Greetings Rabbi Ginsburg,



I wanted to thank you for your wonderful collection of informative

videos on Youtube. It is appearant that these videos have reached many

people, in particular potential converts. Because you appear to show a

great deal of tolerance towards others, I thought I would ask you a

question about religious tolerance and Judaism.



First, some background information on me and where this question is

coming from.... I apologize in advance if you are heavily bombarded

with emails (which I'm sure you are).



I am a young graduate student at a Canadian university. I was born into

a Catholic family, but we were not very religious. When I was 13, I

decided Christianity was not for me. I have strong faith in God, but

not Jesus, and Judaism seemed like a potential good fit for me. But,

there was no nearby Jewish community, and I was unable to learn more. I

minored in religious studies at a Catholic univeristy in and that fed my curiousity towards Judaism. 13 months ago, I

moved  which has a large Jewish community. Over the last

year, I have had a lot of exposure and experience with the Jewish

community, and now I have started to consider conversion - but in the

long term, not anytime soon. In addition, in the past months I have

started dating a Jewish man.



The more I learn about Judaism, the more it seems to fit with the

inherent beliefs I have always valued. I am trying to learn as much as

I can (this includes watching your videos). And I think that someday I

will be prepared to convert, and that I would prefer to raise Jewish

children.



However, I am worried about my parents. If I converted to Judaism, they

would remain Christian. I want to remain a part of my family. Although

I will give up Christian traditions and holidays, I know it would hurt

my parents if I gave up participating in family holidays. For example,

all my siblings gather at my parents house on Christmas morning and

exchange gifts. If I did not attend, or did not give(or receive) gifts,

I would greatly insult my family. And when I have children, I know that

my parents will want to teach their grandchildren about Christmas, and

they will want to buy their grandchildren Christmas gifts.



So my question is, if I convert, how tolerant can I be towards my

parents' beliefs?

Could I participate in my family traditions as even though I don't

believe in those traditions? Could I use it as an opportunity to teach

my children relgious tolerance about other faiths? And how could I have

a Jewish wedding if my entire entended family was Christian? Generally,

do converts have these concerns?