("Blessed be the One who has relieved me"). Form of benediction recited by the father of a boy who has been called to the Torah on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah. The traditional formula is quoted in the Midrash: "A man should be responsible for his son until the boy is 13; he should then say, 'Blessed be He who has relieved me of the punishment due on his account'" (Gen. R. 63:14). The parent of any minor guilty of religious misbehavior would have been liable to punishment, but this was no longer the case once the man's son attained his religious majority. In reciting this formula, the father is not shedding all responsibility for his son, but announcing that the boy has come of age and may now assume the religious duties of an adult. A special Mi She-Berakh for the bar mitzvah normally follows this recitation. Conservative Jews tend to omit this benediction in favor of the Mi she-Berakh blessing said by the reader, whereas the She-Heḥeyanu benediction replaces it in Reform congregations. Some modern Orthodox Jews likewise recite ttraditional formula on the occasion of a daughter's Bat Mitzvah.
Nowadays, in popular (Yiddish and Hebrew) speech: Barukh she-petarani is an expression of relief equivalent to "Good riddance!"
