Boy’s Relevant Upshernish Theme

By COLlive reporter

When Shimon and Shellie Lester, members of the Chabad community in Leeds, England, began planning the upshernish haircutting ceremony for their son, they were looking for a fitting decorative theme.

It didn’t take long.

Seeing their soon-to-be 3-year-old Levi Yitzchok playing with toys gave them the inspiration. “What do most little boys like?” they asked rhetorically. “Diggers, trucks and construction…”

So the parents – Shimon, a chemistry teacher at Manchester Mesivta School and Shellie, a Kodesh Nursery and Reception teacher at the Leeds Menorah School – set out to give the Leeds Chabad Lubavitch Centre a feel of a construction site that is playful and child friendly.

The meaning behind the theme, they told the family and friends that came to the party, was that the road in the middle was leading to the Bais Hamikdosh to be built in Jerusalem when Moshiach finally comes.

“We aimed to make his upshernish a simcha that would inspire others in the community to perform more mitzvos,” they told COLlive.com. “For every mitzvah that we do, will help in building the Bais Hamikdosh Hashlishi.”

Around the room they put photos of Yitzi, the upshern boy, and his older sister Sorah Baila and new baby brother Menachem Mendel doing Mitzvos and good deeds that will help bring the final redemption.

“Yitzi was very excited when he saw the room,” the parents added. “He ran straight for the diggers, and then soon saw the pictures of himself doing the mitzvos which he was even more excited about.”

They said that one of his favorite mitzva pictures, and the first he noticed, was of doing bikur cholim when 8-week-old brother Mendeleh was in intensive care until he recovered from a severe infection, with Hashem’s help.

“Our simcha turned out to be a beautiful one and was enjoyed by all who attended,” the proud parents concluded and noted they hoped others emulate the theme as well.