Y‟shua at Twelve – getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah – the third of the Jewish Lifecycle customs(42) ―And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom‖. (Luke 2:42)
(46) ―After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them
and asking them questions;
(47) and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers‖. (Luke 2:46-47)
Josephus' Life 1.2 8 (speculative): ―I made mighty proficiency in the improvements of my learning, and
appeared to have both a great memory and understanding. Moreover, when I was a child, and about
fourteen years of age, I was commended by all for the love I had to learning; on which account the high
priests and principal men of the city came then frequently to me together, in order to know my
opinion about the accurate understanding of points of the law‖.
This parallel is one I have not seen pointed out before. Both passages probably refer to a demonstration of a
boy's learning around the time of his Bar Mitzvah, which in modern tradition takes place when he turns
thirteen; here Josephus speaks of "about fourteen years of age" and Y‘shua is said to be twelve (thus going
on thirteen). So both passages may simply be conventional boasts drawn from the memories of the proud
Jewish parents.
But there is an odder similarity: both passages imply that the scholars of Jerusalem actually learned things
from the boys! This is an extraordinary boast. Was this also part of traditional Bar Mitzvah kvelling of the time
as laid out below?
Bar Mitzvah ritual
Ask any under 13-year-old Jewish boy which date he anticipates with the most excitement and he'll
undoubtedly say "my Bar Mitzvah". (Under 12-year-old Jewish girls would say "Bat Mitzvah"). The boy's Bar
Mitzvah is the date on which he reaches his religious majority - on his 13th birthday.
Bar or Bat Mitzvah literally means "son or daughter of the commandment‖, the thirteen year-old male (bar-
Aramaic for "son") or twelve year-old female (bat is Hebrew for "daughter") become responsible for the
commandments. The phrase also refers to the ceremony itself – ―subject to the commandments".
Bar Mitzvah then simply means "coming of age‖. A Bar Mitzvah in a nutshell is ―a Jewish person who is
responsible for his or her own actions‖. The Torah considers a mentally stable male of thirteen years to be
responsible for his own actions. Women reach this stage of maturity a year earlier. When the Torah says that
a person must do such-and-such and must not do such-and-such, it is speaking to the Bar Mitzvah.
Is it true that the idea that a boy becomes a man at thirteen is a holdover from agrarian times? Establishing
adulthood at thirteen is progressive to this day. Thirteen is when a boy begins to develop his own mind. The
reason boys are generally considered men at around eighteen are because that is the age they can carry
arms and go to war. The Jewish nation is not based on the power of battle, but on the power of the mind.
Is it true that Bar Mitzvah training consists of at least one year learning how to read the Torah? This could be
the reason why Y‘shua went to the Temple at the age of twelve, one year before his Bar Mitzvah.
The custom of making a feast is very old, but varies from community to community. In Jerusalem, the custom
was to make a feast on the day the boy first put on tefillin (connection – mark on forehead and hand – Deut
6:4-9, 11:13-21, Exod 13:1-16), several months before he became thirteen. This day was called, "Yom
Hatefillin‖, the ―day of the connection‖. Bar mitzvah training consists of thirteen years of learning how to do
mitzvahs (commandments) and why. And it continues on from there for the rest of life.
Can putting on a tallit (prayer shawl) for the first time ever be as exciting as being tossed the keys to the car?
Chanting the Torah or Haftorah (section) portion demonstrates serious preparation. And doing so publicly –
before friends and family – provides an opportunity to overcome stage fright and embarrassment that will
serve the celebrant well as he or she increasingly moves into the public arena. To become Bar Mitzvah, you
have to read the Torah portion in public. The tradition that the boy is called to the Torah is a universal custom
that is mentioned in the ancient Midrash.
In traditional society, focused (for men) on the synagogue, a 13-year-old boy‘s ability to lead the service, to
read from the Torah and to count in the minyan, marked him as a participant in society. He was truly a man.