Bar and Bat Mitzvah the commandments . . ." The Talmud gives 13 as the age at which a boy's vows are legally binding, and states that this is a result of his being a "man", as required in . The term "bar mitzvah", in the sense it is now used, cannot be clearly traced earlier than the 14th century, the older rabbinical term being "gadol" (adult) or "bar 'onshin" (legally responsible for own misdoings). Many sources indicate that the ceremonial observation of a bar mitzvah developed in the Middle Ages, however, there are extensive earlier references to thirteen as the age of majority
Bar and Bat Mitzvah the family and the community. Bar mitzvah is mentioned in the Mishnah (Ethics of the Fathers, ) and in the Talmud. In some classic sources the age of 13 appears for instance as the age from which males must fast on the Day of Atonement, while females fast from the age of 12. The age of b'nai mitzvah roughly coincides with physical puberty. The bar or bat mitzvah ceremony is usually held on the first Shabbat after a boy's thirteenth and a girl's twelfth birthday (or thirteenth in Reform congregations). "Bar" () is a Jewish Babylonian Aramaic word literally meaning