bar mitzvah
/bɑː ˈmɪtsvə
/noun
1The initiation ceremony of a Jewish boy who has reached the age of 13 and is regarded as ready to observe religious precepts and eligible to take part in public worship.A bat mitzvah, the female equivalent of a bar mitzvah, is a Jewish coming of age ceremony for girls aged 12 and over....
- We have the same thing for various other institutions like a bar mitzvah, which celebrates Jewish adulthood at 13, but for the state it is 18.
- The Jewish bar mitzvah, for example, celebrates a boy's entry into adolescence, and most of tribal Africa holds puberty rituals which may include dance, music, or seclusion.
1.1A boy undergoing the bar mitzvah ceremony.The Great Depression happened as he reached the bar mitzvah age of 14....
- In addition, on the Shabbat following the bar mitzvah boy's thirteenth birthday, he is called to the Torah during morning services at the synagogue to recite the blessing on the Haftorah.
- At this point a boy is said to become Bar Mitzvah.
verb [with object]
Administer the bar mitzvah ceremony to (a boy).But I never lit Chanukah candles, and I wasn't bar mitzvahed....
- Shortly after Israel was bar mitzvahed, Moses died, and the following year young Izzy left home and school to try his luck at street singing.
- The play centers on grandfather Gabe, a concentration-camp survivor and sculptor, working on a bust of Muhammad Ali, when his grandson, Michael, soon to be bar mitzvahed, drops in.
Origin
From Hebrew bar miṣwāh, literally 'son of the commandment'.