The Upsherin! Once again a new begining....

With many thanks to Hashem I bring to you some words and pictures from Moshe Pinchas's upsherin today the second day of Shvat.

The minhag of upsherin (to shear or cut off) in writing dates back to the days of the Ari"zal, but I heard that Reb Shlomo said that the minhag started with Yackov Avinu because he wanted to connect his mind to his heart.

The primary purpose of the upsherin is for the intention of leaving and essentialy revealing the "peyos." The idea here is on of establishing a boundary and affirming a border. Peyos is the plural form of the word peah. Peah is the Torah law (Vayikra 19:9-10) that requires a person who owns a field to leave aside part of his crop. Leaving the Peah at the edge and corner of the field, the Peah itself sets the boundary which separates what the belongs to the field owner and what belongs to the poor.

When we think of boundaries we think of a separation an end line, but what the Torah does is show us that by establishing a separation in essence we are bringing about a greater unification. Through the law of Peah the relationship between the field owner and the poor people is established. So we see that the boundary, the border separates to allow a deeper connection. Peyos serve the same purpose, setting a border between the hair on the head and the eventual facial hair, and between the child and the people around him. Until the age of three we let the hair grow wild (Long hair represents untamed unrestrained energy) as the
child himself is in a state similar to the "tohu" (chaos) that came before creation. At three we cut the hair making that separation/border and the child enters into the world of tikun (Tikun is the spiritual process of liberating and retrieving the fragments of Divine light trapped within the material realm, unconscious of G-d's presence, thereby restoring the world to its initially intended state of perfection. This is accomplished through the performance of mitzvot). He puts on a kippa and tzitzis and slowly starts to learn and take on more responsibilities. Never to lose the passionate energy of tohu, the simplistic joyful dispensation of being a child, yet from now on and more as he continues to grow channelling that light into the life of tikun.
In hebrew the word for haircut is "tisporet" which comes from the root "sapar" which can also mean boundary. The word "sapar" can also be related to "sapir/sapphire". So from the boundary made by the haircut and the peyos a new light arises as the child begins to shine brightly with the light of Torah.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our friends and family both those who were able to take part in our simcha and those who were there in spirit. I would also like to thank my dear wife, the true queen of all blessing for throwing such a wonderful party. As we were taking a cab to Avraham Elisha's cheder for the beginning of the festivities I was commenting how if this is what goes into an upsherin, I can't wait to see the bar mitzvah. The non-religious driver said right away "Its very good that you invest so much into everything and every last detail because in the end of the day the children feel it and appreciate all of the hard work." May my wife and I continue to have the strength to invest whatever we can into our children, because there is no better investment in the world. My bracha to Moshe Pinchas is that he continue to grow in Torah and a true love of Hashem and that he live up to the humility and true leadership of Moshe Rabeinu, and also live up to the zealousness of Pinchas and always be willing to do whatever it takes to stand up for the honor of Hashem.