At the age of 12/13 Jewish people are commanded to read from the Torah and then have a party. This is called a bat mitzvah for girls and a bar mitzvah for boys. You do not have to read from the Torah and it is not a law that if you do not read the Torah you should be killed but it is commanded in the Torah . For a Jewish person at the age of 12/13 the Torah says  if you are a boy you should wear Teffilin which I will get to in just a second and according to the Torah you are a adult you can read from the Torah. for girls it is the same but you are not commanded to wear Teffilin you can but you do not have to . what is a Tallit? What is Teffilin?  Why is it important? Teffilin is something you wear every day but Shabbat and holidays. a Tallit is a prayer shawl and it is worn during prayer. It is important because it symbolizes a connection with god. I found that it is wierd that for a bat/bar mitzvah you do not have to read the Torah.