Q. Is it proper to the chalaka or the traditional cutting of the hair when a boy becomes three years old in a shul?
A. Poskim disagree. Some maintain it is permitted, since it is an important mitzva of chinuch for the child. (Sdei Chemed - Beis Haknesses 10, Shulchan Gavoa 531, Even Sapir 2: 47, et al).
Others prohibit as they consider it to be an indecorous act for the honor of the shul. (Meoros Nossan 112 - quoting Meiri Brochos 61, Chino Dechaye 55, Lev Chaim 2: 172, and others). They compare it to the hair shaving of a nozir at the gate of the Ohel Moed, that the Talmud (Nozir 45a) defines as "derech bizayon" or unbecoming.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that chalaka as any other cutting of the hair, should not be done in shul.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Important Numbers
