[net.religion.jewish] BIOLOGICAL basis for ba[rt]-mitzvah

avi@pegasus.UUCP (Avi E. Gross) (02/29/84)

CONTEXT: I have followed the recent discussion about having a bat (as in
BOTTle) mitzvah occurring at ages 12, 13, 14 and 15 years of age.

As several people, including Andy Tannenbaum, have pointed out: becoming
bar/bat mitzvah is automatic. You neither have to do anything, nor can do
anything. Even the ages of 12 and 13 are irrelevant. Many of the
current celebrations have nothing to do with the original purpose of Bar/Bat
Mitzvah, and are simply imitations of non-Jewish "confirmation" rituals.

The ORIGINAL age of bar/bat mitzvah was variable. It depended on the onset
of puberty/menarche. In order for a boy/girl to attain the rights and
responsibilities of adulthood, they had to present evidence of PHYSICAL
maturity. This typically consisted of two hairs growing in an unusual
location -- such as armpit hair or pubic hair. In general, depending on
nutrition and other factors, women tended to attain this goal about a year
before the average man.

At some point in history (anybody know when?) people decided to set a
specific age for this time of life. The ages of 13 (for boys) and 12 (for
the other gender) were chosen because the TYPICAL female attained physical
adulthood at 12, while the average male did it at 13. This had nothing to do
with "maturity", although women do tend to mature earlier -- in some ways.

I recently heard of a woman who had her bat-mitzvah at 50 -- and was upset
because she had to share the limelight with a 12-year-old who had her
birthday that week. I found that rather amusing. She assumed that something
was happening to her just before she gave a party!!!!

Another point, is that the bat-mitzvah is sometimes measured by using the
birthday in the ENGLISH calendar. This is even sillier. If you really want
to use the 12 year method, then at least you can use the Hebrew birthday.
That can be off by as much as a month.

One final point. In the Jewish law of talmudic times, it really made a
difference whether a girl had attained puberty. Some of the rights and
responsibilities of her father changed at that point. Nowadays, most of
these points are moot, but choosing a Bat-Mitzvah at 15 is silly. 

The views expressed above are my own, and probably represent no religion
currently in style :-)
-- 
-=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241
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