bar mitzvah
45
7.3
- noun
- /bɑr ˈmɪtzvə/
:
bar mitzvá
- The community gathered to celebrate Joshua's bar mitzvah on his 13th birthday, marking his coming of age.
For your bar mitzvah, you went to Israel, correct?
- For your bar mitzvah, you went to Israel, correct?
- Not like, but I also do do events, bar mitzvahs, anything.
- Zach, you threw a bar mitzvah here and it went great.
- I'm also available for children's parties, bar mitzvahs, weddings.
- Where did you go to some like insane bar mitzvahs as a kid?
- You made it, you know, you judged the bar mitzvah back then.
- But I did win a dance battle at a bar mitzvah.
- And I have a bar mitzvah, and my excuse was I'm having my bar mitzvah in Israel.
- Have you attended any bot or bar mitzvahs or like any big Jewish celebrations?
- I just also the story of how he spent all of his bar mitzvah money on phone sex is also a fantastic story.
- I've tried and my kids, just so you have a point of reference, my kids got smartphones for their bar mitzvah.
- So my only thought I'll tell you is was a year and a half later or so, she wrote to me and invited me to his bar mitzvah.
Examples
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And this is us in Israel at Mason's bar mitzvah.
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We met at a bar mitzvah in the Valley - San Fernando, not Central - and hit it off.
Fiction book (2000) -
For your bar mitzvah, you went to Israel, correct?
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Now, both of you, we have to talk about the bar mitzvah.
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I knew the whole bar mitzvah service by the time I was 14.
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You missed your brother's bar mitzvah.
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When I was growing up, it's what everyone gave you as a gift for your bar mitzvah.
Fiction book (1991) -
But even in America, a bar mitzvah was a joining of self to tribe.
Academic text (2000) -
My mom's friend is looking for a band for her son's bar mitzvah.
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I celebrated my bar mitzvah in 1948 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Academic text (2011)
Surface Forms
Morphology
bar + mitzvah
The overall meaning (a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony for a boy) cannot be derived from the listed constituents: 'mitzvah' (commandment/good deed) does not transparently indicate a ceremony, and 'bar' is not given as the Hebrew element meaning 'son' (and would be confused with English 'bar'). This is a culturally specific lexicalized phrase borrowed from Hebrew, so an average B1 learner who merely knows the constituent words would not predict the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Bar mitzvah comes from two old words: bar meaning 'son' and mitzvah meaning 'commandment'. It names a boy who now must follow Jewish duties, so bar mitzvah means the coming-of-age ceremony for a thirteen-year-old boy.