bark mitzvah

n. a (13th birthday) party held for a dog. Subjects: English, Animals, Insects, & Birds, Religion

Editorial Note: Usually jocular. The event itself usually has few, if any, serious religious components and are less coyly known simply as cat mitzvahs and dog mitzvahs. In many cases, the 13th birthday is figured in dog years, usually said to be a ratio of seven dog years for every one human year. Etymological Note: From bark ‘the onomatopoeic sound a dog is said to make’ + bar mitzvah, the Jewish ceremony for a boy’s arrival at the age of manhood and religious responsibility, or bat mitzvah, the equivalent ceremony for a girl.

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Citations: 1991 Bonnie Miller Rubin, Paul Gapp, Valli Herman Chicago Tribune (Dec. 29) “Best of bad taste: Our 10 picks for the year’s worst ideas in home decor”: What? No Bark Mitzvah? There seems to be a major taste problem when it comes to pet products. Who can forget Jim Bakker’s air-conditioned dog house? Yet it’s hard to imagine a bigger turkey than a kitty yarmulke. From the Crazy Cat Lady catalog: “For kosher cats who want to impress their friends at temple. For gentile kittens, there are kitty Santa hats.” 1992 Kit Boss Seattle Times (Wash.) (Feb. 24) “1,700 Hours Of TV: What Does It Mean?” p. K7: Next channel. Talk show host Joan Rivers appears. It’s her dog Spike’s 13th birthday, his “bark mitzvah.” Rivers promises, “We’re going to have a gala celebration with lots of four-legged friends and their celebrity owners.” 2000 Lucy Broadbent @ L.A. Mirror (U.K.) (June 27) “LA story—The fairy-tail lives of Hollywood’s hounds”: An LA dog can expect no less than lunch in his own restaurant, a pet limousine service to take him there and a “barkmitzvah” party, complete with doggy catering for his friends. 2004 Lily Koppel New York Times (Dec. 20) “Today He Is a Dog; Actually, He Always Was”: In the long walk of history between man and dog, the bark mitzvah could be seen as an unexpected pit stop. Yet it was celebrated on Saturday night in the Bronx in a traditional way, with a party for family and friends of the 13-year-old that included a chopped-liver sculpture, choruses of “mazel tov!” (or, in this case, “muzzle tov!”), a cantor and gifts.

Posted 21 Dec 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Are more and more Jews
celebrating “Bark” Mitzvahs? I’d like to hear
from anyone who has
celebrated this type of
affair.
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Wolfeny@webtv.net

by Marjorie G. Wolfe 01 Aug 06, 0206 GMT