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# Kol a-Niarim, the custom of blessing boys under a tallit on Simchat Torah
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/angel-izbavliaiushchii-menia-ot-vsiakogo-zla-da-blagoslovit-otrokov-sikh-da-budet-na-nikh-narecheno-imia-moio-i-imia-ottsov-moikh-avraama-i-isaaka-i-da-vozrastut-oni-vo-mnozhestvo-posre/
- Published: 2022-10-18T07:30:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:00:13.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Ethnography

The angel who redeemed me from all evil bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Genesis 48:16

During the reading of this passage of the Pentateuch on the festival of Simchat Torah, that is, the day on which the annual cycle of Torah readings is completed and a new cycle begins (this year on 17-18 October), all the underage boys who have come to the synagogue are invited to gather together beneath a large tallit, the prayer shawl. At that moment the words of Israel's blessing upon Ephraim and Manasseh are read. The custom is called “Kol ha-Ne'arim”, that is, “all the boys”, and goes back to the Jewish communities of fourteenth-century Germany. It remains very popular among Jews the world over to this day, as one of the brightest traditions of this joyous festival