Bar Mitzvah

Bar Mitzvah means ‘son of the commandments’, and Bat Mitzvah means ‘daughter of the commandments’. Traditionally, a boy reaches this religious status at 13 and a girl at 12. This is religious adulthood, not legal adulthood: the young person becomes personally responsible for following Jewish law and its mitzvot, or commandments.

A Jewish boy becomes Bar Mitzvah at 13. The expression means ‘son of the commandment’. He is now personally accountable for observing the mitzvot, the commandments of Jewish law, rather than his parents carrying responsibility for his religious upbringing alone.