No 11
(Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah)
“Bar Mitzvah” literally
means “son of the commandment.” “Bar”
is “son” in Aramaic and is used in
the vernacular of the Jewish people. “Mitzvah”
is “commandment” in both Hebrew and
Aramaic. “Bat” is daughter in Hebrew and Aramaic. Technically, the term refers to the child who
is coming of age and it is correct to refer to someone as becoming a Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah rather than saying he or she is having a Bar Mitzvah; tradition has
changed the emphasis. When children are
young, they are not obliged, although encouraged, to observe the
commandments. But, at the age of 13 (12
for girls), children become obligated to follow the commandments.
There is no ceremony to confer these rights and obligations and
they do not fulfil any commandment; a child automatically becomes a Bar/Bat
Mitzvah when they reach the age. Also,
the elaborate ceremonies and receptions that are commonplace today were unheard
of as recently as a century ago. The
father traditionally recites a blessing thanking God for removing the burden of
being responsible for the child’s sins because now the child is old enough to
be held responsible for his or her own sins.
There is, of course, no Biblical reference for this ritual
either, but in Deuteronomy 6 we read “4 Hear, O