[HANASHIR:11525] rant #2: the expression "Bar/Bat Mitzvah"

[erik contzius <contzius...>]

Okay... another good question:

Why is the word, "Mitzvah" singular in the case of
"Bar/Bat Mitzvah" if the individual is a "Son/Daughter
of the CommandmentS?"

Simply put, the term "Bar/Bat Mitzvah" is not one to
be translated literally. It's an expression connoting
someone who is an adult in the eyes of the Jewish
community. The expression works very much like how one
asks how old one is in Israel. If you were to say (in
my case) that I am 34 years old, i would say, "Ani Ben
Shloshim v'arba," which literally translated would be,
"I [am] a son of 33." That makes little sense in
english. The hebrew is merely an expression used in
that language only.

Going the opposite way in Hebrew, a Bar [Ben, as
Adrian points out, being better modern hebrew than
aramaic] Mitzvah would be much better translated as
"Age of Responsiblility" or "Age of Obligation." Lest
we forget, it's a noun (you can't be bar-mitzvah-ed!).
It's something you become de-facto when you become 13
(service or not). You can commemorate or celebrate
one's becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, but you can't have a
bar mitzvah (and if you do, i believe it's illegal in
most states). 

This comes from the misappropriation of Hebrew by
English speakers. There is no one translation for Bar
Mitzvah, but "son of the commandment" doesn't really
convey what it really means. There's no real reason to
translate this literally, the same way that
translating "oy vey is mir" into "oh woe is me" does a
bit of injustice to the emotion of the yiddish.

hope that helps a bit.

btw, thanks all for your positive feedback to my
previous rant. thought i'd give you another! wheeeeeeeeee.....

=====
Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
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