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TRADITION

custom

· LENS C

Upsherin (first haircut at 3)

How did this custom take shape across communities?

The first haircut at age three, documented among Hasidic and Sephardi/Mizrahi communities, crowned by the Meron Lag BaOmer pilgrimage.

Reviewed 2026-07-30

Upsherin (Yiddish: "shearing off") is a boy’s first haircut at age three, documented among Hasidic and Sephardi/Mizrahi communities. The custom is crowned by the pilgrimage to Meron on Lag BaOmer, where families bring three-year-olds for the first shearing near Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s tomb.

Upsherin (first haircut at 3)custom · documented
documented
many hands

VARIATIONS · ONE TRADITION, MANY HANDS

One tradition, many hands.

These are documented variations, not "authentic" vs. "adapted"; each belongs to its community.

Hasidic upsherin

In Hasidic communities the first haircut at three marks the start of a boy’s formal mitzvah life.

Sephardi/Mizrahi variants

Sephardi and Mizrahi families keep parallel first-haircut customs, often framed by celebration and charity.

Meron on Lag BaOmer

The pilgrimage custom: first shearings performed at Meron amid the Lag BaOmer gatherings at Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s tomb.

IN TEXT & MEMORY

Where the record sits

No canon text or figure record is tied to this tradition yet, the canon grows carefully, only where a record explicitly documents the link.

Sources & review

  • UpsherinProduction citation pending (EJ entry).
Reviewed 2026-07-30Know a documented variation we're missing?
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