bat mitzvah

See also: batmitzvah

English

Alternative forms

• bat-mitzvah, (via Yiddish) bas mitzvah, (via Yiddish) bath mitzvah

Etymology

From Hebrew בַּת מִצְוָה (bát mitsvá, “bat mitzvah, someone who has come of age”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɑt ˈmɪtsvə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

bat mitzvah (plural bat mitzvahs or b'not mitzvah)

1. (Judaism) A Jewish coming of age ceremony for a girl.
2. (Judaism) A girl who has come of age.

Related terms

• bar mitzvah

Translations

Jewish coming of age ceremony for a girl

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: batmicvo
• Finnish: bat mitsva
• German: Bat-Mizwa (de)
• Hebrew: בַּת מִצְוָה (he) f (bát mitsvá)
• Polish: bat micwa f
• Russian: бат ми́цва (bat mícva)
• Yiddish: בת־מיצווה f (bas-mitsve)

girl who has come of age

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: bat mitsva
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

Verb

bat mitzvah (third-person singular simple present bat mitzvahs, present participle bat mitzvahing, simple past and past participle bat mitzvahed)

1. (transitive) To initiate (someone) in a bat mitzvah ceremony.
   • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:

     Passing the Congregation Shearith Israel on Central Park West […], Professor Solanka scurrying through the downpour remembered the newly bat-mitzvahed thirteen-year-old girl he’d glimpsed through the side door, waiting knife in hand for the ceremony of the blessing of the bread.

   • 2022 October 1, Jessica Grose, “Teaching My Kids How to Be Jewish, One Plate of Apples at a Time”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Though I was bat mitzvah’d, my parents always made it clear that they weren’t big proponents of organized religion either. But being Jewish was still woven into the fabric of my upbringing with rituals, family history and core values.

Translations

initiate someone in a bat mitzvah ceremony

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: tulla bat mitsvaksi
• Russian: please add this translation if you can