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
Bar Mitzvah Boy the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, voted on by industry professionals. The play is available on DVD with Rosenthal's other BBC work. Bar Mitzvah Boy Bar Mitzvah Boy is a British television play, written by Jack Rosenthal and originally transmitted in the "Play for Today" anthology series on BBC1. Broadcast on 14 September 1976, the 75-minute production was directed by Michael Tuchner and produced by Graeme MacDonald. Starring Jeremy Steyn, Kim Clifford, Mark Herman, Adrienne Posta, Maria Charles, Pamela Manson and Bernard Spear, the play tells the story of a young Jewish boy, Eliott Green (Steyn),