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The Transformation of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, 1800–​2020

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The Transformation of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, 1800–​2020 The Transformation of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, 1800– 2020 David Golinkin (SCHECHTER INSTITUTE OF JEWISH STUDIES) In 1928– 1929, the Hebrew writer A.A. Kabak (1880–1944) published a well- received trilogy titled Shlomo Molkho, whose eponymous character is based on the false messiah Solomon Molkho (ca. 1500– 1532) of Lisbon. The first volume offers an account of Solomon’s life as a child. At age five, his parents are killed by the Inquisition for practicing Judaism, whereupon he is placed in a monastery. Years later, the family’s faithful servant Ferdinand comes to the monastery; there, in secret, he gives the boy nightly lessons in Hebrew and Torah: “Thus Ferdinand prepared the boy for the day when he would become Bar Mitzvah. On that day, [he] would enter the sacred covenant of his people . The night before the big day, Ferdinand reviewed all the prayers and blessings of the Bar Mitzvah cere- mony.” When the day arrives, Solomon is taken by a wealthy man to his palace. There they enter a pit leading to a large cellar, where Solomon finds a congregation of crypto- Jews wrapped in tallitot. He is called up to the Torah: “Rise, Solomon, son of Meshulam Molkho!” Later, the prayer leader makes a short speech, which sounds like what a rabbi would say to a bar mitzvah boy today. It’s a very moving story, which is why Azriel Eisenberg included an English translation in his popular The Bar Mitzvah Treasury in 1952.1 There is only one problem— such a story could never have happened, because Sephardic Jews did not begin to observe what we call a bar mitzvah ceremony until the 20th century.2 One of the challenges of studying any Jewish custom is that we tend to view it in an anachronistic fashion: we think that what we do today is what was always done. Therefore, in this essay we shall begin with the prehistory of the bar mitzvah cere- mony followed by an overview of the four basic components of the bar mitzvah cer- emony before the year 1800, as suggested by Michael Hilton,3 and then a description of six major changes that occurred in modern times. At the conclusion, we will list a series of other changes that have occurred in recent decades, all of which require further study. David Golinkin, The Transformation of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, 1800– 2020 In: No Small Matter: Features of Jewish Childhood. Edited by: Anat Helman, Oxford University Press (2021). © Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/ oso/ 9780197577301.003.0012 The Transformation of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, 1800–2020 189 The Pre- History of Bar Mitzvah Originally, the mishnaic tractate Avot had five chapters; the sixth, titled “Perek kinyan Torah,” was added later in order to provide six chapters for recitation and study in the interval between Passover and Shavuot.4 At the very end of the tractate Avot (5:21), R. Yehudah ben Teimah is purported to have said: “Five years old for Mishnah, ten years old for Bible, thirteen years old for mitzvot . .” This passage caused numerous rabbis and scholars over the course of many centuries to believe that the source for a boy becoming a bar mitzvah at age 13 is the Mishnah, which was edited in Eretz Israel some 1,800 years ago. Yet, in truth, this passage is a very late addition to the trac- tate. The rabbis quoted in Ketubot 50a are unaware of it; it appears after the standard “Yehi ratzon” ending of many tractates; and it’s missing from four of the most im- portant manuscripts of Avot. Many medieval rabbis such as Maimonides (d. 1205), R. Menahem Hameiri (d. ca. 1315), R. Yitzhak Abarbanel (d. 1508), R. Shlomo Ha’adeni (d. ca. 1624), and R. Yom- Tov Lipmann Heller (d. 1654) did not have this passage in their copies of Avot or stressed that it was a late addition. Indeed, all modern Talmud scholars have reached the same conclusion.5 Furthermore, in a classic article published in 1990, Yitzhak Gilat provided con- clusive evidence that this appendix to Avot could not possibly have been part of the Mishnah, since the statement “thirteen years old for mitzvot” is contradicted by numerous passages both in the Mishnah and elsewhere in Tannaitic literature.6 According to the Tannaim (ca. 70– 200 C.E.), certain mitzvot are required in infancy, others as soon as a minor (katan) is old enough to properly understand or perform what is required, others at age 12 (girls) or 13 (boys), and others at age 20. For ex- ample, “a minor who knows how to speak, his father teaches him Torah, keriyat Shema, and Hebrew” (Tosefta Hagigah 1:2, ed. Lieberman, p. 375). “A minor who no longer needs his mother is obligated to dwell in a sukkah”; Shammai the Elder re- quired his newborn grandson to dwell in the sukkah (Mishnah Sukkah 2:8). A young boy who can ride on his father’s shoulders or hold his hand is obligated to ascend to Jerusalem with his father on the three pilgrim festivals (Mishnah Hagigah 1:1). Furthermore, two of the standard features of today’s bar mitzvah ceremony are that a bar mitzvah boy begins to put on tefillin at or shortly before age 13 and that he has his first aliyah to the Torah right after turning 13. These later customs are directly contradicted by well-known passages in Tannaitic literature: “a minor . who knows how to take care of his tefillin, his father buys him tefillin” (Tosefta Hagigah 1:2); “A minor reads from the Torah [in public] and translates [the Torah reading] into Aramaic [in public]” (Mishnah Megillah 4:6); “Our Sages have taught: All go up for the count of seven [who read from the Torah], even a minor . .” (Megillah 23a). In other words, not only does “13 years old for mitzvot” contradict numerous passages in Tannaitic literature, but two of the standard features of the bar mitzvah ceremony are in direct opposition to Tannaitic halakhah. Throughout the centuries, various rabbis and scholars have adduced sources to “prove” that age 13 is the age of mitzvot and that our modern bar mitzvah ceremony is of ancient lineage. Here are two well- known examples. 190 David Golinkin According to some editions of the tractate Soferim, there was “a good custom in Jerusalem [for parents] to teach their minor sons and daughters [to fast on Yom Kippur], eleven years old [to fast part of the day], twelve to fast the entire day” (Soferim 18:7, ed. Higger, pp. 318– 319). Furthermore, some editions of this tractate even have the reading “thirteen” instead of “twelve.” Saul Lieberman, however, has pointed out that six manuscripts of Soferim have the reading “one year old [to fast part of the day], two years old to fast the entire day.” This agrees with the approach of Shammai the Elder that even minors are required to fast on Yom Kippur.7 Thus, this source actually contradicts the claim that boys should start fasting at age 13. Similarly, Rabbeinu Asher (Germany and Spain, 1250– 1327) states in a responsum that the age of 13 for bar mitzvah is “halakhah leMoshe misinai,” “a law from Moses at Sinai.” This assertion has no ancient basis.8 Other “proofs” for the age of 13 are equally problematic.9 Four Standard Characteristics of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony prior to 1800 In order to understand how the bar mitzvah ceremony changed after the year 1800, we must first delineate what existed beforehand. As Michael Hilton has pointed out, four standard features of the bar mitzvah ceremony developed over the course of the centu- ries.10 These are presented below in chronological order. Barukh sheptarani mei’onsho shel zeh The blessing “Barukh sheptarani mei’onsho shel zeh” (Blessed is He who has absolved me of the punishment of this one”) is based on a passage in Bereishit Rabbah (63:10, ed. Theodor- Albeck, pp. 692– 693).11 R. Elazar b”r Shimon learns from Genesis 25:27 that “a person should take responsibility for his son for 13 years; from that point forth, he should say: ‘Blessed is He who has absolved me from the punish- ment of this one.’ ” Although it is not clear that R. Elazar b”r Shimon intended this as a legal ruling, medieval rabbis thought that he did. The following rabbis ruled that a father should recite this blessing when his son reaches the age of 13: R. Yehudah ben Barukh (Germany, ca. 1075); R. Yehudah ben Yakar (Provence, France, Barcelona, ca. 1175); R. Yitzhak ben Abba Mari (Provence, d. 1193); “The rulings of the rabbis of France” (ca. 1250); Rabbeinu Avigdor Tzarfati (France, ca. 1260); R. Shimshon b”r Tzadok (Germany, ca. 1300); R. Aharon Hakohen of Lunel (Provence, ca. 1300); R. Ya’akov Moellin (Maharil) (Germany, d. 1427); glosses on the Custom Book of R. Isaac Tyrnau (Germany, ca. 1425ff.); R. Yisrael Isserlein (Austria, d. 1460); R. Moshe Isserles (Cracow, d. 1572); the Christian Hebraist Johannes Buxtorf (Basel, 1603); R. Yosef Yuzpa Hahn (Frankfurt, d. 1637); and R. Yosef Yuzpa Kashman Segal (Frankfurt, d. 1759).12 The sources above differ as to the wording of the blessing and as to whether one should recite just “Barukh” or the normal formula “Barukh atah hashem eloheinu The Transformation of the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, 1800–2020 191 melekh ha’olam.” Some of them say that the blessing should be recited after the son reaches the age of 13 years without saying where or when this should be done.
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