Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in Hebrew and English: Behar Bechukosai – 22 Iyar 5786
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Behar Bechukosai – 22 Iyar 5786
Bostoner Rebbe shlit’a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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On Lag B'Omer, we recall the saga of Rashbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the holy Zohar. The sacred minhag observed in Yerushalayim and throughout Eretz Yisroel — and carried out at Meron — is to bring one's son, at around three years of age, for his first haircut, the upsherin. A thought came to mind: on one hand, we have a three-year-old child, just beginning to find words to describe the world he lives in; on the other, we have the towering figure of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who spent thirteen years hidden in a cave. At first glance, these two stories seem worlds apart — one is about the very beginning of life, the other about the heights of spiritual isolation. Yet Chassidus teaches us that they are, in truth, the very same story.
The Talmud (Shabbos 33a) teaches us that Rashbi spent twelve years in the cave, followed by a thirteenth year to attain perfection. Our Chachomim explain that throughout those thirteen years, Rashbi's body was immersed in sand, and his very being and neshamah were entirely removed from the physical world. He was concealed, hidden — yet all the while, the light within him was growing.
Every Jewish child who enters this world undergoes a similar experience of the "cave." For the first twelve to thirteen years of a child's life — the years leading up to the Bar Mitzvah — the Neshamah is, in effect, dwelling in a "cave." It is enveloped within the physical form. As Chazal teach us, the Yetzer Tov arrives only at the Bar Mitzvah. Prior to that, the child is in a hidden and protected state, slowly preparing for the moment he will emerge and illuminate the world with the light of his Neshamah.
But why do we celebrate at age three? Why is this the moment we begin to leave the "cave" of infancy? Because, as Chazal tell us, all that we can accomplish in life is rooted in what was already accomplished by the Avos — the Patriarchs — and the first three years of a child's life each correspond to one of them. The first year corresponds to Avraham — the year of pure Chesed, of unconditional love. The infant receives without condition, and the parents give without measure; it is the year of building the very foundation of lovingkindness. The second year corresponds to Yitzchak — the year of Gevurah, of strength and boundaries. The child begins to assert his own will; the "terrible twos" demand the strength of Yitzchak to discipline with love and to endure the growing pains of a young soul discovering his limits and his possibilities. The third year corresponds to Yaakov — the year of Tiferet, of beauty and harmony. At three, the child is no longer merely a recipient. He is aware of right and wrong, of the Creator and His creation. He begins to say and to understand, "Torah Tzivah Lanu Moshe" (Devarim 33:4). His potential has become visible — not only to his parents, but to the world.
This is why, on Lag B'Omer, when we shape the child's peyos — those symbolic corners which, perhaps, evoke the turns and trials of the path through life — we are performing an act of emergence. We say to this child: until now, you were in the "cave" of infancy, protected and hidden. But now, you have arrived at the stage of Tiferet. You have the capacity to understand that even though the neshamah dwells within a physical body, the body does not define you — you define it.
By connecting this precious moment to Rashbi and to Meron, we convey to the child a truth that will sustain him for a lifetime: he can overcome every obstacle. Just as the darkness of the cave could not extinguish the light of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the "cave" of the physical world will never extinguish the light of this child's Neshamah.
May it be the will of the Ribbono Shel Olam that by removing the unbounded growth of the head — the orlah of earliest childhood — we reveal the future "crown" of this child. May he grow to be a person of Chesed like Avraham, Gevurah like Yitzchak, and Tiferet like Yaakov — always aware of the light he carries within him, even in the cave of life's challenges, so that he may illuminate the entire world.