Seudat mitzvah 7:37). It is customary at a "bar mitzvah" meal for parents to give thanks and praise to God for giving them the merit to raise a child to "bar mitzvah" and to educate him in the ways of Torah and the commandments. Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef holds that a Bat Mitzvah is also a seudat mitzvah. Based on the Talmud and Midrash, the "seudah" celebration upon the completion of a Talmudic tractate is considered a "seudat mitzvah" ("Yam Shel Shlomo", "Bava Kamma", "Merubah" 37; "Maharam Mintz" 119; "Shach", "Yoreh De'ah" 246:37). This "seudah" is made to rejoice over the accomplishment, and
Mitzvah The collection is part of the larger Jewish law or "halakha". The opinions of the Talmudic rabbis are divided between those who seek the purpose of the "mitzvot" and those who do not question them. The latter argue that if the reason for each "mitzvah" could be determined, people might try to achieve what they see as the purpose of the "mitzvah", without actually performing the "mitzvah" itself ("lishmah"), which would become self-defeating. The former believe that if people were to understand the reason and the purpose for each "mitzvah", it would actually help them to observe and perform the