Originally Posted by
CMK10
If we're going to let this Jew, who had no Bar Mitzvah and enjoys the occasional bacon cheeseburger and a milkshake, then we have to let in everyone!
Get ready for some news: Your bar mitzvah was every bit as kosher as that of the most Orthodox rabbi in the world.
It is common to refer to the ceremony in a synagogue as a "bar mitzvah" -- or even the party afterwards -- but in reality the term applies to any Jewish boy on his 13th birthday, even if he has never said a single prayer.
The ceremony in the synagogue is actually called an "aliya l'torah". It means that you are called up to read the Torah and is a traditional honor to welcome visiting Jewish strangers as well as boys who just became bar mitzvah (which means "a son of the Covenant").
(Well, literally it means "a son of the good deed" -- but is understood to mean "a son of the Covenant".)
But you are right in your main point -- we certainly will let any FTer join us, and be happy to have him or her there. Of course, his chances of getting a bacon cheeseburger and a milkshake in a kosher deli are rather remote.