 In time, as my son grew taller and his hair grew longer, the tradition grew on me.
By Deena Yellin at Chabad.org
Not long ago, my husband and I planted a tree. We watered it and provided it with light and sustenance. We dreamed of the day when it would reach maturity and tower over us. But as we nurtured our crop and watched it grow, the unexpected happened. We too began to develop and blossom. That tree is our three-year-old son. And just as Jewish law requires a farmer to leave a newly planted tree unharvested for the first three years as a gift to G-d, we left our son's hair untouched. Recently, we celebrated his upsherin, in which we cut his hair for the first time. Although I had longed for the day when I would not have to battle his unruly curls, I approached the milestone with reluctance. An upsherin, which literally means "shear off" in Yiddish, marks the beginning of a child's formal Jewish education. But it also marks the end of his babyhood. When my husband first told me of his family's observance, I produced a myriad of arguments. I wanted a cherubic looking baby with neatly cropped hair and > Continue No one has commented on this article. |
