Natalie Turner
Life Cycle
Bar/Bat Mitzvah
1. What des Bar/Bat Mitzvah literally mean?
Bar Mitzvah literally means, son of the commandment and Bat Mitzvah means daughter of the commandment.
2. What is the significance of this practice?
Bar/Bat Mitzvah is the age in which a boy becomes a man (in a sense). This ceremony signifies when the child takes responsibility for his or her religious life (Kasdan).
3. What are some traditional and religious events that take place in a bar mitzvah ceremony?
After the boy has studied for several years leading up to his Bar Mitzvah, he will be ready to lead portions of a synagogue service. The ceremony includes the boy carrying the Torah Scroll “down the aisles of the synagogue,” the reciting of the Shm’a or other Hebrew scriptures including the weekly Torah portion not only in Hebrew but in song as well. Finally the child must present the “sermon.” Afterword, there is usually a big celebration (Kasdan).
4. Why is Bat Mitzvah not practiced in many Orthodox congregations?
In most Orthodox and Chasidic community’s girls at the age of 12 do not celebrate their coming of age like a Bar Mitzvah boy does. The ceremony a boy goes through is a religious observance and women are not permitted to practice the same way.
5. Where are these practices found in the Bible?
There is never any specific reference to a Bar Mitzvah in the Tanakh, however most religious Jews would agree that the Hebrew Scriptures refer to a point in a child’s life when a boy becomes responsible for his actions. Barney Kasdan author of, “God’s Appointed Customs” a Messianic Jew himself refers to the New Testament record of Yeshua debating with Rabbi’s in the Temple. He believes this to be significant as it relates to Yeshua and the observance of Bar Mitzvah.
