what is the origin of having a boy's first haircut at age three?

Welcome to the "global yeshiva",

The origin comes from the law of fruit trees.

Just like fruit trees one is not allowed to benefit from the fruit for the first 3 years, which is called Orlah. Same here, the law of waiting for the boy to turn 3 years old, and then cutting the hair, known as an "upsherin".

This is identical to the concept of the foreskin which is called "orlah" too, this is cut off during the circumsicion of the eight day old boy. as that which is cut off during circumsicion "foreskin".

I hope this answered your question, please feel free to reply with any questions or comments.

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Same here, the law of waiting for the boy to turn 3 years old,

Just to add, that waiting to cut a boy's hair until he is 3, is not a halacha - law, but a minhag - custom.

Yes, it is just a Minhag, one which I had the joy of observing recently.

The photo on the left is of my grandson, Refael Yosef, who turned 3 last month. We attended the Beis Medrash of HaRav Ovadiah Yosef, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, in Har Nof, Jerusalem, for Shacharis and after davening went into his office for the "Chalaka" as it is called, the first snip. Actually, the very first snip was done by the current Sefardi Chief Rabbi, HaRav Sholomo Amar, who happened to be there that morning.

It is a sefardic minhag too? I thought it was a Chasidic minhag.

I think it's pretty much universal these days, even among non-chasidish Ashkenazim.

Well, it is a minhag to wait till the boy is three years old, but in essence it comes from the idea of waiting for the fruit trees too.

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Originally posted by Gila:

quote:

Same here, the law of waiting for the boy to turn 3 years old,

Just to add, that waiting to cut a boy's hair until he is 3, is not a halacha - law, but a minhag - custom.

I stand corrected, i meant that it is a custom. Thanks for catching that.

There is more to the ritual of turning 3 than the haircut. This is also when boys traditionally start learning torah in cheder.
They get a haricut, make payos from their hair, put on a yarmulke, make a brocha and put on tzitzis, then go to sombody (usualy a cheder rebbe) to recite aleph bais with honey on each of the osios. Every good kindergarten rebbe has a laminated alep bais and bottle of honey is his classroom for this frequent occaision. After saying aleph bais with the rebbe pechalach are given out to the cheder boys and the boys all with the upsherin yingle a yasher koach.
All this to celebrate when the child turns three like harvesting fruit from a three year old tree.

Yes, that's what happened with my grandson.

I think the thing with the honey on the Alef Beis is a beautiful custom.

It is interesting to be a part of the built in progression that starts with a haircut.
At three I brought each of my children to a cheder melamed to begin learning with a new yarmulke and tzitzis.
At thirteen the same boys sit at the bar-mitzah with rebeim and roshei yeshivah, tefilin, a suit and black hat is now a part of their everyday life.
This is part of the essence of having children in a frum kahila. They are the children of their parents but they must be brought up to be part of the kehilla. By having the mesorah given over at every life-cycle event they are able to become givers of that mesorah as adults.