Baruch Shepetarani: The Bar Mitzvah Blessing

Devarim Rabbah 7:5

דברים רבה ז׳:ה׳

Devarim Rabbah 7:5

The passage presents an alternate interpretation stating that one should be blessed upon entering the world and blessed upon leaving it, with Rabbi Berekiah citing Kohelet's verse about times for birth and death to teach that a person is fortunate if their time of death is like their time of birth—just as one is innocent at birth, so too at death—thus one should be blessed both upon coming and upon going.

Bereshit Rabbah

בראשית רבה ס״ג:י׳

Bereshit Rabbah 63:10

Rabbi Elazar states that a person must care for his son until age thirteen, and from that point onward he must recite "Baruch shepeatarani me'onsho shel zeh" (Blessed is He who has freed me from the punishment of this one).

Magen Avraham

מגן אברהם רכ״ה:ה׳

Magen Avraham 225:5

The Magen Avraham discusses the exact timing for the recitation of Baruch Shepetarani, explaining that it should ideally be said when the son receives his first aliyah, and addresses the theological meaning: the father is released from heavenly punishment for the son's misdeeds now that the son bears his own religious accountability.

Beit Yosef

בית יוסף, אורח חיים רכ״ה

Beit Yosef, Orach Chayim 225

The Beit Yosef analyzes the sources for Baruch Shepetarani, tracing it to Bereshit Rabbah and discussing whether this blessing should be recited with or without God's full name, noting the debate among the Rishonim on the precise wording and occasion.

recovered from “Shulchan Arukh Orach Chayim 225:2”

Shulchan Arukh

שולחן ערוך, אורח חיים רכ״ה:ב׳

Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 225:2

The Shulchan Arukh rules that a father recites Baruch Shepetarani ('Blessed is He who has released me from the punishment of this one') upon his son becoming bar mitzvah, though it is recited without Shem u'Malkhut (God's name and sovereignty) due to a doubt about its status.

recovered from “Shem MiShmuel, Toldot 5673”

Shem MiShmuel

שם משמואל, תולדות ד׳

Shem MiShmuel, Toldot 4

The Shem MiShmuel offers a deep chassidic analysis of the bar mitzvah event and the Baruch Shepetarani blessing, explaining that before bar mitzvah the father's soul encompasses the son's, and at 13 the son's independent spiritual identity emerges — hence the release (petira) is a spiritual unbinding, not merely a legal one.