As with any religious or cultural event, there exists a definite split in opinion as to whether any particularly significant event should be solemn and serious or light hearted and fun? It is to be expected that children will be raised to follow the tenets of their parents’ religion and many religions and cultures have ceremonies relating to children coming of age.
In Judaism, religious law states that a girl child becomes of age and henceforth responsible for her actions at the age of 12; for boys, the age is 13. This is seen as an important milestone in life and the ceremony is called bat mitzvah for the girls and bar mitzvah for the boys – the plural word being b’nai mitzvah. Bat is an ancient Jewish word for daughter while bar means son.
The religious part of all b’nai mitzvahs will be conducted in the synagogue following the correct ritual and with all due seriousness, prayer and readings from The Torah. Fortunately, tradition does call for a celebration after a bar (or bat) mitzvah. B’nai mitzvah festivities should include a celebratory meal with family and friends – called a seudat mitzvah – which can be almost anything from a small sedate gathering to a huge party.
The celebrants, being of 12 or 13 years old, would probably choose something like a trip to Disney Land to mark the occasion but, more often than not, the parents will use their offspring’s’ b’nai mitzvah as the excuse to hold large, function type, parties where they can impress their relatives, friends and business associates with plentiful food and drink accompanied by music and dancing. All of which may be fine with the adults but, what about the young celebrants and their equally young friends?
If you have made the conscious decision that your children’s b’nai mitzvahs will be solemn at the synagogue but then followed by a light hearted fun event, don’t you owe it to them to plan in some suitable games to keep them – the young – entertained and make their big day more memorable? However, that still leaves the question of which bar mitzvah party games will be suitable to entertain the kids while not upsetting the more conservative amongst the elders present? A question that might need a Solomon’s wisdom to answer!