Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site masscomp.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!masscomp!trb From: trb@masscomp.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Bat Mitzvahs Message-ID: <195@masscomp.UUCP> Date: Mon, 27-Feb-84 11:48:40 EST Article-I.D.: masscomp.195 Posted: Mon Feb 27 11:48:40 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 28-Feb-84 06:57:12 EST References: <3005@yale-com.UUCP> Organization: MASSCOMP, Littleton, MA Lines: 28 I'd like to inform all of you who might not know, and remind all of you who do, that the concept of bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah are simply the Jewish passages into adulthood for boys and girls respectively. The Jewish equivalent of turning 18 in the US. Literally, "bar" means "son," "bat" means "daughter" and "mitzvah" means "commandment." "Bar mitzvah" means "son of the commandments," i.e. one who is obligated by the commandments. Becoming a bar mitzvah means that a man has the obligations of manhood, he's required to fast on appropriate occasions, he may be called up for an Aliyah (to read from the Torah), he must wear Tefillin when he prays, etc. NOTE WELL! Being a bar mitzvah has NOTHING to do with whether your parents gave you a party. I don't know how many times I've heard ignorant Jews say "I was never bar mitzvahed" as though the party had some significance. The ceremony is only an acknowledgement of what happens whether you celebrate it or not. So you are not bar mitzvahed, you become a bar mitzvah. I guess the same people who are bar mitzvahed, eventually graduate. The transitive verbalization (gak!) "I was bar mitzvahed" is most common and accepted, as is the notion that the cermony is the "bar mitzvah," though "I became a "bar mitzvah" is proper." Remember, you are the bar mitzvah (until you die), the party isn't really the bar mitzvah. Andy Tannenbaum Masscomp Inc Westford MA (617) 692-6200 x274