Bar and Bat Mitzvah

Celebration of Bar Mitzvah in the Western Wall tunnel in Jerusalem.

In Judaism, a Bar Mitzvah is a Jewish boy, and a Bat Mitzvah a Jewish girl, who has turned 13 years old (or for a girl in the Orthodox movement, 12 years old), and who has gone through a ceremony that represents a face lift acceptance of some responsibilities which symbolizes their coming of age. The terms are also used for the ceremony celebrating this event.

• Bar Mitzvah (pl. B'nai Mitzvah) comes from the Aramaic: בר מצוה, "one (m.) to whom the commandments apply". (If it were Hebrew it would be בן (ben) not בר (bar). בר is "son" in Aramaic, and בן (ben) is son in Hebrew.).
• Bat Mitzvah (pl. B'not Mitzvah) is בת מצוה, "one (f.) to whom the commandments apply" (Ashkenazi: Bas Mitzvah).

According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach the age of majority (generally thirteen years for boys and twelve for girls) they become responsible for their actions, and "become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah". This is also the time when physical puberty normally begins. Before this the child's parents have the responsibility that the child follows Jewish law and tradition and, after this age, children have their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics and have the right to take part in all areas of Jewish community life.

Further reading

Oppenheimer, Mark. Thirteen and a Day: The Bar and Bat Mitzvah across America. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005.

Other websites

• Schauss, Hayyim. History of Bar Mitzvah
• "Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah and Confirmation"
• The Official Israeli Ministry of Tourism Website with information about celebrating Bar/Bat Mitzvah in Jerusalem
• Secular Humanistic Bar/Bat Mitzvah