Bar/Bat Mitzvah Ritual In Judaism

The primary importance of the bar/bat mitzvah ritual in Judaism is to formally initiate young Jews to membership in God’s covenant. While we tend to think of a “bar mitzvah” as an event or celebration, this is incorrect. The term means “son of the commandment,” and is actually applied to the initiate himself (or herself, in the case of a bat mitzvah: “daughter of the commandment”). Thus, anyone who has gone through the bar/bat mitzvah ritual carries the title of bar or bat mitzvah. The purpose of the ritual, as stated previously, is for young Jews to be initiated by expressing willingness to be a part of God’s covenant, and by demonstrating some proficiency to read and interpret Torah. We will begin by examining the history of the ceremony, followed by its modern practice and its expressions in different forms of Judaism.

A Jew need not go through a bar/bat mitzvah ceremony to become a bar or bat mitzvah. Historically, any male Jew
This represents an egalitarian shift within Judaism; today, most of the major branches of Judaism invite their women to join in God’s covenant through the bat mitzvah ritual. Interestingly, “bat mitzvah” is Hebrew, but “bar mitzvah” is Aramaic; the latter is an older term which has its roots in a time when Aramaic was the common language for many Jews. The term “bat mitzvah,” meanwhile, was chosen by much later Jewish thinkers, for whom Hebrew would have seemed most appropriate. The first bat mitzvah ritual was held for Judith Kaplan, daughter of Reconstructionism founder Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, on March 18 of 1922. While this ceremony set an important precedent, the bat mitzvah ritual did not become a common practice within Judaism until the 1970s. Reconstructionist, Reform, and Conservative Jewish congregations all now place equal rights and responsibilities on men and women, and regularly hold bat mitzvahs for their