The Hebrew name for the ceremony marking a Jewish boy’s religious adulthood is bar mitzvah.
The expression literally means “son of the commandment,” although the ceremony itself is not the child’s creation of a new legal status. In traditional Jewish law, a boy becomes obligated in the commandments when he reaches the relevant age, commonly 13, while the public ceremony developed as a way to mark and celebrate that transition.
A bar mitzvah service often includes being called to the Torah, chanting a passage, reading or assisting with the Haftarah, and delivering a short teaching. Customs differ among Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and other Jewish communities.
Bar mitzvah is also used informally for the celebration or event. It should not be confused with brit milah, the ritual circumcision ceremony normally held for a Jewish boy on the eighth day after birth. The parallel term for a girl is bat mitzvah, meaning “daughter of the commandment.”