Bar-Mitzvah (pl. Bnei-Mitzvah) - A ceremony for boys who reach the age of 13 in which they read from the Torah on the Sabbath falling closest to their Hebrew birthday. (Judaism follows a lunar calendar.) At this age, boys are considered accountable for their own actions and have higher responsibilities to God. Girls reach this level of responsibility at the age of 12, in what is called a Bat-Mitzvah. However, according to Orthodox tradition, girls do not read from the Torah.