The actual performance of each ritual also makes them feel closer connection to God and his presence. One of the down sides of having such a ritualistic and ceremonial based religion is that a person or individual can get caught up the "ritual- and it can become very dry and monotonous. That is why it is so important to balance the ritual or festivity with their spiritual side.
Around the time of their thirteenth birthday, boys and girls are initiated into adulthood in the Jewish community. The ceremony is called Bar Mitzvah for boys and Bat Mitzvah for girls "the terms are identical, one being masculine and the other feminine; both mean "Child of the Commandment(s)."" It is at the age of twelve and a half for girls and thirteen for boys that young people become adults according to Jewish law. No ceremony is actually necessary, but ceremonies have been customary since the late Middle Ages. Boys (and sometimes girls as well) are called before the congregation to lead the congregation in worship and to read from the Torah, the scroll of parchment on which are handwritten the Five Books of Moses in Hebrew. This reading is often chanted to an ancient melody called a trop. Both boys and girls read also from the Haftarah, a weekly selection from the Prophets loosely connected t o the weekly Torah portion.There are several reasons for this elaborate ceremony.!.
First, as noted above, it marks the point at which a Jewish child becomes responsible for keeping the mitzvot (commandments) of Judaism. Second, it marks a point in the education of the Jewish youth. Not only a rabbi but also any Jewish adult may lead a prayer service or perform a Jewish ceremony in all branches of Judaism except the Orthodox. (In Orthodox practice, only men are allowed to lead congregational worship.) So the Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony is a way of showing that the young person has a sufficient command of Judaism and of Hebrew to lead the congregation.