bar mitzvah

1. A 13-year-old Jewish boy, considered an adult and responsible for his moral and religious duties.
2. The ceremony that initiates and recognizes a boy as a bar mitzvah.

[Hebrew bar miṣwâ : Aramaic bar, son + Hebrew miṣwâ, commandment; see mitzvah.]

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According to the Talmud, male adolescence begins at the age of 13 years and a day (Kid. 16b). While under the age of 13, however, a boy could participate in religious ceremonies as soon as he was able to appreciate their significance. He might be called to the Reading of the Law (Meg. 23a), wear Tefillin, and even fast on the Day of Atonement (Yoma 82a). There is no evidence of a bar mitzvah ceremony prior to 1400 and major codifiers of the Oral Law, such as Isaac Alfasi (11th cent.) and Maimonides (12th cent.) do not mention it.

By the late Middle Ages, a Jewish minor's participation in religious rituals had become limited. Ashkenazim permitted a boy to wear tefillin only after he was 13 years old, and until then he was not entitled to be called to the Reading of the Law. Sephardi communities also imposed restrictions, all of which promoted the development of a formal bar mitzvah ceremony.

The essentials of this ritual were (1) praying with tefillin for the first time; and (2) being called to the Reading of the Law. Among East European Ashkenazim, a boy was usually called to the Torah on the first Monday or Thursday after his 13th birthday (according to the Hebrew date), when he would recite the Torah Blessings and perhaps chant some verses from that week's Pentateuchal reading. In Western Europe, however, a 13-year-old would be called to the Reading at Sabbath Morning Service. In addition to reciting the Torah blessings, the boy would chant "a portion of the Law" (Maftir) and the Haftarah reading from the Prophets. This is now the prevailing custom throughout the world. On either a weekday or Sabbath morning, when his son had completed the second Torah blessing, the father would recite a special formula--- Barukh She-Petarani-- marking the lad's new status of religious responsibility.

As elaborated in both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities, the bar mitzvah ceremony came to include a discourse or talk (derashah) by the 13-year-old. This demonstrated his understanding of the rabbinic commentaries and, in some cases, expounded points in talmudic law. The speech was (and usually still is) written by the teacher for the bar mitzvah boy to memorize and deliver.

Additional practices were gradually adopted, some religious and others of a social nature. Once the boy had mastered Cantillation as well as Hebrew, he might not only chant his particular section of the Pentateuch but the entire weekly reading (parashah) as well. Boys were trained as prayer leaders and, while some conducted the Sabbath eve (Kabbalat Shabbat) service on Friday night, others could lead the Sabbath Morning Service. Some Western (Ashkenazi and Sephardi) communities also instituted the reading of a special prayer by the young man while he stood before the rabbi or the Holy Ark. In modern times, it has become customary for the rabbi to address a bar mitzvah boy after the Reading of the Law, and for a Mi She-Berakh prayer to be recited on his behalf.

Initially, a bar mitzvah repast for family and friends was tendered after the weekday Morning Service or at the "third meal" (Se'Udah Shelishit) eaten after the Sabbath Afternoon Service. Later, this was expanded into a Kiddush for all present at the Sabbath Morning Service, which was followed by a family dinner. Nowadays, the bar mitzvah reception or dinner often becomes a lavish social event, the bar mitzvah boy receiving gifts from his parents, relatives, and other guests.

Whereas Ashkenazi tradition permits the bar mitzvah to begin wearing tefillin only a month before his 13th birthday, Eastern Sephardim allow him to do so at least six months earlier. In the Moroccan Jewish community, a celebration was traditionally held on the Thursday after the boy's 12th birthday. On Wednesday night, a party was arranged at home for adults and children; the next morning, services began with the rabbi placing the tefillin on the boy, who later read a section from the Pentateuch. Among Syrian, Turkish, and Iraqi Jews, the boy is usually about 12 1/2 when he celebrates his bar mitzvah. In many Eastern Sephardi communities, elaborate Hebrew poems (Piyyutim) were often written to mark this special occasion. Western Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews) allow even a youngster of seven or eight to chant the haftarah, but only when he reaches the age of 13 years and a day is he permitted to recite the Torah blessings and to chant the Maftir.

It is a general practice among Sephardim for a bar mitzvah boy to recite the She-Heḥeyanu benediction. Ashkenazi communities in the West have imitated the Sephardi custom permitting youngsters to wear a prayer shawl (Tallit) in synagogue, even when they are not called to the Torah reading. Both Eastern Sephardim and all communities in Israel maintain another practice---women and girls pelt the bar mitzvah with candies as soon as he has completed his reading from the Pentateuch.

Reform Judaism in the 19th century replaced the bar mitzvah with a Confirmation ceremony for boys and girls in their late teens, but most Reform congregations have since also made room for the traditional celebration. In recent times, the bar mitzvah ceremony has acquired extra importance as an occasion for the young man to affirm his Jewish heritage. All streams of American Jewry utilize the bar mitzvah as leverage for persuading families to join a synagogue and enroll their child either in an afternoon Hebrew school or in a Jewish day school. Many synagogues require five years of religious education prior to bar mitzvah; and according to the regulations of Britain's United Synagogue (Orthodox), no bar mitzvah boy may read the Maftir unless he has passed an examination in Hebrew and Jewish knowledge. For those American Jews who did not celebrate their bar mitzvah at 13, courses are now available preparing them to do so as adults.

In Israel, secular kibbutzim introduced various nonreligious types of ceremony. Also, since 1967, many boys---from Israel and abroad---celebrate their bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where they read from the Law on a Monday or Thursday morning. Some hold collective or individual ceremonies in the ruins of the ancient synagogue at Masada.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: (Judaism) an initiation ceremony marking the 13th birthday of a Jewish boy and signifying the beginning of religious responsibility

The verb bar mitzvah has one meaning:

Meaning #1: confirm in the bar mitzvah ceremony, of boys in the Jewish faith