CHAPTER THREE - Adolescent Issues and Coming-of-Age Ceremonies

A: BACKGROUND

6. “All Change!” – The Concept of the Automatic Change

One noteworthy and interesting point is that the change in the nature and status of the “child” takes place automatically at the age in question. There is no need for any external ceremony or ritual recognition, in order for the change to be introduced, in terms of ritual status and practice.

In this respect, Jewish practice differs greatly from some of the other examples brought previously. While Judaism, like them, perceives a major transitional stage of major significance occurring in the life circumstances of the individual, unlike them, the change happens automatically and does not require externalized observation: there are no tests that need to be passed, no skills to be proved.

The key to understanding why this is possible, lie in the nature of the change that Judaism sees occurring at this point in time, as presented in the two above sources from the Mishnah.

• The first of the sources, from Pirkei Avot, mentions the significance of thirteen as the age for – the performance of the Mitzvot - Precepts, or Commandments.
• The second source presents the concept that, at the prescribed age, the adolescent child is fully responsible for his or her own vows and, by extension, for his or her own actions.

The two sources appear to refer to very different areas of responsibility, but the connection between them is clear. As in other coming-of-age ceremonies in different cultures, the emphasis is on the acceptance of responsibility before society.

If, up to this time, the child has not been considered totally responsible for his or her own actions, from now on, the one major change in the eyes of society is the need for the individual to take responsibility within the social framework.

A central tenet of the move away from childhood is therefore the ability and the preparedness to take one’s part in the struggle for the society’s continued existence and welfare.

In traditional tribal societies, their social welfare is or was predicated on the ability of the society to maintain its survival skills of hunting, tracking and the like. Thus, the young man who is asked to take his share of responsibility for the continuity of that society is likely to be examined in his abilities in the necessary survival skills. It is as if the society is saying to him: the future depends on your skills.

• However, the Jewish concept of national survival and welfare is different in substance:
  For the Jews as a people, the core belief is that they have been entrusted with a special set of Divine guidelines, on which their own welfare and the welfare of the world as a whole are based.
• The survival skills are therefore of a very different kind:
  According to traditional Judaism, the most important act that Jews can do - and the act that they need to do, in order to ensure the welfare both of themselves, and indeed of the whole world, - is the acceptance and performance of the Divine Commandments.
• Other skills might, or might not be important on the road of life, but everything pales before the need to carry out G-d’s laws: the future of the Jewish People and that of the entire world are dependent on the observance of the Commandments.
  Every Jew is considered commanded in this manner: thus, the significance and impact of this new status for the individual adolescent and community are abundantly clear. Indeed, the traditional belief is that the collective can be punished G-d for the backsliding of individual members who do not carry out G-d’s will.
• Given this centrality, it would indeed be surprising if the taking of responsibility for the collective (so central in all coming-of-age ceremonies) were defined in any other terms, except those of performing the Commandments.

This is also why there is no test to pass as part of the coming-of- age ceremony, unlike other cultures: whether one accepts one’s responsibility or not, no special skills are required in order to do one’s duty to G-d, the Jewish People and the world. Everyone can carry out the Mitzvot, and all are required to do so; the only factor relevant is determination.

Therefore, whether or not the individual and the community choose to mark the transition point ritually is secondary to the fact that the transition point is reached. From that moment on, the individual is obligated, and that obligation is expressed through the commitment to the Torah, G-d’s law.

From this explanation, one can understand the traditional title given to the boy of thirteen (and one day) who is now considered responsible for his own actions – the Bar Mitzvah. It is a mixture of an Aramaic and Hebrew terms which has the twin related meanings of “son of the Commandment” and “one who is obligated by the Commandment”. The two meanings are apt, because while the second meaning suggests what the individual is now obligated to do, the first significance carries the extra connotation that, from now on, his identity is defined by his relationship to the Commandment. As mentioned above, the boy is Bar Mitzvah, obligated to the Commandments, whether or not this is formalised by a ceremony.

• The idea behind the modern western term of being (to use the anglicized term) “Bar Mitzvah’d”, is, therefore, not only ungrammatical, but betrays a misunderstanding of the concept. The ceremony is ultimately irrelevant to the fundamental concept of the relationship of the adolescent child to the Torah, the Law.
• In addition, it should be noted that the status of being Bar Mitzvah – i.e. obligated by the Commandments - is a status that continues for life. From the age of thirteen the boy is Bar Mitzvah – with or without a ceremony - and he remains so for the rest of his life.
• The concept of Bar Mitzvah has been presented in the male gender. Just as with birth ceremonies examined in the previous chapter, in the case of the Bar Mitzvah this is a traditionally male concept and ceremony.
• The question of a parallel concept and ceremony for young women is relatively recent and came about largely as a result of outside influence. This raises its own issues, which will again be addressed separately. However, they will also be set against the base line of the Bar Mitzvah, which developed earlier in Judaism.