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12th century
- The bar and bat mitzvah as we know it today began in the 12th century and has evolved significantly through the centuries.
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Although first conceived for boys only, girls were included after about the first decade. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, a leader of Reform Judaism in America, introduced confirmation in the United States in 1846 in Albany, New York.
Oct 30, 2023 · The bar and bat mitzvah as we know it today began in the 12th century and has evolved significantly through the centuries. Let’s take a deeper dive into the history and significance of the bat mitzvah.
Traditionally, the father of a bar or bat mitzvah offers thanks to God that he is no longer punished for his child's sins. In Orthodox communities, boys become bar mitzvah at 13 and girls become bat mitzvah at 12. In most Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative communities, the milestone is 13 regardless of gender. [5]
Mordecai ben Hillel (Cited by Moses Isserles to Tur, O.Ch 225:1) used the term “bar mitzvah” for the first time in the 14th century. During the later Middle Ages (16th and 17th centuries, Germany and Eastern Europe), “laying tefillin” and receiving an aliyah became the most important features of bar mitzvah.
My research suggests that the celebratory Bar Mitzvah feast became a unanimously accepted Jewish custom some four hundred years ago. As for the cause of the celebration, this is the day when a Jewish person is given the obligation and resulting privilege of observing G‑d 's commandments.
By the 13th or 14th century, the custom of calling a boy up to the Torah was established as the way of recognizing entry into adulthood. The bar mitzvah boy would chant the blessings, all or part of the Torah portion of the week, and/or the haftarah section from the prophetic books.
These two religious rights, laying tefillin and being called up to the Torah, became the most essential features of the bar mitzvah observance. In the 16th century it was obligatory to call up the bar mitzvah lad to the reading of the Torah on the Sabbath coinciding with or following his 13th birthday.
