In Halacha, as in other legal system, certain rights and privileges are reserved for people of a certain age. Just as when a Ugandan turns eighteen he gains the right to vote, when a Jewish child reaches the age of majority they gain the right to read from a Torah scroll, to count for a minyan, and to serve as a witness in a Jewish court. In addition to this, once a child turns thirteen they are expected to observe the mitzvot and are responsible for following Halachah.
Since the Middle Ages it has been customary to mark a boy’s thirteenth with celebration and ceremonies that allow the young man to exercise his rights for the first time. Traditionally this amounts to the boy taking his first aliyah to the Torah and giving a short lecture. Afterwards a seudah is held in order to celebrate the occasion. The day is preceded by a period of study in which the child learns how to read and prepares to become a bar mitzvah, and is a very important part of a young Jew’s coming of age.
For the last several hundred years bat mitzvot, the celebration for girls analogous to a bar mitzvah, were sometimes held in European and Sephardi communities. In the twentieth century the commemoration of a bat mitzvah became more common and is today a customary and fitting celebration of a young girls coming of age. Bat mitzvah takes place when a young girl turns twelve and typically consists of a period of education, a speech given to the congregation, and a celebratory meal.
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