Funny email my buddy received

[Minimalist]

G-C you do understand, (I hope) that in Jewish tradition a "child" (male) becomes a man at the age of 13?

This is actually a fairly practical concept seeing as how average life expectancy was around 27-28. "Teenagers" in Jewish culture is a misnomer. They were adults. You are letting your ethnocentrism show.

Of even more significance is the idea that parents were no longer for their children after the age of 13.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_and_Bat_Mitzvah

According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach 13 years old for boys and 12 years old for girls they become responsible for their actions, and "become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah" (English: Daughter (Bat) or Son (Bar) of the commandments). In many Conservative and Reform synagogues, girls celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah at age 13, along with boys. This also coincides with physical puberty. Prior to this, the child's parents hold the responsibility for the child's adherence to Jewish law and tradition and, after this age, children bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics and are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.

So, in spite of your desperate attempts to try to save your bullshit, the fact remains that at the age of 13 Jewish males in that society were no longer the responsibility of the parents. They were on their own.