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
Mitzvah Technique teachers and actors. As a dancer and Alexander Teacher, Nehemia also spent years observing working bodies in action among animals, children, fellow Inbal dancers and the nomadic Bedouin. Out of these myriad experiences and observations came the fuller development of the Mitzvah Technique, emphasizing the natural rippling motion of the spine. Nehemia came to Toronto in the late 1960s where he established the Centre for the Alexander Technique that later became the Mitzvah Technique Centre. This centre has trained scores of Mitzvah teachers and treated thousands of clients who have come from around the world. Nehemia died November 18, 2018