Last December our Shabbos guests — a group of yeshivah bochurim — were discussing inyana d’yoma: the origin of the custom in certain communities not to learn Torah the night of nittel nacht. Suddenly one of the bochurim announced “My grandmother gives me presents for nittel nacht.” We looked at him wondering if this was some kind of minhag we hadn’t been aware of. A moment later it clicked. His grandmother is Christian. For a regular frum child whose mother or father happens to be a convert nittel nacht presents are just a small part of the merging of two clashing worlds. His parent may be the one who made the calculated life-altering decision to join the Jewish People but while he reaps the benefits he’s also left to navigate challenges foreign to the typical FFB child.
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