[Avodah] Minagim and the Origins of Upsherin

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 09:07:38AM -0400, Prof. Levine wrote:
: >Similarly, I can't count the number of upsherins I've attended for
: >children of Litzvish or Yekkish lineage.
: 
: I will just deal with one of the things you raised.

I only raised one thing. You are discussing an example, and not the point.

: If people knew the origin of upsherin and had the courage to go
: against the crowd,  this practice would end.

Which has nothing to do with the general principle of whether the
resettlement of Jewry post-war should or shouldn't evolve into new
minhagei hamaqom, nor the topic I raised -- the claim they actually
are.

Nor the reason why I raised the topic: the idea that minhag avos is only
a stop-gap, a way to manage when in a maqom that has no minhag.

Nor the reason for my post: Your claim that minhag hamaqom only has
meaning if the maqom has loits of minhagim. That it can't be applied
one-off to whatever practice is under discussion.

And if you are correct, what's the threshold of minhagim that unify a
community sufficiently to qualify.

Since this is a shift to a new topic, I changed the subject line
accordingly.

: The following is from  Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz, Minhag Ashkenaz:
: Sources and Roots by Rabbi Binyamin Shlomo Hamburger, Synopsis of
: Volumes I-IV.

WADR to RBSH, he is mistaken.

: The earliest reports of t he chalaka [upsherin] celebration are
: found in accounts
: written by Sepharadim early in the period of the Acharonim...

It has to be earlier.

Originally, chalaqah was held at the qever of Shemuel haNav on the 43rd
of the omer, his yahrzeit. See teshuvos haRadvaz 2:608.

(This original version of the minhag has its logic; Shemu'el was a nazir,
and he lived in the BHMQ starting at age 3. So you see how he would get
associated with a haircut at age 3. The move to Meron and Lag baOmer
happened when the Ottomans restricted access to the qever in the 1500s.
But that has little to do with upsherin in general, eg on a birthday.)

The Radvaz, R' David b Shelomo ibn Zimra, was among the gerushei Sefarad,
who ended up in Tzefas in 1513 and eventually end up in Egypt where
he was RY (he taught the Shitah Mequbetzes, R' Betzalel Ashkenazi)
and ABD.

So, upsherin was already a practice old enough to get recorded as minhag
by someone who lived through the transition from rishonim to achronim.

:                            The most important source concerning the
: chalaka is the account of the celebration in which the Ari-zal is involved.

What makes this "post important source" if the practice predated the Ari
by generations? Raising questions about a tradition that the Ari practiced it
is a distraction if he isn't the basis of the minhag.

AND, the problems with the story isaren't around upsherin, but around
making a celebration the night of Lag baOmer, again nothing to do with
making one on the child's 3rd birthday. (Unless it too is in the wrong
part of the omer or during the 3 weeks. Issues we already navigate for
bar mitzvah parties that aren't on Shabbos.)

....
: The tendency among Ashkenazi communities to refrain from this practice
: stems, according to one view, from the concern that the chalaka
: transgresses the prohibition of imitating pagan practices. Cutting a child's
: hair at the age of three was a well-known custom among several nations in
: ancient times, and thus observing this practice may constitute an imitation
: of pagan ritual...

All I know is that people invoke a similar Hindu practice. And while
Hindus may wait to age 3 before making a celebratory first haircut,
waiting until 5 or 7 are more common, and not making any ceremony at
all is most common. (Although a girls' only haircut being at 11 months
is most common.) Observant Sikh men never get a haircut. In Mongolia,
between 2-5, girls get their first haricut when they are 3 or 5, boys
when they are 2 or 4. No match. China - 1 month. (They wait until
after the bulk of infant mortality; lehavdil but yet similar to our
considering a child who dies in their first month a neifel.) Poles: a
pre-Xian tradition that survived into the 1700s was 7-10. Ukraininans, 1st
birthday. Polenesians, teens. Yazidi, originally 40 days, now, 7-11 mo.
Interestingly, Moslem boys get their first haircut at 1 week old --
in other words, on the 8th day.

In short -- no culture that wikipedia or google found for me has a special
haircut for 3 yr old boys ceremony. And yet, I turned up much else.

We've seen similar attacks on shlissel challah ('tis the week for that
perrennial) based on a difficult to assert connection to key-with-cross
breads in Xian communities that were nowhere near the areas where shlissel
challah originated -- in either time or space.

And yet, the same people continue dressing up their children in Purim
costumes, despite the similarity to Carnivale -- and both being local
to Italy in origin. Or milchigs on Shevu'os starting in the same region
that already had Wittesmontag on the Monday before the Xian Pentacost.

For that matter, both of those customs are first originated LATER than
chalakah!

...
: The custom of chalaka was never accepted in Ashkenazic countries or
: other regions in Western Europe, not even among the Sephardic
: communities in these areas. The practice earned acceptance in Eastern
: Europe among certain Chasidic circles, but only in later generations.
: Among other circles, boys' hair was cut when they began speaking, and no
: special affair was held to celebrate the event.

Is using the haricut to tell the boy "You're not a baby now, time to start
chinukh in earnest with alef-beis" really so terrible? Nothing will make
that point as deeply as weeks of build up, followed by changing the look
in the mirror.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 10th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 3 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Tifferes sheb'Gevurah: When does strict
Fax: (270) 514-1507                  judgment bring balance and harmony?