Jewish Traditions

What is considered the most important part of religions, cultures, races and families? It is their unique traditions. Everybody has their unique traditions, no matter what race, religion, culture, or sex they are from. Traditions are all around us.

From when you are born to when you die, your life will always have evolved around traditions. Traditions may have changed throughout the centuries, to adapt to modern times, but the most important ones will only have changed slightly. For Jews, traditions play key roles in their lives. Basically, Jews are very traditional people and they follow most of the same traditions as did their ancestors. Traditions tell them how they eat and pray, when and how many times they pray, what to wear at home and outside, how to be married, and how to mourn for the death of a loved one. And even the big traditions, such as marriage, have their own little traditions within. No matter what, Jews are always lead by their traditions. Even within the different Jewish denominations there are very few changes to the important traditions. Three, of many important traditions for Jews, are Bar/Bat mitzvah, marriage, and death and mourning. These three events are important life cycle events for Jews and they are full of traditions that have been around for many centuries.

Since their birth, Bar Mitzvahs are the second important life cycle event for Jewish boys. The first important life cycle event for Jewish boys, being the event of circumcision. Bar/Bat mitzvahs take place when a boy/girl reaches the age of majority (which is generally the age of 13 for boys and the age of 12 for girls). Bar/Bat mitzvahs mean “The one to whom the commandments apply” because the Bar/Bat mitzvahs symbolize the passage from childhood to adulthood.

Therefore, the Jewish children who are taking their Bar/Bat mitzvahs are becoming a person to whom the commandments apply. The Bar/Bat mitzvahs are a very emotional time for the Jewish children because they are becoming adults. And therefore must act and be as responsible as adults. For the Jewish children, their Bar/Bat mitzvah is the first time they will participate in an ordinary Sabbath service as an adult. The Jewish children must receive and accept the responsibilities of Jewish adults. These responsibilities consist of the children accepting that:

• They are morally responsible for their own actions.
• They are eligible to be called to read from the Torah.
• They can own what they posses as personal property.
• They are old enough to be legally married according to Jewish life.
• They must follow the 613 laws of the Torah.

Jewish children usually complete their Bar/Bat mitzvah by being called up to read a part of the Torah. After the services are completed the Bar/Bat mitzvahs enjoy a feast, as they are now adults of the Jewish community. To me the Bar/Bat mitzvahs has a very important impact on young Jewish adults. I learnt all the rules of life and religion through my parents and my own actions. If I did something bad, I would be told what I did wrong. That is how I learnt most of the rules and lessons but some rules, like the laws of Canada or all the rules of being a Roman Catholic, I don’t know and I probably will never know them all. Once we reach 18, we are expected to act as adults. We are not taught the differences in responsibilities of being a teenager to being an adult. We are forced to find out by ourselves.