Today is:  
kasher,kosher,kashrut,kosher supervision,kosher directo


 



 

     
     

KOSHER BY DESIGN

Amazing New Kosher
Cookbook. BUY

 

 Home > Bar Mitzvah Guide > Conservative > Why Celebrate at 13?    Search The Jewish Directory

Why Celebrate the Bar and Bat Mitzvah at  12 and 13?
A Conservative Perspective by Rivka C. Berman

At which exact moment does a child become an adult? Since some people never reach psychological adulthood (such as the bozos who honk and holler when they lose out on a parking spot), physical maturity was chosen as the mark of adulthood for all. Puberty generally begins in the early teen years, thus bar mitzvah age was set at thirteen years plus one day.

Since this doesn’t fully explain why thirteen is the chosen year, midrashic sources credit Moses with choosing age thirteen as the bar mitzvah year. There are other instances that Moses is said to have spoken the nature of Jewish practice at Sinai without jotting it down in the Torah. For example, Moses described how tefillin should look as their appearance is not described in the Torah. Jews have been wearing uniform-looking leather boxes ever since.

Special emotional maturity enough to be regarded as a bar mitzvah, according to at least one halachic opinion. Specifically, a boy who lost a parent would be eligible for his bar mitzvah anytime after his twelfth birthday. (Girls traditionally reached bat mitzvah at age twelve.) A child who loses a parent reckons with adulthood early on.

Other cultures avoid the number thirteen. Witch covens, apparently, form around the presence of twelve practitioners plus the devil, because black magic thrives on this number. Fear of the number thirteen pervades our culture, and even has a phobia associated with it. Skyscrapers are sometimes built without a thirteenth floor. Street numbers would be set to skip the address thirteen (the old television show The Munsters featured a monster family who lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane at the fictional Muckingbird Heights.

Judaism regards the number thirteen differently. Thirteen denotes positive attributes in the age of a boy, in moral conduct, and in the tenets of faith in God. For example:
• A Jewish male child transitions to adulthood at Thirteen.
• God is said to have thirteen attributes of mercy. (Exodus 34:6-7)
• Maimonides, a twelfth century Torah philosopher, scholar who was a court physician on the side, ascribed thirteen principles to the Jewish faith.

 Click Here to Search For Bar & Bat Mitzvah Services



 

 

READ MORE:
•
Why are the Bat and Bar Mitzvah Celebrated at Ages Twelve and Thirteen
• Biblical Thirteen Year Olds
• Evolution of the Bar Mitzvah over the years
•
Evolution of the Bat Mitzvah over the years
• Is a formal celebration of a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah required by Jewish law?
•
Settings for the Celebration of a Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah
•
Setting a Date for the Celebration of a Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah

• Bar Mitzvah Services and Ceremonial Rituals at the Synagogue
• Getting Ready for the Bar Mitzvah - The Tallit: Prayer Shawl
• Getting Ready for the Bar Mitzvah - The Tefillin, Phylacteries
• What a Bar and Bat Mitzvah Need to Know
•
Getting Ready for the Bar Mitzvah - Reading Hebrew & Torah Reading
•
Preparation for the Bar Mitzvah Celebrations: Ideas and Alternatives
• Beyond Party Plans: Meaningful Projects for the Bar and Bat Mitzvah
• The Bar and Bat Mitzvah Service: Instructional Booklets and Schedules
• The Bar Mitzvah: Roles for Parents
• Memorial Prayers during the Bar and Bat Mitzvah Celebrations
• Videography and Photography during Bar Mitzvah Services at the Synagogue
• Bar Mitzvah boy and Bat Mitzvah Girl of Divorced Parents.  What to do?
• "Honors" during Torah Reading at Synagogue Bar Mitzvah Services
• Synagogue Etiquette: What to Wear, How to Conduct Oneself

• Party with a Jewish Flavor: Jewish Food, Jewish Music, Jewish Dance, and more
• Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Speeches
• Candle Lighting Ceremonies
• Charity and Good Deeds: The Bar Mitzvah opportunity for doing something good!

 


Hebrew for Kids


ADVERTISE HERE
 · Wedding Gifts
  · Bar Mitzvah Gifts
  ·
Baby Gifts
  · Jewish Books at Great Prices
 

 


Mazor Guides: Wealth of Information and Resources
- Mazor Guide - The Ultimate Guide to Living Jewish -
- Guide to Jewish Holidays -
- Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Guide -
- Guide to a Jewish Wedding -
- Guide to Jewish Celebrations -
- Guide to Kosher Living
- Infertility and Judaism: A Guide
- The Get (Gett) - the Jewish Divorce: A Guide
- Zei Gezunt: Jewish Perspective on Health -
- Jewish Genetic Diseases -
- Death and Mourning in Judaism

Copyright 1998-2024 MazorNet, Inc.

Other Mazornet, Inc. Websites
http://www.MazorGuide.com | http://www.MazorBooks.com