Re: Upsherin (cutting hair of 3 yr old)
Eliezer Wenger (ewenger@ican.net)
Tue, 5 Aug 1997 23:07:51 -0400 (EDT)
Kenneth Miller wrote:
>Micha Berger (in TF 3:49) and Peretz Mett (in TF 3:52) have been offering
>assorted explanations for various aspects of the "Upsherin" custom. Certain
>aspects of these explanations just don't make sense to me, and I hope
>someone might be able to explain it.
>For example, if the Torah places the mitzvah of Orlah (according to which
>the fruit of a tree may not be cut and used until the tree is three years
>old) close to the mitzva of peyos (according to which males have certain
>restrictions on the cutting of sideburns), then I can see where one might
>want to draw inferences and parallels from one mitzvah to the other. For
>example, the proximity of these two mitzvos MIGHT teach us that just as the
>fruit of the tree may be used after the tree has turned three, so too may a
>boy cut his peyos after he has turned three.
>But that is NOT what we learn from the positioning of these mitzvos. The law
>is that the peyos may *never* be cut. Somehow, those who follow this custom
>are not drawing a parallel from the orlah fruit to the peyos, but rather
>from the orlah fruit to the *other* hair on the child's head! The *other*
>hair, which the mitzvah of peyos does not speak of, *that* is the hair which
>is left uncut - like the orlah fruit - until the third birthday! The peyos
>remain uncut both before and after the ceremony! What's wrong with this
picture?
The connection between Peyos ( not cutting side-curls) and not eating from
the fruits of a tree for the first three years is based on the Posuk
(verse) in Parshas Shoftim: 'Kee HaAdam Eitz HaSodah He' -- that man is
like the tree of the field. {Even though Rashi interprets it in a form of a
question, our Sages have used this Posuk to compare man to a tree in many
different aspects.] And thus we say that just like with a tree there is a
mitzvah of Orlah (not eating from the fruits of a tree for its first 3
yrs), so too a man who is likened to a tree, should not have his hair cut
until the age of three. Therefore, it is not necessary to have the mitzvah
of Peyos and Orlah juxtaposed.
Eliezer Wenger