Bar Mitzvah or bar mitzvah

[Alissa Nesson]

I just read a book where bar mitzvah is never capitalized and I’m seeing a lot of conflicting information online about whether it should be capitalized or not. I don’t want to get marked down in my review for writing it wrong. What do you guys suggest? Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

[Alissa Nesson]

Ok, so for anyone who is interested, I used bar mitzvah, all lower case. As a Jewish person I always wrote it that way but didn’t know why it wouldn’t be capitalized until I came across a Jewish site online that explained it. It’s because a bar mitzvah is something you become, not something you have. So it’s like becoming a bride, which we don’t capitalize.