What is a Bar Mitzvah?

Bar means 'son' and Mitzvah means ' commandment' so Bar Mitzvah literally means 'son of the commandment.'  On a boy's 13th birthday, he is automatically a bar mitzvah, even if he doesn't read Torah or have a party.  It simply means that he has reached the age where he assumes the ritual obligations and receives the privileges accorded to adults under Jewish law.

So the real reason we celebrate a bar mitzvah is to mark Ryan's emergence from the tiny community of his family to the larger world of a faith-based community.

What is the Torah?

Everything in Judaism begins and ends with the Torah.  Without the Torah, there is no Judaism.  Jewish people consider the Torah to be God's gift to the Jewish people.  Jews are known as the 'chosen people' because God chose to give them the Torah.

The reason a bar mitzvah is a joyous event is that the young man or woman gets the privilege of reading the Torah--symbolically receiving the Torah just as the nation of Israel received it thousands of years ago.

The Torah is read from beginning to end each week in synagogues around the world.  All Jews read the same Torah portions during the same week, and so a common Jewish community is created.

Ryan's Torah Portion

Ryan's Torah Portion is called "Parshat Ki Tisa" and the story contained in this portion may sound very familiar to you, since it is a main premise of the famous movie, "The Ten Commandments."

Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to received G-d's commandments and was absent for a long period of time.  The children of Israel believed that he wasn't coming back.  Feeling helpless, the people made a golden calf to worship.  The Golden Calf was to be their new god and the children of Israel offered burnt offerings and began to dance.

G-d was enraged, threatened to destroy all of them, and promised to find a new people for Moses.  Moses begged G-d to reconsider and remember the Promise He made with Abraham, Isaac and Joseph.  God listens to Moses and renounces the punishment.

When Moses returned to the camp he angrily destroyed the tablets with the Ten Commandments and he destroyed the Golden Calf.  Moses asks G-d to forgive the people and G-d remakes the tablets and restates his Covenant with Israel.

During Ryan's Bar Mitzvah ceremony, he will read directly from this Torah section.  Then he'll put the meaning of the section into his own words and talk about how these words are relevant to Jews today.