Bar and bat mitzvah
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A bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish chil
Bar mitzvah boy wearing tallit and tefillin
Bar Mitzvah in a Synagogue by Oscar Rex
Reading from the Torah (Sephardi custom)
An 1839 description of an upcoming Manhattan bar mitzvah reported in the New York Herald
Tefillin
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Tefillin, or phylacteries, are sets of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Tefillin are traditionally worn by male adult
Bar and bat mitzvah
…this does not delay the onset of rights and responsibilities of being a Jewish adult which comes about strictly by virtue of age. The obligation to lay tefillin begins when a boy reaches bar mitzvah age. The common custom is for the bar mitzvah boy to begin putting on tefillin one to three months before his bar…
A set of tefillin includes the arm-tefillah (left) and the head-tefillah
Man wearing arm- and head-tefillin at the Western Wall in 2009
Ashkenazi head tefillin, Jerusalem, Israel
Leather moulded into shape for the head-tefillin