Yisrael Deren of Chabad-Lubavitch describes this ritual and its symbolism within Jewish tradition. “The haircutting itself becomes an educational experience,” explains Rabbi Deren. “It’s a mitzvah where you cut the hair and you leave the peyote, the hair along the side. And the central message here is that every aspect and every element of our lives ultimately can be endowed and, therefore, must be endowed, with a higher and divine purpose – so that even a haircut acquires a religious significance.”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/newsletter/images/arrow.gifRead the full story or watch the video…interesting…worth a look.
Traditional Jews often wait until a boy’s third birthday before giving him his first haircut, which is then performed during a festive celebration called an “upsherin” (the Yiddish word meaning to “shear off”). The haircut marks a turning point in the child’s life and the beginning of his formal education. During the ceremony, the boys receive their first tzitzit (fringes of the tallit prayer shawl) and are introduced to the Hebrew alphabet. In orthodox circles, three-year-old boys also officially begin to learn Torah.
Rabbi Yisrael Deren of Chabad-Lubavitch describes this ritual and its symbolism within Jewish tradition. “The haircutting itself becomes an educational experience,” explains Rabbi Deren. “It’s a mitzvah where you cut the hair and you leave the peyote, the hair along the side. And the central message here is that every aspect and every element of our lives ultimately can be endowed and, therefore, must be endowed, with a higher and divine purpose – so that even a haircut acquires a religious significance.”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/newsletter/images/arrow.gifRead the full story or watch the video…interesting…worth a look.