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• bar mitzvah
  bar mitzvah

  noun

  a solemn ceremony held in the synagogue, usually on Saturday morning, to admit as an adult member of the Jewish community a Jewish boy 13 years old who has successfully completed a prescribed course of study in Judaism.
• Bar Mitzvah
  Bar Mitzvah

  adjective

  (of a Jewish boy) having assumed full religious obligations, being at least thirteen years of age

bar mitzvah

American  

[bahr mits-vuh, bahr, bahr meets-vah] / bɑr ˈmɪts və, bɑr, ˌbɑr mitsˈvɑ /

Or bar mizvah

noun

(often initial capital letters)

bar mitzvahs plural

1. a solemn ceremony held in the synagogue, usually on Saturday morning, to admit as an adult member of the Jewish community a Jewish boy 13 years old who has successfully completed a prescribed course of study in Judaism.

2. the boy participating in this ceremony.

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verb (used with object)

1. to administer the ceremony of bar mitzvah to.

   Our son was bar mitzvahed at the family synagogue.

Bar Mitzvah British  

/ bɑː ˈmɪtsvə /

adjective

1. (of a Jewish boy) having assumed full religious obligations, being at least thirteen years of age

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noun

1. the occasion, ceremony, or celebration of that event

2. the boy himself on that day

bar mitzvah Cultural  

1. An important ceremony and social event in Judaism marking the beginning of religious responsibility for Jewish boys of thirteen. Bar mitzvah is Hebrew for “son of the commandment.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bar mitzvahs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bar mitzvah

1860–65; < Biblical Aramaic bar son + Hebrew miṣwāh divine law, commandment

Compare meaning

How does bar-mitzvah compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• bar mitzvah vs. bat mitzvah

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bar mitzvah Bar Mitzvah

You usually go there for something—a birthday, a bar mitzvah, a special family Saturday-afternoon outing.

From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026

Despite the success, he was ousted from Columbia when the company accused him of using company funds to pay for personal expenses, including his son's bar mitzvah.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

Jacobs: I started my first business when I was 23 years old in 1979 with $5,000 left over from my bar mitzvah money, and that business grew to a billion dollars.

From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026

Bandel came with his entire family to celebrate his grandson's upcoming bar mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ritual.

From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026

Part of me always believed that this whole bar mitzvah thing was kind of a goof for him.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

Howard Youngerwood, 79, from London, travelled to Israel earlier this month for his granddaughter's Bar Mitzvah.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2025

WINNER: Cooper Raiff, “Cha Cha Real Smooth” “A young man who works as a Bar Mitzvah party host strikes up a friendship with a mother and her autistic daughter.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2023

Stan embraced his complicated past, turning on a home movie of his Bar Mitzvah at a soiree he threw in the '90s, showing him as a chubby boy doing his Haftorah.

From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2023

In the film, he plays a recent college graduate working as a party starter on the Bar Mitzvah circuit, where he meets and befriends a single mom played by Dakota Johnson.

From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2022

It is not known whether Bobby, on or near his thirteenth birthday of March 9, 1956, participated in the formal Jewish ritual of Bar Mitzvah, reading Hebrew from the Torah at a synagogue.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady