- Many have the custom to begin the Upsherin haircut from the front of the head in the center, the place where his Tefillin (phylacteries) will be placed when he grows up. Others begin near the sideburn area in order to begin with the attentiveness the mitzvah of pe’ot by not cutting the sidelocks.
- It is customary to contribute money to Tzedaka (charity) on the day of the Upsherin.1
- Some have the practice of weighing the cut hair and giving its equivalence to Tzedaka.
- Many invite guests to cut a snippet of hair. They begin by honoring the grandparents and other elders assembled.
- Yemenite Jews have the custom to have a groom whose wedding is that night to cut some of the hair.
- Some give the first haircut at the gravesite of a Tzaddik (righteous person).2
- Many have the practice of doing the Upsherin haircut in Meron at the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Lag BaOmer.3 Some give the haircut there even during the rest of the year.4
- In Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), some have a practice of giving the first haircut at the gravesite of Shimon Hatzaddik.5 Some give the haircut at the burial site of Shmuel Hanavi.6
- Many Jews of German decent do not have the tradition of postponing the first haircut until the age of three. However, they have a different beautiful practice for their three-year-old sons.7 Their custom is to preserve the cloth on which the child laid on during his Brit Milah (circumcission), and then prior to the child’s third birthday, they use that cloth to create a band that is wrapped around the Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) of their Beit Hakneset (synagogue).
By Rabbi Mayer Smith
Upsherin Part 8 Sources:
1 Even Hasapir volume 2 page 47.
2 Sefer Shaarei Yerushalaim Shaar 9.
3 See above, section 3.
4 Taamei Haminhagim page 263.
5 Introduction to Shu”t Maharil and Luach Yerushalayim.
6 Shu”t HaRadvaz 2:608.
7 Some German communities have the custom of performing this tradition at other ages. See Shorashei Minhag Ashkenaz volume 2 page 520 and on.
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