ARR 91-92

CCAR RESPONSA

American Reform Responsa

35. TIME OF A BAR MITZVAH

(Vol. LXIII, 1953, pp. 156-157)

QUESTION: What would be your attitude to holding a Bar Mitzvah service on Sunday afternoon? Is there a definite dinabout the time?

ANSWER: As far as din is concerned, the “feast” should take place on the day the Bar Mitzvah boy has attained his thirteenth year, plus one day. The honor of reading from the Torah, ordinarily extended to the Bar Mitzvah boy on the preceding Sabbath, may be given to him on any day of the week when the Torahis read in public, that is, either on Monday or on Thursday.

Reform Judaism, in its effort to make the practice of religion less of a routine, as well as to give it a more modern and more realistic tone, virtually abolished the Bar Mitzvahceremony, not to supplant but to supplement the Confirmation service, coming somewhat later. The innovation has met with little opposition, since we are all eager to strengthen and enrich our Sabbath worship by all the means we can muster. And indeed, however disturbing some of its aspects, the restored ceremony has, in some measure, the spirit of worship on the Sabbath Day.

The suggestion that, for the greater convenience of relatives and friends, the Bar Mitzvahceremony be shifted from the Sabbath Day to Sunday afternoon would, we fear, nullify all the good it can do, leaving us with no compensation for some of the unattractive features it so frequently reveals.

Israel Bettan

See also:

S.B. Freehof, “Bar Mitzvah on Saturday Afternoon,” Recent Reform Responsa, pp. 19ff; “Bar Mitzvah on Sunday,” Reform Responsa, pp. l9ff;”Bar Mitzvah on Yom Kippur,” Reform Responsa, pp. 38ff; “Havdala Bar Mitzvah,” Reform Responsa for Our Time, pp. 33ff.

If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.