Reading the Torah and throwing sweets: according to the Jewish tradition, a boy turns 13 and a girl turns 12. Then they are welcomed into the faith community with great celebrations.
A large square with curved pink letters. A black box with the golden and orange outlines of the Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. A thick, oblong plastic card with an embossed name and colorful design. The invitations are designed in a variety of sizes, shapes, materials and designs. “Please join us as our son / daughter is called to the Torah as Bar / Bat-Mizvah” is a typical invitation text. RSVP cards and details of the synagogue ceremony and the following celebrations are attached. Some cards even have the child’s name written in Hebrew. In the second grade, which corresponds to the third grade, the time of the bar mitzvah (for the boys) and the bat mitzvah (for the girls) begins for the 12 and 13 year old New York schoolchildren. Sometimes the entire school year is invited. Sometimes only close friends and sporting colleagues come. The Saturday religious service in the Saturday morning synagogue, during which the young people read and sing a passage from the Torah in Hebrew for the first time and are thus welcomed into the Jewish faith community, is followed by large feasts with food, music, dancing and board games. Ice skating or going to the movies together may also be planned to minimize the risk of infection during a crown wave. Or a small-scale family lunch. Some families choose to travel to Israel with a ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem rather than a large party in New York.
According to Jewish tradition, a boy comes of age at 13 and a girl at 12. At this point a bar or bat mitzvah takes place. “Bar” means boy, “bat” means girl, “mitzvah” is commandment. From this moment on, young people are full members of their faith community and theoretically obligated to keep the Jewish commandments. These guide daily life such as observance of the Sabbath, kosher food, daily prayers, charity, visiting the sick or mourning. In New York’s liberal reform synagogues, bat mitzvahs aren’t held for girls until the age of 13. Girls can read the Torah just like boys, which is not allowed in Orthodox synagogues.
