Ask the Rabbi
- Family and Society
- Happy Occasions
- Bar and Bat Mitzva
Question
I have always understood that the age for Bar/Bat Mitzvah was rabinicaly set, that halchicly the guideline was physical maturity.
Now if a law D’rabbanan can only create a fence for a law D’oraita, how could they set an age for Bar/Bat Mitzvah, especially today when we see physical maturity occuring much earlier and thus D’oraita many of these children should be Bar/Bat Mitzvah but are not treated as such?
Answer
By Torah law both Physical maturity AND age count, the rabbis decreed that age in it self counts.

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