Upshirin Ceremony

 

Parents are obligated to do the following for their children: to bring them into the covenant, to redeem them if they are a first born, to teach them TorahThe Five Books of Moses, and the foundation of all of Jewish life and lore. The Torah is considered the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and study of the Torah is a high mitzvah. The Torah itself a scroll that is hand lettered on parchment, elaborately dressed and decorated, and stored in a decorative ark. It is chanted aloud on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, according to a yearly cycle. Sometimes "Torah" is used as a colloquial term for Jewish learning and narrative in general., to find them a partner, and to teach them a trade. Others say: teaching them how to swim as well.

 

2. EXPLANATION

In Jewish tradition it is customary to let a child’s hair grow until his or her third birthday.  Although this custom was observed for male children, in the contemporary community this custom has grown to include female children as well.  The custom developed around the prohibition against collecting the fruit of a tree until it is three years old. Three also became the age when Jewish children began to learn torah in earnest and is seen as having arrived at the age of reason.

 

 

3. BIBLICAL TEXTS

 

When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before the Lord; and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit – that its yield to you may be increased: I the Lord am your God.

 

 

Blessed is the woman who trusts in God, and whose hope is God.  For she shall be like a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out her roots by the river, and she shall not see when heat comes, but her leaves shall be green; and she shall not be anxious in the year of drought, nor shall she cease from yielding fruit.

 

4. PARENT’S BLESSING

May you live to see your world fulfilled,

May your destiny be for worlds still to come,

And may you trust in generations past and yet to be.

May your heart be filled with intuition

And your words be filled with insight.

May songs of praise ever be upon your tongue

And your vision be on a straight path before you.

May your eyes shine with the light of holy words

And your face reflect the brightness of the heavens.

May your lips ever speak wisdom

And your fulfillment be in righteousness

Even as you ever yearn to hear the words of the Holy Ancient One of Old.

 

 

 

5. THE RITUAL OF HAIRCUTTING

TzedakahCharity. In Hebrew, the word tzedakah derives from the word for justice. Tzedakah is not seen as emanating from the kindness of one’s heart but, rather, as a communal obligation. is a fundamental Jewish value in our home.  We try to raise _____  with a sense that they are obligated to do justice in the world.  We hope that as you take part in this ritual celebration today, and as _____  begins to learn in earnest the tradition of our community and the values of our family, that you will aid us in teaching _____ this important lesson.

 

We invite you to come up and to cut some of _____ ‘s hair.  But first, please take a coin laying around and give it to _____  to place in her tzedakah box.  We are grateful to our friend, Suzie, who is an experienced hair stylist, for agreeing to help us with this mitzvahLit. Commandment. It is traditionally held that there are 613 mitzvot (plural) in Judaism, both postive commandments (mandating actions) and negative commandments (prohibiting actions). Mitzvah has also become colloquially assumed to mean the idea of a “good deed.".  Let her direct you and please only cut when she says it is OK to proceed.

 

Blessing is an important part of any Jewish tradition.  Just as we are nourished by the fruit of the trees we hope that _____  will nourish each of you in some way during her life.  As she begins this process, (Spouse/Partner’s name) and I want to invite you to offer a blessing to _____  ; to offer a prayer for some way that you hope she will nourish the world with the fruits of her life.  It can be a public blessing or if you would like to speak it privately that would be wonderful as well.

 

Trees are nourished from above and below – by the rain and through the roots.  To honor this, we ask that we begin with family members and then extend out to all of us gathered here.

 

 

Blessed are You, Adonay our God, sovereign of all worlds, who makes us holy through Your commandments and commands us concerning the cutting of hair.

 

 

 

Blessed are You, Adonay our God, sovereign of all worlds, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and allowed us to reach this joyous occasion.

 

6. THE RITUAL OF TORAH STUDY

These are the things that a woman enjoys the fruit of in this world while the principal remains for her in the world to come: Honoring her parents, acts of kindness, arriving eagerly for learning both at morning and evening, welcoming guests, visiting the sick, accompanying the dead, praying with intentionally and making peace between people.  However, the study of Torah encompasses them all.

 

The study of torah encompasses all of these wonderful things because our tradition teaches us it leads to all of these things.  This afternoon we commit to _____  to set her on a correct path to a life of justice, equality, service and meaning.  And we do that by teaching her letters of Torah.

 

In the Zohar, the rabbis teach us that each letter approached God one by one to ask to be given the honor of being the first letter of the Torah.  When bet approaches, God decides to allow it to be the first letter.  God then inquires as to why alef did not ask for the same honor.  Alef responds with incredible humility – that since the honor had already been given it would have been unthinkable to ask God to reconsider and to take the honor away from bet just so alef could be first.

 

Talyah, as we recite the blessing for Torah study and you learn words of Torah for the first time, we hope that they will be sweet as honey on your tongue.  And we pray that as you will be filled with not only knowledge and joy, but with humility and patience and gladness in the achievements of others.  But most importantly, we pray that you remember the power of words.  For as our Torah teaches us, God spoke and the world became.  May you too create worlds of meaning with your words.  And may we all be blessed to share words of torah with you for many years to come.

 

 

 

Blessed are You, Adonay our God, sovereign of all worlds, who makes us holy through Your commandments and commands us to engage in the study of Torah.