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What is the Origin of the Bar Mitzvah celebration?
Discuss (10)Question:
What is the origin of the festive Bar Mitzvah celebration?
Answer:
According to some, the first documented Bar Mitzvah celebration is referred to in the Torah: "And the child [Isaac] grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned" (Genesis 21:8). According to one opinion expressed in the Midrash, this was the day that Isaac turned thirteen; the day when he was "weaned" from his childish nature, and assumed the responsibilities of a Jewish adult. In Jewish literature, this verse is often used as a source for the celebration made in honor of a boy's acceptance of the mitzvot at age thirteen.
The Zohar1 relates how on the day of his son's Bar Mitzvah, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai made a feast which was akin to a wedding celebration.
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. One would be hard-pressed to think of a more joyous occasion to celebrate together with friends and family!
Rabbi Shlomo Luria, noted 16th century Polish scholar, rules that the Bar Mitzvah feast is a seudat mitzvah, a "mitzvah repast," which means that participating in this meal is actually a mitzvah.
| FOOTNOTES | |
| 1. |
Zohar Chadash, Genesis 10c; 15d. |
By Baruch S. Davidson
Rabbi Baruch S. Davidson is a member of the Chabad.org Ask the Rabbi team.
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LA, CA/USA
No one has said otherwise.
All that was said was that we were given by G-d the natural instinct of survival and self-preservation, which you also agree to. Someone else comes next.
That is, unless we let our selfless G-dly soul which comes in full at Bar Mitzvah kick in.
Those who have allowed for themselves to be selfless for a day, realize the difference between that lifestyle and their instinctive "purity" of "self-preservation".
Cancun, Mexico
As adults we too often fool ourselves into believing that we have all the answers. Not true. In my heart and soul, which my creator instilled in me, I find true love for our children and no manner of psychology or philosophy can bring me the joy I find in the innocence of childhood.
Instinct is as a guess or supposition. I place no great amount of reliability on instinct. Man, by his nature will do what he can do to survive. This came from God not instinct. The love of oneself and consequently the love of all others is God given. I do not guess or suppose it I believe it as God has allowed me to by the nature as a man he has given me.
Children will be our our legacy if we show by love & example.
white lake, michigan
Instinctively, the primary focus of the human being is self-preservation. Education and societal influence (such as parental example) can train someone to be concerned for the good of others as well.
This is also familiar to those who study the Kabbalah. Every child is born with an animal soul, and only at the age of maturity fully develops their selfless G-dly soul.
The purity of children lies in the fact that even their animal instincts are not as coarse and crooked as the adult animal soul.
Cancun, Mexico
Thank you, Ann.
white lake, michigan
His zeyde didn't hug him, but he showed his love in the most primal way. Did my father love his zeyde?
Absolutely!
The young person might be unable to make it on his own, to support himself, to survive without the aid of adults.
He is UNABLE to put the needs of others before his own because, if he did so, he might well not survive. He needs others to put his needs before their own, so he can survive.
When the whole family was starving anyway, my father's grandfather used to say, "Give it to him. He's a growing boy, he needs it." It was true. He NEEDED it. This was not selfish. It was his duty to grow up and bring Yiddishkeit into the next generation. In fact my father never reached his full height, as exemplified by the fact that I, a woman, am taller than he, and my brother is over six feet (MUCH taller than my father). But he survived, because his grandfather "gave me the bread out of his mouth."
Treasure treasures, bring up these gem-like treasures in yourself, even, for children are, most certainly our greatest treasure.
Why after 13? Yikes!! For the prey of Mammon, Babel, Baal and such doth come .. all matter of temptation, and yes, also 'hormones'.
May g-d bless you for your wisdom in seeing beyond the harsh realities of adult life.
As you can probably tell I have a great love for all children no matter what race, religion, color or background they come from. As Father Flanagan of "Boys Town" fame said "There are no bad children only bad examples shown to them.
white lake, michigan
(Unfortunately, many people don't develop this in their adult life either...)
Selfish and egotistical does sound a bit harsh, but the point is that children do not recognize the needs of others before their own, hence, the demanding, crying, fighting, etc.
For more on this topic, see Wanted: Self-Centered, Short-Sighted, Childish People.
Personally, I find children to be loving and very curious about everything around them.
I say this of course from the viewpoint of a man 72 years of age tho I have always felt that way about children. They are our most prescious gift from God and it is only when they are really introduced into the adult world that they become selfish and egotistical.
I have often felt that if God would take away all of the adults from this world and let me raise the children I would see to it that they would never learn prejudice, lust, envy, hate and the myriad things that affect all adults. That is how much I treasure children. I know this is an impossible dream but oh what a world it would be.
God Bless
white lake, michigan