Mitzvah "mitzvah" (some "mitzvot" are given reasons in the Torah). In its secondary meaning, Hebrew "mitzvah", as with English "commandment", refers to a moral deed performed within a religious duty. As such, the term "mitzvah" has also come to express an individual act of human kindness in keeping with the law. The expression includes a sense of heartfelt sentiment beyond mere legal duty, as "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The tertiary meaning of "mitzvah" also refers to the fulfillment of a "mitzvah". The feminine noun ' () occurs over 180 times in the Masoretic Text of the
Bar and Bat Mitzvah American Rabbis addressed the Reform attitude toward bar/bat mitzvah: "Every effort should be exerted to maintain the family festivities in the religious mood at the bar/bat mitzvah. Some of the efforts of early Reform in favor of confirmation against bar mitzvah were prompted by the extravagant celebration of bar mitzvah, which had removed its primary religious significance. We vigorously oppose such excesses, as they destroy the meaning of bar/bat mitzvah." In May, 1992, the board of trustees of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism), the synagogue arm of the Reform Movement, unanimously passed a