לא תקיפו פאת ראשכם (קדושים יט:כז)

A woman once came with her son to Maran Reb Aharon of Belz zt”l. The gabbai, Reb Shulem Fogel a”h, explained her distress: her son was approaching bar mitzvah, yet he refused to attend cheder, showed no interest in learning, and would not listen to his mother.

When Reb Shulem finished, Maran—who would usually sit bent over—raised his head and looked intently at the boy. In a gentle, fatherly tone, he addressed him in Lashon Hakodesh: “בא הנה! שמעת, שמעת? אינך רוצה לקיים כיבוד אם, ואינך רוצה ללמוד, והנך כבר כמעט בן שלש עשרה”—“Come here! Do you hear? Do you hear? You don’t want to listen to your mother, you don’t want to learn, and you are already almost thirteen years old?” He then added warmly, “וגם פיאות אין לך”—“and you don’t even have peyos?”

Maran remarked that ideally, peyos should extend below the ear, but at the very least, they should reach the bone. Reb Shulem attempted to demonstrate this to the boy by touching his face to indicate the proper length. Maran then instructed Reb Shulem to wash his hands after having touched the boy’s face.

Before they left, Maran turned to Reb Shulem and said, “Tell him—the boy—that he must promise to obey everything.”