Meaning of "Bar Mitzvah" | Ceremony and Celebration of the bar Mitzvah | The Right Age for the Bar Mitzvah | Sources
The Right Age for the Bar Mitzvah
As the Bible does not mention a Bar Mitzvah, it does not stipulate its precise age. Later, the Sages made it clear that a boy assumes the obligations of a Bar Mitzvah at the age of thirteen. Some concluded this by commenting on the Bible, others presented various explanations without relying on it. At the end of the first century, Samuel Hakatan (in a Beraita on Abot 5) referred to a passage where Levi, Jacob's son, is called an "ish" (= man, Genesis 34, 25) and explained he had been thirteen at the time.
The Talmud (compiled at the end of the fifth century) is not always quite precise about the right age for assuming religious obligations. Massekhet Sofrim (18, 11) says that in Jerusalem they used to train the boys in observing Mitzvot for about a year from before the age of 12 till maturity. But in Massekhet Abot (5, 21), traditionally from the fifth-sixth century, the Talmud is quite specific and mentions the age of thirteen as the appropriate age for assuming the obligations of Mitzvot. Massekhet Kiddushim (16:2) claims a boy becomes an adult at the age of thirteen years and a day.
The logic for this age is explained in extra-Talmudic sources. Midrash Genesis Rabba (63, 10) comments on Genesis 25, 27 and explains that a boy grows till the age of thirteen, and that at that age Jacob went to Bet Hamidrash (to study Jewish law). The explanation in Abot de-Rabbi Natan (16, 2) claims it is at the age of thirteen that a person develops the good characteristics required to overcome his evil inclinations. That is why a boy's father is accountable for his misdeeds till then, as both Midrash Genesis Rabbah (16, 10) and Yalkut Shimoni (13th century) explain. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (26, attributed to Rabbi Eliezer of 1st - 2nd century, but perhaps from 8th century) claims Abraham to have been thirteen years old when he adopted the worship of G-d and forsook the idols.
Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Ytzhaki, 11-12th century, northern France) claimed that the age of thirteen was an obligation Moses had been given with the Law on Mount Sinai (Comment on Abot 5, 21). Maimonides ("Rambam", 12th century, Yad Hazakah, Ishut 2, 10) stipulated that a boy becomes obligated at the age of thirteen years and a day. This was also Rabbi Abigdor Tzarfati's idea (Perushim UPsakim al HaTorah, 479-480). A 14th century interpretation of Samuel Hakatan's Beraita by Shimon ben Tzemah Duran (“Rashbatz”) relies on the numerical value of the Hebrew consonants in the word "zo" (= this, Isaiah 43, 21) to prove the age of thirteen as befitting for assuming the obligations of adulthood (Magen Abot, D). Rabbi Menahem Tziyyoni (15th century) relies on the numerical value of the consonants in the word "ehad" (=one, Genesis 1, 5) to conclude that thirteen is the right age (Sefer Tziyyoni on the Torah). In Morocco a Jewish boy became obligated to obey the Law after the age of twelve, when he began to learn Talmudic portions by heart.
The Talmud specifies that a girl becomes an adult at the age of twelve. Massekhet Niddah (45:A+B) says a girl is a minor till she reaches the age of twelve years and a day, and from that age may become pregnant and avow herself. The custom of a girl becoming Bat Mitzvah at the age of twelve years and a day is also prescribed by Maimonides (Yad Hazakah, Ishut 2, 1-2). He, however, sees a girl maturing in two stages: after twelve years and a day she is no longer a minor, but only after twelve years and six months is she an adult. Rabbi Jacob ben Moshe (“Maharil”, 14-15th century Germany) claimed that the age of twelve for a Bat Mitzvah was an obligation Moses had been given with the Law on Mount Sinai (Responsa Maharil 51).
Several propositions have been offered to explain why boys and girls become obligated to obey the Commandments at different ages. The Talmud postulates that women gain wisdom faster than men, basing this on understanding the verb in the Torah on the creation of Eve as meaning that G-d “made [her] wise” (= vayiben, Genesis 2, 22) (Tractate Nidah 5,6). Rashi, in commenting on children’s education, observed that baby girls grow strong faster because they don’t tire from learning Torah (comment on Masseket Ketubot 50 A). Maimonides commented that the reason was that women usually live shorter lives than men (Commentary on the Mishnah, Nidah 5,6).
An adult convert to Judaism becomes a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah upon converting.
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