Bar Mitzvah

Bar Mitzvah (bärmĭts`və) [Aramaic,=son of the Commandment], Jewish ceremony in which the young male is initiated into the religious community, according to tradition at the age of 13 years and a day. The celebrant performs his first act as an adult, saying the blessing for the reading in the synagogue of part of the weekly portion of the Torah or, more traditionally, performing the actual reading. The exact content of the ceremony varies according to local traditions and customs (e.g., Ashkenazic or Sephardic). Today the religious ceremony is accompanied by a social celebration that is considered a Seudat Mitzvah, a feast in celebration of the fulfillment of a commandment. The 20th cent. has seen the introduction (1922) of the Bas, or Bat, Mitzvah, a comparable ceremony for the young female, by the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist groups and to a much lesser extent by the Orthodox. The Bat Mitzvah ceremony is performed at the age of 12 or 13. It often includes the reading of the weekly Haftarah, although it is increasingly becoming identical with the Bar Mitzvah.

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Bar Mitzvah

Jewish ritual celebrating a boy's 13th birthday and his entry into the community of Judaism. It usually takes place during a Sabbath service, when the boy reads from the Torah and may give a discourse on the text. The service is often followed by a festive Kiddush and a family dinner on the same day or next day. Reform Judaism substituted confirmation of boys and girls for the Bar Mitzvah celebration after 1810, but many congregations restored the Bar Mitzvah in the 20th century. A separate ceremony for girls, Bat Mitzvah, has been instituted in Reform and Conservative Judaism.