Jewish Religion and Tradition Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and...

Bar and bat Mitzvah both translate to the meaning â€Å"son (or) daughter of the commandment.† The most commonly spoken language of the Jewish people and most people in the Middle East starting in 500 B.C.E – 400 C.E is the vernacular language known as Aramaic (Weinstock 2). The words: bar, bat and mitzvah all come from this language. The term â€Å"bar (bat) mitzvah† refers to two different things: first off, when a boy or girl comes of age (12/13), they have become a â€Å"bar (bat) mitzvah,† and then are recognized by the Jewish tradition as having the same rights as a grown man (Blas 1, Weinstock 2). They are now both responsible for the decisions and actions they make. The second thing it refers to is the religious ceremony that accompanies them†¦show more content†¦For more religious Jewish people, it is a pathway into the reasons why they do what they do in situations such as celebrating and observing different holidays. For example, a few weeks ago was a holiday we celebrate called Passover, in the Torah known as Pesach. Some people believe they know more about this holiday than they actually do. The Torah tells us about the deeper meaning of Passover, and the story behind its meaning. If it weren’t for the Torah, we wouldn’t know that the actual meaning behind it is because God â€Å"passed over† the houses of the Jews when he was told to slay the first born of Egypt. We also wouldn’t know why on this holiday we only eat matzah, the unleavened bread, but the Torah tells us the story about how the Jews had to make this bread in the time they had before they had to make their flight from Egypt. The Torah, so to say, is a huge book of stories for us to read whenever we want to learn a new sense of our religion and hear the stories from our people. A lot of people don’t know, but within the bar and bat mitzvah ceremony one can be a part of a huge storytelling ceremony as well. When th e bar and bat mitzvah are called up to the Torah, they are assigned a certain Torah portion or a Haftorah. The Torah portion is from the five books of Moses, and the Haftorah comes from the book of the prophets. The Torah portion and Haftorah one is given depends on the day they were born and the day they will be having their services.