[Avodah] bat mitzva "bo bayom"

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Toby Katz wrote:
> ... I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever when
> you have the party (or when you have a boy's bar mitzva
> party either, for that matter).  Something specific happens
> at a bris or at a wedding.  Nothing happens on a boy's 13th
> or a girl's 12th birthday -- nothing particular that you do
> that day. ... there's no certain thing you /have/ to do to
> become bar mitzva or bas mitzva as there is something you
> /have/ to do change your status from single to married
> person. ...

I'd like to focus on two phrases you used here: "Nothing happens on a birthday" and "nothing that you do that day". There's a big difference between these two.

Indeed, there's nothing special that the Bar Mitzvah or Bas Mitzvah does on that day. There is no act which one performs to effect this change in status. And if the parents have done their chinuch adequately, all the mitzvos being done today were also being done yesterday. But this does not mean that nothing's happening.

Sure, nothing *visible* is happening. But nothing visible happens when the sun goes down on Friday either. Something is very definitely happening, we just don't see it.

A child has become an adult. We don't see it with our eyes, but it *did* happen. Why would you think that it is not something to celebrate?

L'havdil, let's think for a moment about a typically normal non-Jew, who has just turned 21 years old (or whatever the age is in your jurisdiction). He wakes in the morning, and says "Hooray! Now I can drink legally!" Even if he does not yet exercise that right, he is already celebrating the ability to do so. And even if he has already had some underage drinks, he still celebrates the ability to do so legally.

Back to our subject, is it any less of a celebration when night falls, and the new young adult says, "I did mitzvos before, but now they're d'Oraisa! Hooray!"

Akiva Miller

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