Cultural Immersion: Bar Mitzvah

For my Cultural Immersion I chose to attend a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. A Bar Mitzvah is
a traditional Jewish coming of age ceremony performed shortly after the boys 13th birthday. It
signifies that a boy is now responsible for Jewish ritual law, tradition, ethics, and are able to
participate in all areas of Jewish community life. They are also able to lead prayer and other
religious services in the family and the community.
I chose this experience because I got invited. The Bar Mitzvah is one of our close family
friends. I wanted to be there to celebrate his big day, but I also thought that it would be a very
interesting new cultural experience. I also had never had any experience with Judaism in my life.
I had never even been inside a synagogue let alone be a part of a service.
The beginning of it was surprisingly like a normal church service, except it was all in
Hebrew. The Rabbi read from the Torah and so did the Bar Mitzvah, they also sang many songs.
After that things got a little different. The Bar Mitzvah began a song from the Torah and 4
different groups of family members came up and sang with him. After the song was completed
the Rabbi brought out a Torah in the form of giant scroll, with the help of the Bar Mitzvahs
father, uncle, and grandfather. It was then passed through the generations until it finally got to
the Bar Mitzvah. Then everyone sang as he walked the scroll around the room followed by his
family. Then as he passed the people attending the ceremony they would touch their smaller
Torahs to his large one and say Mazal Tov. After he went around the room the larger Torah was
put away and there was one more song and then the ceremony was over.
I wonder what the significance behind the touching of the Torahs is. I also wonder the
meaning behind all of the readings and songs, seeing as they were all in Hebrew.
I appreciate the opportunity to have a greater insight in the Jewish culture and to be a part
of such a great event in the life of a Jewish boy.