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 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