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510 Bar Mizwah Bar Shalmon

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

510

henceforth he may praise the of God, reciting the Bareku (Benediction) preceding the reading from the Law." Masseket

present.

Soferim xviii. 5 is even more explicit " In Jerusalem they are accustomed to initiate their children to fast on the Atonement Day, a year or two before their maturity and then, when the age has arrived, to bring

bag, and first the men, then the women, and finally his parents throw silver coins into the bag, which he then presents to his teacher. Abreakfastfollows, On the next Sabbath, the in which all take part. Bar Mizwah reads the "Haftarah." When he is called up to the Law, a piyyut is recited, the text of which is given in the "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums," 1839, p. 278, whence the above account has been taken. See also Banquets. Regarding a strange custom of cutting a boy's hair when he became Bar Mizwah, see Abrahams' "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," p. 144, note 2. For Bar Mizwah in modern times, see Confirmation.

rash'), in order that

name

'

'





the Bar

Mizwah

before the priest or elder for bless-

encouragement, and prayer, that he may be granted a portion in the Law and in the doing of good works. Whosoever is of superiority in the town is expected to pray for him as he bows down to him to receive his blessing." This then helps to illustrate the Midrash (Gen. R. lxiii.), which, in commenting upon the passage (Gen. xxv. 27), "and the boys grew," says: "Up to thirteen years Esau and Jacob went together to the primary school and back home after the thirteen years were over, the one went to the bet ha-midvash for the study of the Law, the other to the house of idols. With reference to this, R. Eleazar remarks, 'Until the thirteenth year it is the father's duty to train his boy; after this he must say: "Blessed be He who has taken from me the responsibility [the punishment] for ing,



Why

boy '"" " is the evil desire (' yezer hara' ') personified as the great king? (Eccl. ix. 14). Because it is thirteen years older than the good desire ('yezer hatob')." That is to say, the latter comes only with the initiation into duty (Ab. R. N., A. xvi., B. xxx.; Midr. Teh. ix. 3; Eccl. R. ix. 15). According to Pirke R. El. xxvi., Abraham rejected the idolatry of his father and became a worshiper of God when he was thirteen years old. In the light of these facts the story related in Luke ii. !

this

42^9, as observed by the elder Lightfoot, Wetstein, and Holtzmann in their commentaries to the passage, true significance The child Jesus when only twelve 3'ears of age, having not yet attained the religions maturity, joined, of his own accord, the teachers of the Law, and astonished all by his understanding and his answers, being, as he said, concerned only about the things of his Father in heaven finds

its



(n2"pn bw lrDK^Dl, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? "). Compare with this what Josephus writes of himself: "When I was a child about fourteen years old, I was commended by all for the love I had for learning, on which account the high priest and principal men of the city came to me in order to know my opinion regarding the accurate understanding of points of the Law " ("Vita," 2). In Morocco the boy becomes Bar Mizwah when he has passed the age of twelve years. He usually learns one of the Talmudical treatises by heart, and after he has passed an examination, the rabbis and the parnasim of the congregation, together with his relatives and friends, are invited to a dinner the Wednesday before the Sabbath on which he is to be " called up " to the Law. The following morning (Thursday), at the service which takes place in the boy's house, the chief rabbi puts the tefillin upon his arm, and his father those upon his head, while the choir accompanies the initiation rite with a hymn. He is then " called up " to the Law and before the close of the service he delivers a discourse, partly in the vernacular, for the benefit of the women who are

the Bar

The rabbis follow with a discussion, and Mizwah is then blessed aloud by the whole

assembly.

After this he goes around with his tefiUin-

Leopold Low, Die Lehensalter, in Jiidische Literatur, pp. 210-217, Szegedin, 1875 J. C. G. Bodenschatz,

Biblioqeaphy





KirehHche Verfassung der Heutigen Juden,

iv. 94, 95, Erlangen, 1748 GiidemaTm, Geschichte des Erziehungsiveseas unci der Cultur der Juden in Deutsehland, p. Ill, Vienna, 1888; idem, QuellenschriftenzurGeschichtedes Unterriehts

und der Erziehung

liei

den Deutschen Juden,

p.

143,

Berlin, 1891, where R. Jair Haim Bacharach's Rules of Study for the Bar Mizwah boy are given ; Hamburger, B. B. T. s.v. Mizwah ; Schurer, Geseh. des Jtidischen Volkes, ii. 426 ; Ch. Taylor, Sailings of the Jewish Fathers, 1897, pp. 97, 98 ; I. Abrahams, as above. J.

K.

SR.

BAR SHALMON

(]1d!>B>

13)



Legendary son-

in-law of Ashmedai, king of the demons. Bar Shalmon, the scholarly and pious son of a rich merchant who had accumulated great wealth through maritime ventures, promised his father under oath, when the latter was on his death-bed, never to undertake a sea voyage. Indeed, the fortune accumulated by the old merchant was so considerable that it was not necessary for the son to expose himself to the dangers of the sea. few years after his father's death, there entered the harbor of the city where Bar Shalmon resided a richly laden merchant vessel, the captain of which informed him that all its cargo of gold, precious stones, and other valuables were part of his father's estate abroad Bar Shalmon learned further that this cargo represented but a very small part of his father's possessions in foreign lands and he was earnestly requested to return in the ship in order to take possession of his inheritance. Bar Shalmon pleaded his inability to do so because of his vow. The captain declined to accept this excuse, on the ground that he believed Bar Shalmon's father to have been mentally incompetent at the time of his death, as evidenced by the fact that he had not alluded, even by a hint, to his vast treasures abroad. After considerable parleying, Bar Shalmon permitted himself to be persuaded to break his oath and he entered upon the voyage. As soon as the ship was upon the high seas, it sank Breaks His with all on board, Bar Shalmon alone, Oath to naked and destitute, being dashed by His Father, the waves upon a desert island. There

A

.



he was pursued by a lion, and sought refuge in a gigantic tree, upon which there was perched a fierce vulture (KS1S, p, not to be translated here as " owl "). In his terror Bar Shalmon climbed upon the back of the bird, which was so astonished by its sudden burden that it remained motionless all night; and its fright increased when, in the mornIn its ing, it saw clearly the man sitting upon it.