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A note: Throughout this
segment there are many instances where the terms bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah
are interchangeable. In sections where gender doesnt matter, the sentences will
open with a reference to bar or bat mitzvah. Following this, bar and bat will
be used interchangeably.
Bar and Bat Mitzvah
Where have the years gone? Only yesterday, it seems, your little one pronounced
his first work, bowed at the close of the school play and memorized 150 warriors
in the latest video game. Only yesterday, it seems, your little one delighted at
a red ribbon in her hair, danced her first ballet recital and wore her first
very lady like shoes. And now, the twelfth/thirteenth birthday rolls around and
your little darling is now a Jewish adult.
For an instant. Preteens ping pong between gracefully wearing the mantle of
adulthood and whining childishly the next. One glance at a thirteen-year-old boy
or a twelve-year-old girl and theres no mistaking him or her for a tax-paying,
carpool-driving, got-a-meeting adult. Yet this does not change the reality of
the transition. In the eyes of Jewish law, a thirteen-year-old boy and a
twelve-year-old girl have reached a rite of passage and are now obligated to
fulfill mitzvot, the commandments. (Reform girls celebrate their Bat Mitzvah at
age thirteen.)
Talmudic privileges of being counted as part of a
minyan (a quorum: the ten adults traditionally necessary for some prayers
and ceremonies), offering testimony, and making a vow were extended to a boy who
passed this benchmark age. Mystically speaking, there are some rabbis who
thought bar/bat mitzvah birthday was the age when a child was granted a
yetzer tov, a conscience, that gives them a little boost in the be good
department.
This turning point is cause for celebration. Mazal Tov!
More Information About Bar and Bar Mitzvah
Evolution of the Bar Mitzvah over
the years
Evolution of the Bat Mitzvah
over the years
Is a formal
celebration of a Bar MItzvah or
Bat MItzvah required by Jewish
law?
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