Tag: bar mitzvah

Our son was called to the Torah for his bar mitzvah ceremony just weeks after the shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburg. In the wake of that horror, we had to step back and decide what we did and didn’t want to do for his ceremony. We opted to continue as planned, although with a guard at the door. That event weighed heavily on my mind as I wrote this speech for his ceremony.

“Bar” means son, “bat” means daughter and “mitzvah” means commandment or law. So a bar or bat mitzvah is literally a son or daughter of commandment (i.e., one who is expected to uphold the commandments of the Torah).

A bar mitzvah is literally "the son of the commandments."