What to Expect at a Bar Mitzvah Ceremony
Bar Mitzvah literally means “son of the commandment”. (The corresponding term for a girl is Bat Mitzvah, “daughter of the commandment”) According to Jewish custom, a boy becomes an adult at age thirteen—no particular ritual is necessary—but it has become traditional to mark the occasion by having the bar mitzvah lead a service to demonstrate his readiness. The Bar Mitzvah ceremony symbolizes a boy's coming of age, when he accepts the privileges and obligations of an adult member of the Jewish community. The ceremony is a tradition that dates back to the thirteenth century in northern Europe. Preparation for the ceremony includes years spent studying Hebrew, as well as Jewish history and traditions. Bar and Bat Mitzvah students also study individually with the Rabbi and a Torah tutor. Additionally, each student chooses a project of tikkun olam (repairing the world). For his tikkun olam project, Josh did a year-long research, advocacy and fundraising project on behalf of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), an organization with special meaning to him and to our family.
Today's service is the same as a regular Shabbat (sabbath) morning service. Josh has helped select the songs and readings, and will lead portions of the service for the congregation. He will bless the Torah for the first time as an adult, chant from the Torah and Haftarah, and lead a discussion of today’s Torah reading.
The Torah (which translates literally as “teaching”) is a handwritten parchment scroll containing the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The full Torah is read over the course of a year, and is broken up in to 54 parashot (portions), one for each week of the lunar year. Each week, the same parashah will be read in every synagogue in the world. The parashah that Josh will be reading is parashat Noach—the stories of Noah and the Tower of Babel.
The Torah is handwritten in a special fancy Hebrew script, without vowels, punctuation, or musical notation. Torah reading is equivalent to seeing the letters “hs” in English, being able to recognize whether it represents the word “house,” “hose,” “his,” or “has” and also knowing how to chant it appropriately. The beginning of the Torah text that Josh will be reading today looks like this:
The service begins with a set of introductory blessings and songs, followed by the Sh’ma, one of the oldest Jewish prayers which reaffirms our ethical monotheism. We will rise for the Amidah (standing prayer), which replaces the animal sacrifices of ancient times. Next is the Torah service, during which Josh and others will come up to bless and read from the Torah. The service concludes with the Kaddish, which honors the memory of loved ones who have passed away.
When the Torah is removed from the Ark, it is passed down through the generations, (both physically and symbolically) from Josh's great grandmother, to his grandparents, his parents, and then to Josh. He will carry the Torah through the congregation to show that it is accessible to all. Josh will read/chant from the Torah in Hebrew and offer commentary on his portion, Noach, from the book of Genesis. During the Torah service, a number of people, many of whom are important parts of Josh’s life, will be invited up for an aliyah, a recitation of the blessings that surround each part of the Torah reading.
As the Torah is read, you are invited to read along in English or Hebrew in one of the books available on carts in the back of the sanctuary. These books contain different English translations of, and commentaries on, the Torah and Haftarah readings. The translations reflect the views of the translators, and we use different versions to get a sense of different perspectives. Josh has also written his own commentary on his Torah and Haftarah portions, a copy of which was handed out when you entered the sanctuary.
The Haftarah is a reading from the second section of the Jewish Bible known as Prophets. The Haftarah reading usually has a thematic link to the Torah portion. Josh's reading today is from the book of Isaiah. After the Haftarah reading, all children are invited to come forward and gently toss soft candy toward Josh to symbolize the sweetness of the Torah. After the Torah has been returned to the Ark, Josh will lead a discussion about his Torah portion.
When the service concludes, we will move outside where Rabbi Cartun and Josh will lead us in the Kiddush blessing over the wine and the Hamotzi blessing over the challah. After the blessings we invite you all to join us for lunch. While we are outside, families from this weeks' oneg team will be resetting sanctuary room for lunch, so we ask that you enjoy the fresh air for a few minutes so that they can do this without all of us under foot.