Archive | April 2024

Jewish studies Bar and Bat Mitzvot

Apr8

Hi, Hermione 18 here and today I am going to tell you all about Bar and Bat mitzvahs. First of all  a bar or bat mitzvah is when a boy or girl is considered an adult in jewish law typically they start to take part in and get more involved in the torah’s teachings. Here are some things that change:

  • Ability to have an “aliyah” where one is called up to recite the blessings before and after the Torah is read (must be a male in the
  • Orthodox community)
  • Lighting the Shabbat candles (typically reserved for women but may also be completed by men)
  • Keeping Shabbat (do not work on Shabbat)
  • Keeping Kosher
  • Fasting on Yom Kippur
  • Learn and teach the Torah
  • Become responsible for your own actions
  • Honor the elderly/wise community members
  • Honor your father and mother
  • Do not take revenge on others
  • Do not shame others
  • Help a neighbor in need
  • Do not wrong a stranger with speech (talk poorly about another person)
  • Giving tzedakah to the poor

In different jewish communities you will notice a difference for example in a traditional orthodox communities you will never see women reading the torah in front of men.

Men take on the responsibility of wearing tallit and tefillin.

What is tefillin ?

Tefillin is two square black boxes made out of leather. Each box contains parchments with Torah verses and serve as a reminder of the mitzvot. In more orthodox communities only men are allowed to wear tefillin, but in conservative and reform communities women can wear tefillin. Men and women typically start to wear Tefillin after their bar and bat mitzvah.

What is tallit?

Tallit is a prayer shawl worn only by men in orthodox communities and in more reform and conservative communities by women too. There are two types of tallit

On the tallit there is a string called Tekhelet.

Tekhelet is a string dyed by a sea snail in hebrew called a chilazon. The chilazon was lost for hundreds of years until they found the snail using science and the torah as a guide. Some people do not use tekhelet because they are not sure that it is the right animals blood.

 

I hope that you learned something new. THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG AND DO NOT FORGET TO COMMENT.