The Bar Mitzvah or "Son of the Commandments" is an important ceremony which Under Jewish Law, marks the obligation to follow the 613 Jewish Mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah.

AS and A Level Religious Studies & Philosophy

The Bar Mitzvah or “Son of the Commandments” is an important ceremony which Under Jewish Law, marks the obligation to follow the 613 Jewish Mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah, along with the corresponding right to take part in leading religious services, to count in a minyan (the minimum number of people needed to perform certain parts of religious services), to form binding contracts, to testify before religious courts and to marry.

Preparation for this ceremony stretches as far back as a year before the ceremony although it may be argued that preparation for this day is undertaken since the child is first enrolled into Jewish school, some synagogues demand 3 years of Jewish education prior to Bar Mitzvah training. A Jewish boy receives special training in important skills he is to display during the Bar Mitzvah ceremony. These skills include donning a tephillin, reading the haftarah and a weekly portion of the Torah. About a year before some synagogues will present the boy with his Tenak, which is the Jewish Bible and a Kippah, which is the skullcap worn by Jewish males on the head also known as the Yarmulka. These items symbolize the start of the Bar Mitzvah training. The boy will start supplementary classes in addition to his regularly scheduled classes. During these classes he will learn Hebrew and religion in order to perform rituals such as putting on a tephillin and tallit. He will also learn how to recite the Haftarah (reading from the Prophets) and to read an entire weeks portion of the Torah. Some synagogues will assess the boys knowledge through an examination or discussion. Most synagogues will require the boy to sign a document or set himself a goal in order to make it clear that Bar Mitzvah isn’t the end of his Jewish study. He will also have to prepare a speech which he recites during the ceremony a Drashah on the Parshah. He will also have to attend Shabbat services such as Friday afternoon services (kiddush), Saturday Morning services and Saturday evening services (Havdalah) depending on the requirement of the synagogue. Nearer the Bar mitzvah more rehearsals with the Cantor and final rehearsals perhaps with the Rabbi will occur with a couple of weeks in hand. The week before the boy might be made to attend weekly services such as Monday and Thursday morning services in order to practice putting on his tallit and tephillin. He could also be made to read the Torah in order to be made more comfortable in front of the congregation.

The bar and bat mitzvah ceremony occurs during the Sabbath worship service. The first part of the service ends with the congregation singing Mi Chamocha ("Who is like You among the gods?"). It echoes the songs that Moses and the Israelites sang at the shores of the Red Sea when the Israelites had been saved from the Egyptians. The second part of the service ends with a prayer for peace for the Jewish people and for the whole world. During the third section of the service, the Torah is read. The haftarah, by tradition, must end on a note ...

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The entire service concludes with two prayers: Aleinu, a triumphant plea that the world will ultimately recognize that there is only one God, and Kaddish, a plaintive mourners' prayer which proclaims that God's rule, the fulfillment of God's hopes for the world, will come someday, Kaddish's form and function are closely related to the Lord's Prayer.

The ultimate message of the service is the triumph of hope: hope for freedom, hope for peace, hope that all our words will end on joyful notes, hope for universal redemption.

A member of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah family may address the child from the Bima and the parents may make a speech although the synagogue may set a time limit on this. The boy will receive his father's blessing. The father thanks God that he has now been freed from responsibility for the boy's sins and rejoices that his son is now a man.

The parents will arrange a meal (the Seudah) for all the boy's family and friends after the ceremony at which the boy will deliver a sermon of thanks. His family and friends will give gifts to the boy at this time.

Many items are used during the ceremony more notably the Tefillin, Tallit and Torah Scrolls kept in the Aron Ha Ko Desh and Siddur.

The boy is taught how to put on his tephillin before the Bar Mitzvah ceremony and is required to wear it during his Bar Mitzvah. Small leather boxes are worn close to the heart and close to the brain to show that Jews both love God and think about him. All Jewish males are required to put on the tallit in the synagogue. The tallit serves to remind the wearer about the mitzvot as there are 613 fringes. The Torah contains Jewish laws on Jewish life, food laws, marriage etc. The Torah Scrolls and the Sefer Torah or the parchment it is written is carried out with great reverence.

Upon the Bar/Bat Mitzvah confirmation ceremony a Jewish boy automatically becomes a Bar Mitzvah upon reaching the age of 13 years and a girl at 12. No ceremony is needed to confer these rights and obligations. The popular bar/bat mitzvah ceremony is not required, and does not fulfill any commandment. It is a relatively modern innovation, not mentioned in the Talmud. However it does mark the ‘coming of age’ and does mark a difference in life in several aspects. As Bar Mitzvah literally suggests the girl/boy is now responsible to follow his/her religion and obey the 613 mitzvot. Bar and bat mitzvah are considered responsible for their own conduct and are required to observe the commandments. They also assume the privileges of majority—for instance, they can be counted in the minyan; can be called to the Torah for an aliyah; can form binding contracts; can testify before religious courts; can marry; and can wear tefillin (phylacteries donned for prayer).

Bar Mitzvah is not about being a full adult in every sense of the word, ready to marry, go out on your own, earn a living and raise children. The Torah makes this abundantly clear. In Pirkei Avot, it is said that while 13 is the proper age for fulfillment of the Commandments, 18 is the proper age for marriage and 20 is the proper age for earning a livelihood. Elsewhere in the Talmud, the proper age for marriage is said to be 16-24.

Bar Mitzvah is simply the age when a person is held responsible for his actions and minimally qualified to marry. Men are considered to be the bread winners while the females are mainly role models for their children and based at home. Jews regard their roles, rights and responsibilities towards religion and each other through several sources of authority notably the Torah Mitzvot, the ten commandments and the Talmud. Bar/Bat Mitzvahs are responsible to obey these responsibilities e.g to believe in one God and not to practice idolatry to lead a moral life and not commit adultery or incest to contribute to society and not to commit murder to be honest and not steal to respect God and not blaspheme to have law courts and practise justice to be kind to animals and not cruel (Noachide laws). A Bar/Bat Mitzvah will be expected to fulfill these commandments as they no have the ability to judge right from wrong. As children they might have not been required to complete these obligations but after this ceremony they are.

A Bar/ Bat mitzvah may mark the end of the boy/girl’s Jewish studies although in most cases it doesn’t. At present practicing Judaism for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah isn’t necessarily very easy and obeying the mitzvot as described in the Torah and the Talmud very difficult. An example is the commandments concerning Shabbat. No unnecessary work is to be done during this part of the week. Busy Jews leading professional lives may find this difficult. Times have changed since the ten commandments were first revealed and since biblical times the world has become more fast paced with more personal freedoms and liberations. Jews living under another legal system in another country may find it hard to restrain themselves from such freedoms which may or may not agree with Judaism e.g. eating kosher foods and committing adultery. As a child before the ceremony the boy/girl wouldn’t have been held accountable but afterwards the consequences of his/her actions will be their responsibility. They are considered mature enough to make the right decisions not about major issues such as marriage but at least distinguish between right and wrong.

In some people’s view 12 for a girl and 13 for a boy perhaps give or take a year is maybe physically the right age for children to assume adult responsibilities due to the onset of puberty. It also depends on what sort of adult responsibilities is in question. If such responsibilities are simply following the mitzvot in the Torah then indeed 12/13 is the right age for children to begin using adult responsibilities as their own. Children of such age if educated do have considerable knowledge on life such as violence, drugs, sex etc. They do have the ability to decide for themselves what will benefit them and what won’t as is in the case in when they start choosing subjects for further education. In Judaism such an age is a signal for the children to start committing to his/her religious duties such as fasting on Yom Kippur and being part of a Minyan. If the child has been educated in religion then there should be know problem in him/her following such obligations as Adults.

However there are other points of view. The child may not be able to assume very mature matters such as marriage. Even in the Talmud a slightly older age of 16-24 is mentioned as preferable. The child is still in the developing stage and still in the process of educating himself. In the modern world where emphasis is shifting towards complex industrial skills rather than simple agriculture a child of 12/13 will hardly be able to support him/herself so the child can’t be expected to assume adult responsibilities such as supporting a family. Perhaps when a child is able to fend for himself and is fully developed may he assume adult responsibilities. Another argument is that adolescents of such an age are still easily influenced through impression and to be sure they should be kept in education until their mind is fully developed and matured to handle tougher situations in adult life.

I personally think that 12/13 is the right age to assume most adult responsibilities as the child will one day have to support himself and by the time of adolescence he should be aware of what will be expected of him/her throughout his life. Also looking at western law a child of such an age is responsible for minimal criminal liability, can testify in court and can marry with parental consent although it may vary from state to state. Therefore I believe a 12 year old girl and 13 year old boy can be expected to assume adult responsibilities.

SOURCES

Yalkut Bar Mitzvah
An Anthology of Laws and Customs of a Bar Mitzvah in the Chabad Tradition

Chapter 2
Preparations for the Bar Mitzvah

by Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov

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