Shabbos Bulletin Parshas Bo 5776

Tefilla Halacha

This week’s “Tefilla Halacha” is l’kovod Bentzi Frankel’s Bar Mitzvah!

When a bar-mitzvah boy gets his aliyah, the father makes a special berachah: “baruch shep’tarani maI’onsho shel zeh.” The berachah is made without shem u’malchus. The son should answer “amein,” as some say the berachah is for him as well.

The main idea of the berachah is that the father is no longer the one solely responsible for the boy’s chinuch – the boy is now responsible for himself as well. Thus, the father is no longer punished for violations of chinuch obligations.

Another explanation is that the child, now being an adult, no longer will be part of a possible punishment that the father is receiving for his, the father’s, sins. And the father will no longer be punished for putting the son at such risk.

The berachah can be made for up to 30 days after the bar-mitzvah.