What is the source for the “Upsheirin”?

Question

In some families/communities, little boys do not get their hair cut until they are three, and then there is a gathering for cutting their hair. The haircut is called an "upsheirin" or "chalakeh."

What is the source for (and significance of) this practice? It isn't mentioned in halachic works like the Shulchan Aruch.

Answer 1

Nitei Gavriel discusses various practices regarding the Upsherin, such as:

• Why it is done
• Age of boy
• can you cut hair before or push it off
• how to do the haircutting
• who should do the haircutting
• where to do the haircutting

He says the first haircut is about teaching the child about the Mitzvah of Pe'ot, since we cut the hair and leave the Pe'ot.

Why do most people do it at 3, because age 3 is associated with starting to teach children about Mitzvos (Chinuch). For example, see Midrash Tanchuma Vayeira, Chapter 22, and more in footnote 2 on this page.

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According to AskMoses.com The actual source is unclear, but there are a few options. AskMoses.com is only discussing the source for the upsherin, not the age of the boy getting the haircut:

1. Arizal (Shar Hakavanot Inyan Pesach, Drush 12) [R' Chaim Vital calls it a "known custom"]
2. Ridvaz (Shalot Utshuvot Ridvaz, vol. 2, ch. 608.) ["...already a custom..."]
3. Maybe alluded to in a Jerusalem Talmud (Tractate Pe'ah 1:4)
4. Maybe alluded to in a Midrash Tanchumah (Midrash Tanchuma, Kedoshim 14)

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This Shiur by Rabbi Leib Schapiro is on my list of shiurim to listen to, but I haven't actually listened to it yet:

The Meaning of Upsherenish - The Mitzvah of Peyos. This class explores the reasons and sources for the custom of celebrating a Jewish boy’s first haircut – an Upsherin.

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Also, it looks like Rabbi Pinson has a more Kabalistic look at what the Upsherin is about.

Answer 2

http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/upsherinish/02.htm

This link has much interesting information regarding an Upsherin

Answer 3

See http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/the-upsherin-what-are-the-origins

Answer 4

I believe that it originated as an allusion Orlah, the first three years of the fruit of a tree being forbidden. Although, that still does not explain how Revai doesn't play into this minhag.

Answer 5

There are a lot of possible allusions listed in other answers.

However, one thing not mentioned is that the practice has a German name, upsheren, and furthermore that:

The Pennsylvania German superstition prescribes a wait of a year before the first haircut, lest the infant lose its hair, be a weakling, or die young: EM Fogel, op. cit. (see note 24), 42, nos. 81-82; 43, no. 83

(From Conception, birth and infancy in ancient Rome and modern Italy, by Walton Brooks McDaniel.)

It is fairly easy for a superstitious practice adopted from the general culture to accumulate religious ex-post-facto rationalizations.

(Yes, I am aware that one year is different from three years. But superstitions change over time and manifest differently.)

Update: One extra point. See Moed Kata 14a:

(Shmuel): It is permitted to give a haircut to a baby born on Chol ha'Mo'ed, because it comes under "One who is released from imprisonment during Chol ha'Mo'ed" (1:a:2).

such that it is clear the Amoraim did not have upsherin. Rather, this was drawn from the surrounding German culture.

Answer 6

According to R. Benyamin Shlomo Hamberger of Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz, the Upsherin comes from foreign (perhaps Arab) sources which somehow were emulated by the Jews. Professor Daniel Sperber (Minhagei Yisrael 8: 13-30) also suggests foreign origins along these lines.

http://seforim.traditiononline.org/index.cfm/2008/5/22/Lag-BaOmer-and-Upsherins-in-Recent-Jewish-literature-Revisionist-History-and-Borrowing-and-Plagiarism

Answer 7

http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%A7%D7%94

Aside from the previously mentioned ideas, Wikipedia suggests it might have developed from an older custom to bring children to the grave of Samuel the Prophet (שמואל הנביא) north of Jerusalem and cut their hair there. After the Ottomans restricted Jews' access to the site in the 1500's, it was later moved to Meron, near Tzfat.

The connection to Samuel is probably related to the story of Samuel I 1 where Samuel was kept to the family until he was weaned, and only then brought to the Temple in Jerusalem and sanctified to the service.

Answer 8

I recently heard a reason: that it was originally a superstition to fool the Satan. I.e. the Satan wants baby boys, so by leaving them with long hair, the Satan is fooled until they are no longer of interest.

This would fit with a reason given from YWN Coffee Room referenced in another answer:

A very significant consideration is also the question if there is a problem of 'chukos hagoyim' with the custom. While we don't generally see it now (in western countries at least), the fact is that in certain eastern cultures (e.g. arab and hindu / Indian) a great deal was/is made of a son's first haircut and it was accompanied by a significant celebration. It seems that those Jews who started the custom Jews lived among such gentiles. So there is a concern that it may well have originated in gentile practice. ....

This would also fit with the idea of it being a German folk superstition.

Sorry, I haven't been able to find any more concrete notes.