Q. If the father doesn’t (recite the bracha of baruch sheptarani, since he is non religious) or if he is missing at he Bar Mitzva, should the grand father or the bar mitzvah boy say the bracha?

A. The Magen Avraham (225:5) presents two different elucidations for the brocho of Boruch Sheptorani. The first rationale is that until his Bar Mitzvah the father is responsible for the transgression of his son, since he is in charge of his education and upbringing. After his Bar Mitzvah, the father is no longer liable for punishment on account of his son’s failures, as the son takes on his own obligations. Therefore at that time the father thanks Hashem for his release.

On his second interpretation the Magen Avraham quotes the Levush that until now the son was liable to be punished for the misdeeds of his father. After his Bar Mitzvah he becomes an independent being, and is no longer punished on his father’s account.

Kol Yaakov asks that according to the second interpretation, the son, rather than the father, should be the one to recite the blessing. Although it is not our custom, indeed the Shach on Pashas Lech Lecha mentions that the son recites the brocho.

Maharsham (8: 33) in regards to an orphan that still has a grandfather, debates whether the elder can recite this blessing since one is compelled to teach Torah to a grandson (Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 245: 3). Then again he is not liable for the mitzvah of Chinuch. He rules that since we omit today the name of Hashem in this brocho, it is correct the grandfather should also recite. A similar opinion is to be found in the commentary Shaarei Rachamim on Shaar Ephraim 4: 24 (See also Teshuvos Vehanhogos O.H. 142)

Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit”a opinion is that the son should recite the brocho.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a