The significance and meaning behind a shalom zachar
In Israel there’s a gemach for almost everything; you name it, and there’s likely a Jewish family (or ten) who provide the item free of charge. There are even arbes gemachs, for people who have a baby boy shortly before Shabbos and don’t have enough time to prepare the traditional chickpeas for the shalom zachar.
But why do chickpeas play such a prominent role in a shalom zachar? To answer that, we need to look at the significance and meaning behind this event.
Terumas Hadeshen sees the shalom zachar as a display of gratitude to Hashem that the infant has survived birth. And in celebrating the birth of the child, we are celebrating the continuity of the Jewish People — both as a whole, and through this family specifically.
The arbes we eat allude to the brachah given to Avraham Avinu: “Arbeh es zarecha,” the promise that Hashem will increase Avraham’s descendants to be like the stars of the heaven. At the new baby’s bris, we bless him that just as he entered the bris, so too he should merit to enter Torah, chuppah, and maasim tovim. From the very beginning of his life, we foresee many future beginnings, and we offer the child and his parents these abundant blessings.
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