Bar Mitzvah Research Paper

478 Words1 Page

Party:

The Bar/Bat Mitzvah is a joyful celebration, where friends and family come together to witness a youth turn into a man. The party after the ceremony often includes but is not limited to: dancing, eating delicious food such as hummus and rice, and responsibly drinking, all to honour and celebrating the (now) adult.
Importance:

It is the age where the child becomes an adult. In addition, there are many privileges the son/daughter will acquire that day as well. For example, they are granted the right to read the torah, marry, testify in court, and own their own property. The Bar Mitzvah serves as a reminder to seek goodness in one’s actions in the years to come, as both the tendency to do good and the tendency to do self-serving actions increase as one passes the age of 13.
History: …show more content…

Before it was changed, a blessing was simply said by the father giving thanks to God for not making him held responsible anymore for his sons one behavior. Back then, there was no celebration because the privileges granted to them were already given before they reach the age of majority. In the middle ages, that changed, and the Ashkenazim gave less religious rights to minors. They did not have the right to wear tefillin or read the Torah until they became an adult. Around then was when the celebration of Bar/Bat Mitzvah became more common. The boy wore tefillin a few months before the ceremony in the 17th century, so he could get used to wearing it and the procedures that came with it. The Talmudic laws (where the boy already had privileges before he became and adult) are followed by the Sephardics still today, but they still celebrate Bar/Bat

Open Document