When God gave the mitzvot (notice that we are not talking about law but about commandments), the purpose was to keep His people’s lives focused on what really matters:

1. Relationship with Him.
2. Relationship with family.
3. Relationship with the community.

All that God desires for them is that they prosper and their days be prolonged: “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deuteronomy 6:1–3). Most of the time parents try to create a state of comfort around their children, and it is certainly good that they care about this, the same way God did as a Father preparing a land flowing with milk and honey for His people, but if they were not capable of putting into practice the commandments He had given them they would have a desert for territory. In function of this, God gave them leaders and organized the people in such a way that they could learn those commandments and put them into practice. Focusing directly on the Benei Mitzvah (sons of the commandment) we can see immediate benefits:

Children learn the reality that the world tries to hide from an eternal Being who loves them. They will experience that the foundation of their relationship with God is love. They will understand that this Being is holy and demands holiness from every human being, beginning with themselves. They will be able to counteract the arrogance of believing that they are unique or isolated by seeing themselves surrounded by His creation, where there are other children of His. They will value the specialness of love in every relationship with God’s creation and especially with their neighbors. They will learn to manage their personal lives correctly to be able to live suitably in God’s creation. They will see family well-being in light of the holiness that God demands as the basis for all society. They will be able to feel the challenge of knowing that neither family, nor community of believers, nor society will be able to enjoy a good quality of life if they do not contribute with all their heart and with abundance for that.

When everyone in a community of believers truly understands the entire process revealed by God and then the Benei Mitzvah ceremony itself, it awakens lively emotions in the hearts of the children in every home. The affection of their parents, the patience of their tutors in the community of believers, and the warm family atmosphere will contribute to creating a favorable emotional environment for them. It is true that God relates to anyone anywhere, but if He has given the foundations for creating this environment, surely the children will take better advantage of it. That is, we are not preparing the way for God to speak to our children with this, but rather we are preparing them to listen to Him.

Speaking at a deeper level, it can be said that just as their bodies are growing and changing, so are their souls. Upon reaching the age of Mitzvah, it is the moment when moral consciousness and sensitivity are completing their development, allowing young people to assume responsibilities for their actions. Therefore, one of the clear things they must learn is that adulthood involves spiritual responsibilities, since their actions are more significant and influential on themselves and others. Also for this reason they must learn that although spontaneity is good, voluntarily fulfilled obligations are even better. This is because people tend to fulfill obligations due to the repercussions of not doing so, but when this fear is overcome simply by doing it because they want to, then that is a sign of maturity. It is thus that when someone learns to obey God and fulfill what He has established, simply because they love doing it, they transcend to a true understanding of surrender to His lordship. This end of childhood obligations at the beginning of voluntary obligations of adulthood is also what the Benei Mitzvah celebrates.

Author: Dr. Liber Aguiar.