Bar Mitzvah / Bat Mitzvah Gifts Main Page
WHAT IS A BAR MITZVAH?
Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah
When a Jewish child reaches the age of maturity (12 years for girls, 13 years
for boys) that child becomes responsible for him/herself under Jewish law. At
this point a boy is said to become Bar Mitzvah ("son of the commandment"); a
girl is said to become Bat Mitzvah ("daughter of the commandment"). The plural
form term for people of obligation is B'nai Mitzvah, though when referring to
multiple celebrations, many say "Bar" or "Bat Mitzvot."
Before this age, all responsibility lies with the parents. After this age, the
children are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life and
bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics.
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Boys
Since medieval times it was traditional for a boy to celebrate becoming Bar
Mitzvah. The current practice is that on a Shabbat shortly after his 13th
birthday, he may read from the Torah and Haftara, give a d'var Torah (homily),
and/or lead part of the prayer services. By calling the boy to the Torah to
receive an aliyah, the community indicates that he is now of age. Sometimes the
celebration is during another service that includes reading from the Torah, such
as a Monday or Thursday morning service, a Shabbat afternoon service, or a
morning service on Rosh Chodesh, the new moon. The service is often followed by
a celebratory meal with family, friends, and members of the community. In the
modern day, the celebration is sometimes delayed for reasons such as
availability of a Shabbat during which no other celebration has been scheduled,
or the desire to permit family to travel to the event, however this does not
delay the onset of rights and responsibilities of being a Jewish adult, which
comes about strictly by virtue of age.
Girls
Except in Italy, no similar ceremony evolved at that time for Jewish girls.
Though girls became obligated in the laws just as boys did, their less public
role, particularly in the synagogue, meant that the coming of age was less
visible to the community.
Although the terms "Bar Mitzvah" and "Bat Mitzvah" are commonly used by Jews and
non-Jews alike to refer to the event itself, the term actually refers to the boy
or girl. The event is often misunderstood to be a rite of passage by which a
Jewish boy or girl becomes a Jewish adult, in fact it is merely a celebration of
the adulthood that came about automatically by virtue of age. The ceremony
itself does not change the status of the celebrant nor does it imbue any
additional rights or responsibilities beyond those which were automatically
imbued on a boy's 13th (or girl's 12th) birthday.
However, in the 19th and 20th centuries, Jews of the Reform, Conservative, and
Reconstructionist denominations reconceived the notion of "obligation" and
gender distinctions within Judaism. Today, non-orthodox Jews celebrate a girl's
becoming Bat Mitzvah in the same way as a boy's becoming Bar Mitzvah. Most
Reform and Conservative synagogues have egalitarian participation in which women
may read from the Torah and lead services. Conservative Judaism is pluralistic,
and some synagogues are still concerned about the halakhic propriety of women
reading the Torah portion to men. (Some believe that a woman's voice, kol isha,
distracts men from fulfilling their obligation in a pious spirit.) Reform and
Reconstructionist Judaism are entirely egalitarian. Many girls in the
non-Orthodox movements celebrate Bat Mitzvah at age 13 rather than the
traditional 12.
The majority of Orthodox Judaism rejects the idea that a woman can read from the
Torah or lead prayer services and has developed a less public way to mark this
occasion. In many cases, Orthodox girls will lecture on a Jewish topic to mark
their coming of age, learn a book of Tanakh or seder of Mishnah, recite the
verses from other texts (such as the Book of Esther or Psalms) or prayers from
the siddur. However, over the past century, the celebration of Bat Mitzvah has
become widespread in all movements.
The source of this article is
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this
article is licensed under the
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