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By Donald H. Harrison
 SAN DIEGO—On Erev Rosh Hashanah at Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal related that he recently was invited to officiate at an upsherin ceremony—the cutting of a boy’s hair for the first time on the occasion of his third birthday.
While Rosenthal had academic knowledge about what upsherin is, up to that time he had never attended such a ceremony, much less officiated at one. It is far more common among Orthodox families than among non-Orthodox ones. So the Conservative rabbi went to various available Jewish sources, including on the Internet, and familiarized himself with the procedures.
The family who had requested his participation had actually done their own research, and had planned the ceremony to a fine degree. Rosenthal’s presence helped to sanctify the occasion—which was held outdoors in a park, followed by a barbecue.
The rabbi told his congregants that he was unexpectedly moved by the rite, which marks a boy’s transition from being a baby to being ready to begin his elementary Jewish education. The rabbi suggested that upsherin is one of the many ways that younger Jewish families are taking rituals well known to Orthodox Jews and incorporating them into their own lives.
  As congregants mingled after the service, Ruth and Bill Braun showed pictures of a grandson who lives near Monsey, New York, who had an upsherin two years ago. As shown in the accompanying photographs, Shmuel Chaim Betsalel, whose parents are Orthodox, had long hair far below his shoulders prior to the ceremony but had a shorter haircut thereafter. Ruth Braun said her grandson's hair was long enough that it could be donated to Locks for Love to provide a wig to a cancer victim.
Here in San Diego County, another upsherin ceremony was celebrated on Labor Day by Rabbi Yeruchem and Nehama Eilfort for their three year old son, Dovid Shneur Zalman Eilfort, who is named both for the rabbi's late father, Dovid, and for the Alte Rebbe, Reb Schneur Zalman, founder of the Lubavitcher movement. Little Dovid shares his Hebrew birthdate, the eighteenth of Elul, not only with the Alter Rebbe
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 but also with the Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of Chasidic Judaism.
At this ceremony, Dovid sat with a pushke in front of him and every adult who snipped a piece of his hair dropped in some money for tsedakah. There were approximately 150 in attendance at Chabad of La Costa, where Rabbi Eilfort is the spiritual leader. The before-and-after photos from Dovid's upsherin are at the right.
Rosenthal said the ceremony is derived from the biblical prohibition against consuming the  fruit until a tree is three years old. It also marks when a boy begins wearing tzittzit, the ceremonial fringes on his garment. In some ceremonies, Rosenthal said, the boy's hair is gathered into pigtails to make the cutting easier.
Agreeing with all this , Rebbetzin Eilfort said while some families wait for the upsherin to put a garment with fringes on their boy, others like themselves do it even earlier--after the boy is potty trained.
Young Dovid is one of five Eilfort boys and three girls. Their mother declares herself "a professional at cutting their hair."
She added that "people asked me if I were going to cry when we cut off his blond beautiful hair" and though she didn't expect to, she did cry--tears of joy. "This is like when a child starts walking on his own. It is really a clear demarcation between baby and big boy, when he is old enough to learn things."
The ceremony is traced back to the holy city of Safed, in Israel, where it was a kabbalistic practice, the rebbetzin said. She suggested that one reason why it may be getting more popular among non-Orthodox families is the growing interest in Kabbalah.
Whatever the case may be, Rabbi Rosenthal says he is pleased to see Jews borrowing from the traditions and creating new ceremonies in an effort to bring more and more Judaism into their lives in ways that are meaningful to them.
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