According to Jewish law Halakha — also transliterated Halocho (Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation) and Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions, when Jewish The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos children reach the 13 years for boys and 12 for girls they become responsible for their actions, and "become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah" (English: Son (Bar) or Daughter (Bat) of the commandments). In many Conservative and Reform synagogues, girls celebrate their Bat Mitzvahs at age 13[citation needed], along with boys. This also coincides with physical puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. Puberty is initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads . In response, the gonads produce a variety of hormones that stimulate the growth, function, or transformation of brain, bones, muscle, skin, breasts, and.[1] Prior to this, the child's parents hold the responsibility for the child's adherence to Jewish law and tradition and, after this age, children bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law Law is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. Laws can shape or reflect politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people, tradition Traditions serve to preserve a wide range of culturally significant ideas, specific practices and the various methods used by distinct cultures. The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem which is the accusative case of traditio which means "handing over, passing on", and ethics Ethics is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality — that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, justice, virtue, etc and are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.[2]
In modern Jewish observance, the occasion of becoming a Bar Mitzvah or (in non-Orthodox congregations) a Bat Mitzvah usually involves the young man or woman being called to read the Torah Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll (or scrolls) from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll(s) to the ark, a Haftarah The haftarah or haftoroh (alt. haphtara, Hebrew: הפטרה; "parting," "taking leave", plural haftarot or haftorahs) is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im ("Prophets") of the Hebrew Bible (Tanach) that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice. The Haftarah reading follows portion, or both at a Shabbat Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from week to week and from place to place, depending on the time of sunset at or other service and may also involve giving a d'var Torah Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts. Ideally within Judaism it is done for the purpose of the mitzvah of Torah study itself, a discussion of that week's Torah portion. Precisely what the Bar/Bat Mitzvah may do during the service varies in Judaism's different denominations and can also depend on the specific practices of various congregations. Regardless of the nature of the celebration, males become entirely culpable and responsible for following Jewish law once they reach the age of 13, and females once they reach the age of 12.
Contents |
Responsibilities
Whoever becomes Bar or Bat Mitzvah has the responsibilities of an adult Jew under Jewish law Halakha — also transliterated Halocho (Yiddish pronunciation) and Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions. These include:
- Moral A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. As an example of the latter, at the end of Aesop's fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, in which the plodding and determined tortoise wins a responsibility for own actions
- Eligibility to be called to read from the Torah The term Torah , also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: Πεντάτευχος from πεντα- penta- [five] and τεῦχος teuchos [tool, vessel, book]), refers to the Five Books of Moses—the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or and participate in a Minyan A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten male Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations (In Orthodox denominations, only males read from the Torah or participate in a Minyan)
- May possess personal property
- May be legally married according to Jewish law In Jewish law , betrothal (Hebrew: shiddukhin) or engagement is defined as the mutual promise between a man and a woman to contract a marriage at some future time and the formulation of the terms on which it shall take place. The promise may be made by the intending parties or one made by their respective parents or other relatives on their
- Must follow the 613 laws The 613 Mitzvot are statements and principles of law and ethics contained in the Torah or Five Books of Moses. These principles of Biblical law are sometimes called commandments (mitzvot) or collectively as the "Law of Moses" (Torat Moshe, תורת משה), "Mosaic Law", or simply "the Law" (though these terms are of the Torah
Modern practices
Jewish boys
Celebration of Bar Mitzvah in the Western Wall tunnel The Western Wall Tunnel is an underground tunnel exposing the Western Wall in its full length. The tunnel is adjacent to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City in Jerusalem, Israel in Jerusalem Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (help·info), Yerushaláyim (for the meaning, see below); Arabic: القُدس (audio) (help·info), al-Quds Sharif, lit. "The Holy Sanctuary"; Yiddish: ירושלים Yərusholáyəm)[ii] is the capital[iii] of Israel and, if including the area and population of East Jerusalem, its.Aliyah
Calling someone to say the Torah blessings during a service is called an Aliyah Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll (or scrolls) from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll(s) to the ark (from the Hebrew: עֲלִיָּה, from the verb la'alot, לעלות, meaning, "to rise, to ascend; to go up"). The widespread practice is that on Shabbat one or more days after his 13th birthday, a boy may recite the blessings for the Torah reading, and may also read the week's portion from the Torah (five books of Moses) and Haftara (selections from the books of the Prophets), give a d'var Torah Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts. Ideally within Judaism it is done for the purpose of the mitzvah of Torah study itself, which may include a discussion of that week's Torah portion, or both. He may also lead part or all of the morning prayer services. Precisely what the Bar Mitzvah should lead during the service varies from one congregation to another, and is not fixed by Jewish law. Sometimes the celebration is during another service that includes reading from the Torah, such as a Monday or Thursday morning service, a Shabbat afternoon service, or a morning service on Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon.
Celebratory meal
The service often precedes a celebratory meal with family, friends, and members of the community. In some modern communities, most notably among affluent North American Jews, this celebratory meal can eclipse the religious ceremony itself, often rivaling a wedding A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of wedding vows by the couple, presentation of a gift (offering, ring, symbolic item, celebration in extravagance.
Some communities may delay the celebration for reasons such as availability of a Shabbat, during which no other celebration has been scheduled, or due to the desire to permit family to travel to the event; however, this does not delay the onset of rights and responsibilities of being a Jewish adult, which comes about strictly by virtue of age.
After the celebratory bar mitzvah meal, it is traditional for the celebrant to lead the Birkat Hamazon Birkat Hamazon, , known in English as the Grace After Meals, (Yiddish: בענטשן; translit. bentshn or "to bench"; Yinglish: Benching), is a set of Hebrew blessings that Jewish Law prescribes following a meal that includes bread or matzoh made from one or all of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt. It is a matter of rabbinic dispute, something he could not do as a minor.
Tefillin
In current practice, boys who belong to branches of Judaism that regularly wear tefillin do not start wearing tefillin Tefillin , (Hebrew: תפילין), pronounced /ˈtfɪlɨn/ in Askhenazic Hebrew and English, [tfiˈlin] in Israeli Hebrew, also called phylacteries (pronounced /fɪˈlæktəriz/, from Ancient Greek phylacterion, form of phylássein, φυλάσσειν meaning "to guard, protect"), are a set of small cubic leather boxes painted black, until they are close to bar mitzvah. The most widespread custom in those branches involves starting to wear tefillin about 30 days before the thirteenth birthday, although others commence about three months in advance, and there is also a custom (prevalent among chasidim Hasidim/Chasidim is the plural of Hasid (חסיד), meaning "pious". The honorific "Hasid" was frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. In classic Rabbinic literature it differs from "Tzadik"-"righteous", by instead denoting one who goes beyond the legal) for tefillin to be worn for the first time on the thirteenth birthday. For this reason there is a strong perceived correlation between the bar mitzvah ceremony and the commandment of tefillin.
Jewish girls
Most non-Orthodox Jews celebrate a girl's Bat Mitzvah in the same way as a boy's Bar Mitzvah. All Reform and Reconstructionist, and most[3] Conservative synagogues A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. (it might also be of interest that the word when broken down could mean, "learning together" (syn - gr. together and aghoghei gr. learning or training) have egalitarian participation, in which women read from the Torah and lead services.
The majority of Orthodox Jews Orthodox Judaism is a formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics canonized in the Talmudic texts and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim. Generally, Orthodox Judaism consists of two different streams, the reject the idea that a woman can publicly read from the Torah or lead prayer services whenever there is a minyan A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten male Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations (quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Tenth Edition, the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order, the "requirement for a quorum is protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by of 10 males) available to do so. This was done because a woman reading the Torah or leading the prayer services implied that the men were illiterate and could not do so. (Massechet Megilah) However, the public celebration of a girl becoming Bat Mitzvah in other ways has made strong inroads in Modern Orthodox Judaism, and also in some elements of Haredi Judaism Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism, also referred to as Ultra-Orthodox Judaism,—though the term is considered pejorative by some—is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi. In these congregations, women do not read from the Torah or lead prayer services, but occasionally they will lecture on a Jewish topic to mark their coming of age, learn a book of Tanakh The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets&, recite verses from the Book of Esther The Book of Esther is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim. Its full text is read aloud twice during the celebration, in the evening and again the following morning or the Book of Psalms Psalms is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Taken together, its 150 sacred poems express virtually the full range of Israel's faith, or prayers from the siddur A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as we know it today has developed. A separate article, Jewish services, discusses the prayers that appear in the siddur, and when they are said. It is increasingly common in modern Orthodox circles for girls to read from the Torah in a women's tefillah.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Moshe Feinstein was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek (an authoritative adjudicator of questions related to Jewish law), who was world-renowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme rabbinic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America. In the Orthodox world he is widely referred to simply as &, a prominent Orthodox posek Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive, has opposed anyone attending a Bat Mitzvah and has referred to the ceremony as hevel, nonsense. The Sephardic 1st row: Maimonides • Isaac Abrabanel • Baruch Spinoza • David Nieto • Daniel Mendoza • David Ricardo rabbi René Samuel Sirat, who served as Chief Rabbi of France, has also opposed Bat Mitzvah.
Secular Humanist Jewish Practices
Instead of reading from the Torah, some Humanist Jews Humanistic Judaism is a movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and Jewish history — rather than belief in God — as the sources of Jewish identity. Its rituals and ceremonies do not include prayer or any invocation of a deity. Its philosophical outlook is derived from religious humanism or secular humanism, and its beliefs may be summarized as prefer to research, write, and present a research paper on a topic in Jewish history to mark their coming of age.[3] [4] [5]
Secular Jewish Sunday schools and communities—including those affiliated with the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations and the Arbeter Ring (Workmen's Circle)—encourage their bas/bar mitsve candidates to select any topic that interests them and that relates to the Jewish part of their identities. After extensive, guided research and profound thought, the young people present their findings in any format they may select: reading an essay or creating an AV presentation, dramatic piece, work of biography or fiction, even a modern dance.
Second Bar Mitzvah
Among some Jews, a man who has reached the age of 83 will customarily celebrate a second bar mitzvah, under the logic that a "normal" lifespan is 70 years, so that an 83-year-old can be considered 13 in a second lifetime. This practice has become increasingly common.[4][5]
Bar/Bat Mitzvah gifts
Like weddings, Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebrations commonly become an occasion to give the celebrant a commemorative gift. Traditionally, common gifts included books with religious or educational value, religious items, writing implements, savings bonds (to be used for the child's college education), gift certificates, or money [6] [7]. Gifts of cash have become commonplace in recent times. As with charity and all other gifts, it has become common to give in multiples of 18, since the gematria Gematria or gimatria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. The word "gematria" is generally held to, or numerical equivalent of the Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s word for "life", ("chai Chai is a symbol and word that figures prominently in Jewish culture and consists of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet Het (ח) and Yod (י)"), is the number 18. Monetary gifts in multiples of 18 are considered to be particularly auspicious and have become very common for Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. Many Bar/Bat Mitzvah also receive their first tallit A tallit (taleth or talet in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino) (tallis, in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish) pl. tallitot (talleisim, tallism, or tallithim in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish) is a Jewish prayer shawl. A tallit is worn during the morning prayers (Shacharit) on weekdays, Shabbat and holidays. The tallit has special twined and knotted fringes from their parents to be used for the occasion.
History
Jewish Exponent
One is 43-year-old Blanca Carrasco, who returned to Judaism last year and celebrated her Bat Mitzvah on Shavuot. As the rabbi took the Torah around the ...
and more »
lake
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:52:20 GM
Choose from personalized chocolate candy bars Mitzvah Party Favors . Bar and Bat. Specialists and Designers of . Bar. Mitzvah and All Occasion Party Favors.. Bar. Mitzvah & . Bat Mitzvah. Gifts Custom T-Shirts for Party Favors Design custom . bar. ...
