Bar and Bat Mitzvah "son" (), while "bat" () means "daughter" in Hebrew, and "mitzvah" () means "commandment" or "law" (plural: "mitzvot"). Thus "bar mitzvah" and "bat mitzvah" literally translate to "son of commandment" and "daughter of commandment". However, in rabbinical usage, the word "bar" means "under the category of" or "subject to". "Bar mitzvah" therefore translates to "an [agent] who is subject to the law". Although the term is commonly used to refer to the ritual itself, in fact the phrase originally refers to the person. The modern method of celebrating becoming a bar mitzvah did not exist in the time of the
Society for the Advancement of Judaism for Judith Kaplan, daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. Society for the Advancement of Judaism The Society for the Advancement of Judaism is a synagogue and Jewish organization in New York City, on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Founded in 1922 by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, the synagogue is affiliated with the Reconstructionist Jewish movement. The current rabbi is Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, who succeeded Michael Strassfeld on 1 July 2015. Moshe Nathanson, composer of Hava Nagilah, was Cantor of the SAJ during Kaplan's tenure. The first American Bat Mitzvah was held at the Society for the Advancement