The United Synagogue

The Bar Mitzvah Ceremony


As we have seen, no form of ritual is needed to confer the status of Bar Mitzvah on a thirteen-year-old boy. But the type of coming of age ceremonies that most people recognise today originated back in the fifteenth century.

Celebrations begin in earnest on the morning of a boy’s thirteenth Hebrew birthday, when he puts on tefillin for the first time. Although many families have the custom for boys to begin laying tefillin around a month in advance of their birthday, from the age of 13 it becomes an actual binding halachic requirement. The occasion is considered so unique that some even have the lovely tradition of throwing a small, additional festive gathering in its honour.

For a boy whose Hebrew birthday falls on a Sunday through Thursday, the next milestone will be the weekday Torah reading in the synagogue. This occurs every Monday and Thursday during the morning service, where a small section of the week’s Torah portion is chanted (known colloquially as “leining”). On the Monday or Thursday that falls immediately after the birthday, the Bar Mitzvah boy gets his first aliyah, being called up to make a blessing at the beginning and the end of one of the three breaks in the reading. Some boys will also lein the Torah reading itself.

It is at this point that dad also gets to play a part. He makes a special blessing after his son has been called up, thanking God that now his son is technically an adult, he as father is exempt from the responsibility of his child’s sins.

Boys whose birthdays fall on a Friday or Saturday will get their first aliyah during the Shabbat synagogue services. But seeing as these tend to be better attended than the weekday ones, even those Bar Mitzvah boys who have already been called up usually opt to do it all over again.

So, what happens during the Shabbat service, which is the main part of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony as we know it? Every Shabbat, a different portion of the Torah, known as the weekly Sedra, is leined from a Torah scroll after the shacharit service. Some Bar Mitzvah boys take on the challenge of leining the whole sedra in front of their community. Others prefer to read a smaller section. In fact, on shabbat the sedra is divided into seven sections. At the beginning of each, someone gets the honour of an aliyah. During weeks when a Bar Mitzvah is taking place in shul, these honours are usually given to members of the boy’s family. On Shabbat and festivals, there is also an extra aliyah called the maftir. This honour is often designated to the Bar Mitzvah boy. The maftir consists of a repetition of the last few verses of the sedra and this is the part that many boys may also choose to learn to lein.

Finally, after the maftir comes the haftara, a section from the book of prophets that is generally read by whoever had the maftir aliyah (yes, the Bar Mitzvah boy again!). The word haftara actually means conclusion. Its theme often has a connection with the weekly sedra.

After the Bar Mitzvah boy’s work is done, there is a custom for the women to throw sweets at him in congratulation. Though in these litigious times, the risk of injury has led the practice to be discontinued in many places.

In conclusion, the modern barmitzvah ceremony provides many opportunities for a boy and many members of his family to take part in synagogue proceedings. Hopefully, this taster of shul life will only mark the beginning of his involvement there and he will move forward from his Bar Mitzvah to become an adult who gives much back to the community that nurtured him as a child.