What is a Bar or Bat Mitzvah about?
An important life cycle event for a young Jewish boy or girl is the Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah respectively. A boy is Bar Mitzvah when he reaches his thirteenth birthday, while girls are Bat Mitzvah when they are twelve. However, the girl’s ceremony can be postponed to their thirteenth birthday as well. The literal meaning of Bar/Bat Mitzvah is “commandment age” or age of majority. Historically Bar Mitzvah and later Bat Mitzvah is the ceremonial occasion that marks the time when a young person is recognized as an adult in the Jewish community and is responsible for performing mitzvot. For example before children are Bar/Bat Mitzvah, they do not need to fast on Yom Kippur. However after Bar/Bat mitzvah, they are required to fulfill this mitzvah. At Bar/Bat mitzvah they are also counted in the minyan, a quorum of ten required to conduct a service. The Bar/Bat mitzvah ceremony consists of the young person chanting the blessings, and his/her Torah portion which is the Torah portion of the
