Israel - Bar Mitzvah medal - "Large tribes" In ancient Judaism, a boy who turned 13 would become ...

Israel - Bar Mitzvah medal - "Large tribes" In ancient Judaism, a boy who turned 13 would become Bar Mitzvah (a person to whom the commandments apply), meaning that according to Jewish law he had reached the age of majority and had become responsible for his actions. In modern Jewish practice, Bar Mitzvah strictly has a religious meaning. Upon having reached his 13th birthday, the boy is ceremoniously called up to his first Torah reading, and only from that moment onward he has become a full-fledged member of the congregation. For instance, a boy who has passed his 13th birthday is counted towards a Minyan, a quorum of ten adult males required for certain religious obligations such as a synagogue service or public prayer. In modern Israel, as well as in almost all other nations, the legal age of majority is 18, and Bar Mitzvah has merely become a festive ceremony celebrated by both religious and secular Jews. The obverse of the Bar Mitzvah I medal shows a boy reading from a Torah scroll laid out on a Bimah (Torah reading podium). The Hebrew text reads "At thirteen to the fulfillment of the Mitzvoth" (Pirkei Avot - Ethics of the Fathers 5:21). The medal's reverse shows the emblems of the Twelve Tribes of Israel arranged in the shape of a flower, with the State emblem in the center. The Hebrew text around the rim reads "Thirteen years to the State of Israel", and the English translation "Bar Mitzvah of the State of Israel". The Bar Mitzvah I medal has two distinct reverse varieties. In the "small tribes" type, the image containing the tribes and State emblem is small, leaving a large empty area between the image and the text around the rim. The "large tribes" type has the tribes covering almost the entire reverse, almost touching the text around the rim.