rosends
Well-Known Member
I got sucked into another discussion of the word "bar" (Hebrew or Aramaic, "son" or something else) but this was based in someone's quoting a gospel character and not translating the word "bar" as son, as he insisted it meant something different. I decided to joy down some thoughts about the word(s) "bar" and I needed a place to store it. Let me know if this is missing examples, exceptions or anything else.
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The Bar Mitzvah
Under Jewish law, while there is an obligation to teach children about the mitzvot/commandments, and a concept that children can practice fulfilling commandments, children, because they lack the formed understanding and self control, are not held responsible for non-performance. This changes when they reach a status of “adulthood.” Historically, reaching this status was confirmed by physical signs of puberty which might vary, person to person, so eventually, the age was fixed at 13 for a male and 12 for a female.
This “turning into an adult” happens automatically. It requires no party, no ritual and no recognition. It simple “is.” At that point, the Jewish male is “bar chiyuva,” an Aramaic phrase meaning “subject to (or ‘under’) obligation.” This term applies to different categories of people in talmudic discussion and is used about 11 times in the Talmud. When discussing categories which are or are not subject to commandments, in one place (Tractate Bava Metziyah, 96a) the talmud refers to slaves as “d’lav bar mitzvah” – they are not subject to laws (this differentiates them from Jewish men who, the text reads “d’var mizvah hu” that he is subject to the command).
When speaking specifically of the status of “adult” and the obligation to fulfill commandments when one is of that category, the Talmud, in one location, labels men of age 13 and above as “bar mitzvah” – subject to, or under the commandment as opposed to minors. In Tractate Sanhedrin (94b) the text reads (when discussing to whom a certain statement in the Torah applies) “איש דבר מצוה - אין, קטן – לא” (ish, d’bar mitzvah, een, katan, lo) “a man, as he is subject to laws, yes, a minor, no.” The distinction is made that a minor is not a “bar mitzvah**” by virtue of his age. The Babylonian Talmud is a document written with a combination of Aramaic and Hebrew. This phrase proves no exception. While the word mitzvah is in Hebrew, the word before it (which can be seen as a preposition, under, or the adjective “subject”) is Aramaic, as signaled by the use of the leading “D” to indicate “that” or “as” (in Hebrew, the same meaning would be conveyed by a leading shin – the phrase “shebar mitzvah” doesn’t appear until the writings of Rav Ovadia Yosef, about 2000 years after the Talmud).
The word “bar” is a complicated one. The form, a bet-reish, is, biblically, both a Hebrew and an Aramaic word. In the Hebrew, in almost all cases, it refers to provisions (grain). In one case, in Psalm 2:12, there are commentators who see it as meaning “son” (though others see it as meaning “purity/cleanliness” as in Psalms 24:4, or “chieftan”). Proverbs 31:2 has it as “son” and in 11:26, as “grain.” In the Aramaic, it generally means “son of” when used with names, such as in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14. Post biblically, the use of the Aramaic as a literal son is frequent in the talumd; Rav Shimon Bar Yochai is the most famous example though, as previously discussed, it (much like what happens with the Hebrew “ben*” or ‘son’) is used to mean “connected to” or “under the heading of” when not attached to names.
This does leave a nagging question – why would we (or whoever chose to do this) adopt a phrase in the Aramaic to become the common label for the state of adulthood, especially when that phrase means so much more in its original use and is only rarely a signifier of an age based status change? The answer might be “convenience” and the lack of any other flashy label.
* the term “ben mitzvah” as parallel to the Aramaic “bar mitzvah” is found often, post-talmudically, and the phrase “ben torah” – one who is connected to Torah learning, is used in the minor tractates and the Jerusalem Talmud.
**the term is picked up on and used by later writings very frequently, and is also used in the plural, [d]bar mitzvOT, [as] subject to the commandmentS, to separate between various categories including both age and gender).
------------------------------------
The Bar Mitzvah
Under Jewish law, while there is an obligation to teach children about the mitzvot/commandments, and a concept that children can practice fulfilling commandments, children, because they lack the formed understanding and self control, are not held responsible for non-performance. This changes when they reach a status of “adulthood.” Historically, reaching this status was confirmed by physical signs of puberty which might vary, person to person, so eventually, the age was fixed at 13 for a male and 12 for a female.
This “turning into an adult” happens automatically. It requires no party, no ritual and no recognition. It simple “is.” At that point, the Jewish male is “bar chiyuva,” an Aramaic phrase meaning “subject to (or ‘under’) obligation.” This term applies to different categories of people in talmudic discussion and is used about 11 times in the Talmud. When discussing categories which are or are not subject to commandments, in one place (Tractate Bava Metziyah, 96a) the talmud refers to slaves as “d’lav bar mitzvah” – they are not subject to laws (this differentiates them from Jewish men who, the text reads “d’var mizvah hu” that he is subject to the command).
When speaking specifically of the status of “adult” and the obligation to fulfill commandments when one is of that category, the Talmud, in one location, labels men of age 13 and above as “bar mitzvah” – subject to, or under the commandment as opposed to minors. In Tractate Sanhedrin (94b) the text reads (when discussing to whom a certain statement in the Torah applies) “איש דבר מצוה - אין, קטן – לא” (ish, d’bar mitzvah, een, katan, lo) “a man, as he is subject to laws, yes, a minor, no.” The distinction is made that a minor is not a “bar mitzvah**” by virtue of his age. The Babylonian Talmud is a document written with a combination of Aramaic and Hebrew. This phrase proves no exception. While the word mitzvah is in Hebrew, the word before it (which can be seen as a preposition, under, or the adjective “subject”) is Aramaic, as signaled by the use of the leading “D” to indicate “that” or “as” (in Hebrew, the same meaning would be conveyed by a leading shin – the phrase “shebar mitzvah” doesn’t appear until the writings of Rav Ovadia Yosef, about 2000 years after the Talmud).
The word “bar” is a complicated one. The form, a bet-reish, is, biblically, both a Hebrew and an Aramaic word. In the Hebrew, in almost all cases, it refers to provisions (grain). In one case, in Psalm 2:12, there are commentators who see it as meaning “son” (though others see it as meaning “purity/cleanliness” as in Psalms 24:4, or “chieftan”). Proverbs 31:2 has it as “son” and in 11:26, as “grain.” In the Aramaic, it generally means “son of” when used with names, such as in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14. Post biblically, the use of the Aramaic as a literal son is frequent in the talumd; Rav Shimon Bar Yochai is the most famous example though, as previously discussed, it (much like what happens with the Hebrew “ben*” or ‘son’) is used to mean “connected to” or “under the heading of” when not attached to names.
This does leave a nagging question – why would we (or whoever chose to do this) adopt a phrase in the Aramaic to become the common label for the state of adulthood, especially when that phrase means so much more in its original use and is only rarely a signifier of an age based status change? The answer might be “convenience” and the lack of any other flashy label.
* the term “ben mitzvah” as parallel to the Aramaic “bar mitzvah” is found often, post-talmudically, and the phrase “ben torah” – one who is connected to Torah learning, is used in the minor tractates and the Jerusalem Talmud.
**the term is picked up on and used by later writings very frequently, and is also used in the plural, [d]bar mitzvOT, [as] subject to the commandmentS, to separate between various categories including both age and gender).