Entering the 21st Century

With a certain degree of reluctance, and very hesitatingly on my part, I have allowed my children to push and prod me into the new millennium.  It is neither my lifestyle nor my normal tempo, but Bennett insists on me having the latest gadgets for music, a cell phone, and a computer, although I can’t even type.  He puts my musings on the web so others can read my writings.

After recently completing a book of erotic novellas, mostly personal recollections, I started to write about what I know and like the most – the memories of a particular Polish shtetel, the town that I grew up in and loved, and left when I was a teenager in 1927.

I feel that I must recreate for the reader the way of life of one small hamlet, similar to hundreds like it all over Eastern Europe; a way of life that was so tragically destroyed by evil.

This collection; TALES FROM THE "SHTETEL" was started in 2000, and is ongoing in 2001.  In one very recent narrative I tell about superstition and fables; stories told in the dark of night about ghosts, spirits, and fantasies that sustained us.

I also told about the mysterious caves in the hills above our village that no one dared to enter.  Stories about a group of hidden Jews; faux converts to Catholicism, but secretly remaining faithful Jews.  They came to this area even before it became a Jewish hamlet.

They left Hebrew writings on the walls and inscribed on trees – attempts to keep up a Jewish calendar based on the weekly portions of the Torah, the Bible.

After I left Poland, some adventurous young people went into the caves and confirmed the facts.

In my writings, I mentioned a neighboring family, the Talandas, that lived next door to us, and who kept up a great friendship with my family.  I mentioned that the name Talanda was not a Polish name, and I that I had not come across that name in any other place in Poland.  I speculated that perhaps these people were descendents of the mysterious people that lived in our shtetel's caves in the long forgotten past.

I recall being aware that there were some secrets shared between this beloved doctor and my grandfather. I know that our sending of traditional Jewish food at every Passover was very much appreciated, and the Talandas shared in the activities of our family during the major Jewish holidays.  Of course I was just following my own fantasy.  I never really had any evidence or facts.

My editor posted the Talanda narrative on the web on a Wednesday afternoon, a week or so ago.  My daughter, Dr. Jan Bibel, a scientist who has to verify everything for herself, read the story that evening.

I had said that in my travels, I could not find any Talandas in any place in Poland.  Jan began to search the web via Google.com for references to the name Talanda, and she found some Talandas in Greece, and one in central Europe - and hold on!!!!!  A plea from a woman by the name of Laraine Talanda. 

"Please, please, if any one knows about a family Talanda from Poland, from a town called Szebazeszyn, please connect with me. I am searching for my roots."

My daughter immediately answered by email,

"My father mentioned the Talandas in his last story that was placed on the net a few hours ago."

This lady’s plea had been on the net for three years!

Thank you computer.

Since a week ago, I have had exchanged approximately 22 emails with this lovely lady.  Her name is Laraine Talanda Goetting.  She is a psychologist, married to a neurologist, and a mother of four.

Amazingly, Mrs. Talanda Goetting related to me that she was able to find the records of two Talandas dating back to 1680 in Spain.

Some of the Talandas are living in Canada and the U.S.A., and I understand that they are reading my memories.

Clearly the world is getting smaller, and maybe; just maybe, I will finally embrace the 21^st century to expand my horizons.