Have you heard of the Jewish tradition to wipe a babies finger across the Word of God and then dip it in honey

Question

and place it in his mouth to always remind the child that the Word of the Lord tastes sweet?
I think this is one of the loveliest traditions there are. How about you?

Answer 1

The upshirin is a boy's first haircut, at age three. It coincides with the beginning of Torah study, the end of infancy. It is a life-cycle event often celebrated in the synagogue. It is most prevelant among Sephardim and Chassidim. Not cutting the hair before then is a custom rather than a law.

Friends and family all take a snip of hair to participate (then a real barber cleans up the result later). The little Samson suddenly stops looking like a baby and starts looking like a boy. The child is introduced to the letter aleph, touches it and then dips that finger in honey and tastes. The Torah is sweet. Then there's a big seudah (festive meal).

Some wait until Lag B'Omer of the fourth year to go to Meron to cut and burn the hair at the Tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. (Lag B'Omer is the day when the prohibition of haircutting during the sefirah is lifted. It's also the yahrzeit of Shimon Bar Yochai.) )

The significance of the event stems from mystical considerations, based on parallels to Leviticus 19:24.

Answer 2

It's a beautiful tradition, yes. However, it is generally applied only to boys and when they turn three years old. On this day, a boy traditionally receives his first haircut, leaving the sideburns long. He also has his first official lesson about Torah, usually learning the Hebrew aleph bet. To encourage the child to learn, learning is made sweet, either by dipping his fingers in honey, or by placing sweets on the letters of the aleph bet. As he identifies each letter, he is given a sweet.
I'm not sure if there is officially a comparable ceremony for girls yet but I'm sure many parents have found ways to sweetly introduce learning to their daughters as well.

In the traditions of teaching children, the concept of bribing is pretty much unheard of. Parents and teachers do whatever they feel is necessary to positively encourage a child to learn. Children don't learn without motivation to do so. Without learning, Judaism loses its center and most observant parents are very much aware of it.

Answer 3

As others have remarked- this is part of the upshirnis when a boy turns three. Why three? For two reasons:
1) It is compared to the fact that we do not harvest fruit from a tree until it is three years old. Similarly- until the age of three the child is wholly dependant on the parents- they do not gain any "harvest" from it. from the age of three the child starts to learn, to grow, to give back more than it takes- and thus the parents "harvest" from their time and effort to this point
2)Until the age of three life is pretty blissful for the child- they are deemed to young to start teaching and are exempt from all mitzvot and obligations. At this age a boy starts to wear tzitzit and wear a kippah (skullcap), a girl is expected to start dressing modestly. In neither case are we strict in enforcing the rules- but the idea is that they should see their parents and emulate their behaviour, creating positive patterns for later in life. They start learning blessings and prayers, though if they choose not to, nothing is enforced and the education is informal.

At seven proper education is started. A child is still exempt from the mitzvot and obligations- but at this age we believe they are old enough to start understanding the reasoning and explanations and thus they gain merit in Hashem's (Gods) eyes for their observance- whether it be occasional or constant. They start studying the Tanach (Old testament to the non-Jews) which until now they have been introduced to via stories and Mishnah, the oral law. But not the surrounding commentaries or complexities (though, of course, there are always exceptions and some children can handle that level of study.)

At a year before bar/bat mitzvah (12 is bat mitzvah- literally a daughter of mitzvahs and 13 is bar mitzvah literally a son of mitzvahs) the child is expected to start adhering to the laws strictly as in the near future they will HAVE to observe them. So at this point the parents should start being strict, but hopefully if the child has been receiving the correct examples and education before this it should not be necessary.

So back to the question:
At the upshirness patty the child's hair is cut and he puts on his first pair of tefillin- to much celbration. The next morning, the father walks to shul with the child wrapped in his tallis (prayer shawl). They go to the rabbi who sits with the child- going through each letter of the alphabet- the child repeating each one after him and receiving a bit of honey as a reward. The child is introduced to the fact that the alef beis (hebrew alphabet) is the building block of Torah- and thus his education begins following the statement in Psalms "that its(Torah's) words should be as sweet to you as honey"

Answer 4

Check out the 1992 movie A Stranger Among Us.
You can see the "sweetening" of the word of God in this way.

Answer 5

Just remember -- infants should never be given honey.

The trace amounts of botullin found in almost all honey is no problem for healthy children, teens and adults, however, for infants, honey can be fatal.

Answer 6

Indeed. It sounds like a beautiful tradition.

Answer 7

Wow, I never heard of that.. It is a wonderful tradition though

Answer 8

I've not heard of that, but it doesn't sound wrong.