The Moment Of Truth
A Jewish boy’s coming of age is marked with a variety of different rituals and customs that have evolved over the centuries. On the morning of his 13th birthday, the barmitzvah boy puts on tefillin for the first time, as on this day, it becomes a halachically-binding obligation to do so.
But some families have the custom for a boy to begin laying tefillin daily for around a month before the big day actually arrives.
If a boy’s Hebrew birthday falls on a Sunday through Thursday, he will be called up to receive an aliyah to the Torah in shul on the Monday or Thursday immediately following it.
A small section of the weekly Torah portion is always chanted during the morning service on these two days. The barmitzvah boy will be offered the opportunity to recite the blessing at the beginning and the end of one of the three breaks in the reading.
Some boys will also lein (chant) the Torah reading itself. Following this, the barmitzvah boy’s father gets to fulfil an important role, thanking God that now his son is technically an adult, he is no longer responsible for the child’s sins.
For boys whose birthdays fall on a Friday or Saturday, their big moment to get an aliyah and lein from the Torah comes during the Shabbat morning services. In fact, it is usual for most barmitzvah boys to get an aliyah in shul on the Shabbat immediately following their 13th birthday, even if it’s the second time around for them.
Some barmitzvah boys will opt to lein the entire Torah portion of the week, while others prefer to learn just a small section, or the haftarah - the concluding passage taken from the Book of Prophets.
Unlike on weekday mornings, the Shabbat service is divided into two parts, beginning with shacharit (the morning service) and ending with mussaf (the special additional Shabbat prayers).
The Torah reading takes place between the two. As the leining is divided into seven sections on Shabbat, many of the barmitzvah boy’s family members will be able to have the honour of an aliyah to the Torah.
Two additional jobs known as hagba and gelila can also be carried out by barmitzvah guests to the synagogue. The man who performs hagba must open up the Torah scroll, raise it high above the platform and turn it to face the congregation. He then sits back down, still holding the Torah, and the man chosen for gelila re-rolls the scroll and replaces its cover.
It is also customary to commemorate the barmitzvah with a slap up seudah (celebratory dinner). Here, the man of the moment delivers a Torah-oriented speech, demonstrating some of the knowledge he has gained in the run up to the big day. This somewhat nerve-wracking tradition has its origins in the post-mediaeval yeshivas of Eastern Europe, where students liked to try to outdo each other in their erudite displays of Torah and Talmidic insight.
Less academic yeshiva members would get someone else to prepare their discourses for them, learning them by heart so none of the listeners could spot the difference.
And finally, after all the preparation, studying and public performance comes the part no barmitzvah boy would deny he has been looking forward to all along anyway – the presents.
