Q. How can this be… I used a website to calculate my Torah portion, and it lists one for a BAR-mitzvah, and another for a BAT-Mitzvah! What difference would that make?

A. Torah portions for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs are determined by matching the Hebrew Date of your 12th or 13th Birthday to the portion which falls that week. The portion may vary on a given Hebrew date from year to year due to the Jewish Leap Year cycle, the holiday calendar schedule, the Hebrew dates corresponding to the days of the week and other variables. So the same Hebrew date – a year apart – may fall on a different Torah portion. Bar-Mitzvahs are celebrated in the 13th year, while Bat-Mitzvahs are celebrated a year earlier at 12.