Azriel Shraga's Upsherin!!

(NOTE: I've got pictures scattered in a BUNCH of different cameras- but I figured I'd post the few pictures that I was able to snap on my camera, and as the rest come in, I'll add them- so stay tuned!)

Yup, my little Azriel Shraga is growing up! Today, on Lag B'Omer, we did his "upsherin" (his birthday is in 3 weeks). We've been talking about it for weeks, and he's really been looking forward to it! As soon as he got up this morning, he wanted his haircut- I had to explain to him that we've got to wait for all the guests to arrive!

So we spent the morning setting up (Azriel Shraga and Bruria were home from Gan and they were GREAT table-setters!)

Bentzi's friend Baruch Danziger, who does photography on the side, came over before hand to take some shots of Azriel Shraga with all his curls (I bathed him this morning and his hair looked really nice!) but he got camera shy and we had a hard time getting a good shot. Hopefully he got a few nice ones...we'll see when he sends the pictures over!

At about 1:30, our guests started showing up. Maxine Renzer, Menucha and clan, Chavi and Chana, Ruthie and Shifra T, Saba Mordechai, and Yon and family. We sat down and had a really nice Seuda together, and Bentzi gave a beautiful Dvar Torah explaining the significance of an Upsherin.

Then, we started snipping! (the pictures of the actual cutting are not on my camera, so when I'll get them, I'll try to post them!) Saba was given the honor of doing the first snip- he got to cut off Azriel Shraga's pony! After that, everyone else got a turn to snip (his siblings were THRILLED to have the chance to cut hair, without getting yelled at for it!) But Azriel Shraga had had it by then, so we decided to wait to finish it up until after everyone left and things quieted down.

(AS with his hair partially cut, playing with one of the many presents we got!)

After our guests left, we were able to give him a proper haircut. Azriel Shraga was very happy when we finally decided it was good enough, and put him into the bathtub to wash off all the "itchies"!

Afterwards, Bentzi sat down with Azriel Shraga and said the bracha with him as he put on ציצית for the first time. Then, they began to learn א-ב together. We put a drop of honey on each אות and Azriel Shraga got to lick each one after he said the name of the אות (this is an OLD tradition that they still do in Cheder nowadays- but since Lag B'Omer is such a busy day, we couldn't bring him to Cheder- so we did it ourselves! IY"H in three weeks, we'll bring him to Cheder and do it again over there on his actual birthday!) Azriel Shraga loved the honey so much, that when he finished the א-ב he wanted to do it all again so he could keep tasting the honey!

May the זכות of רבי שמעון בר יוחאי be משפיע on Azriel Shraga, that he should understand כל התורה כולה, grow up to be a תלמיד חכם, and that he should always appreciate the sweetness and goodness of תורה !