When does a boy become a man? | Rabbi Stewart Weiss | Beit Midrash

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It’s common knowledge, of course, that boys are Bar Mitzvah-ed at the age of 13 & then become liable to observe the Torah’s commandments; this is explicitly noted in Pirkei Avot 5:21: Ben shlosh-esrya l’Mitzvot. But when does a boy become a man? Rashi connects the pasuk in Bamidbar 5:6 – "a man or woman who commits a sin" – to our sedra, where Levi, who was 13, is referred to as an "ish," a man. (He is the youngest person in the Torah to be called "ish.") We also have the example of Yakov & Esav. They both attended a yeshiva while young, but at the age of 13 they went their separate ways, with Esav going on to be a hunter, while Yakov stayed in the "tents of learning." The Gemara learns from this that parents must raise their child until age 13, at which point the parent (generally the father on the day of his son’s Bar Mitzva) publicly declares, "Baruch Shepatranu," blessed is He who has freed me from my responsibility for any misdeeds this person may commit in the future. (With thanks to Talmudic Academy of Miami)

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