Hag ha-Gez or Re´shit ha-Gez was the biblical festival or celebration of the shearing of the sheep. Hag ha-Gez took place once a year, at the beginning of the spring, once the winter cold was gone. Although lacking the liturgical importance of the pilgrim festivals related to the harvest of cereals at the beginning of the agricultural season or to the harvest of grapes and the ingathering of fruits at the end of the period, the shearing of the sheep was, nonetheless, a memorable convivium that brought together people of different localities to enjoy banquets "fit for royalty". The "first fruits of the shearing of the flock" were entitlements of the priests, just as it were the first fruits of grain, wine and oil and portions of the animals sacrificed. No specific celebration of the shearing of the sheep takes place in present-day

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

(The attempts at

kibbutzim A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, i ...

to introduce any new kind of agricultural festival of secular nature haven't succeeded). Leah Bergstein created a choreography for a sheep-shearing festival but it was held only twice. The possibility exists, however, that

Lag BaOmer Lag BaOmer (, ''LaG Bāʿōmer''), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Judaism, Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Iyar. Accordin ...

, a joyful celebration of obscure origin and forgotten meaning, observed since

Geonic ''Geonim'' (; ; also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura Academy , Sura and Pumbedita Academy , Pumbedita, in t ...

times in mid-spring and in which highly religious

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

give their three-year-old boys their first haircut, could somehow echo the ancient event.

References

Sources

* Gen. 31:19, 38:12; Deut. 18:4; I Sam. 25:2; 2 Sam. 13:23-27; 2 Kings 3:4. * Freedman, D.N. (ed.), Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Grand Rapids, Mi., W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004. * The Harpercollins Bible Dictionary, N.Y., Harpercollins Publishers, 2011. * The New Encyclopedia of Judaism, N.Y., New York University Press, 2002. * Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, Keter Publishing House, 1972. Jewish culture Jewish festivals Religious festivals in Israel Spring (season) in Israel Sheep shearing {{Bible-stub