I "did a mitzvah" with this gift

In late November, my dad asked me to Google a bunch of things for him. You have to understand that my dad isn't tech savvy. Let me be very clear here: My dad won't touch a computer. It's like it will give him some kind of techno virus. He avoids computers like the plague. But, that doesn't stop him from asking someone to use them for him.

Dad wanted me to Google things about his old neighborhood in the Bronx. He threw out a bunch of things that I was able to find, like "Sholem Aleichem Cooperative" (or sholem aleichem houses). I learned a lot more about that old neighborhood, which up until then I had only known as "Giles Place". I read some passages to my dad which made him very happy. Even after my dad left, I kept googling and looking at Google Books passages to learn about where his family had come from.

I ordered some of those books off of Amazon as a Chanukah gift, but they only had a sentence or two about these communities. There wasn't much else available. My mom said my dad woke up the next morning singing some old neighborhood songs he remembered from when he was little. I knew I had to find more. I kept digging, and I'm glad I did. I eventually found out that the Puffin Foundation was sponsoring a film about living in the "Coops" which would be screened at the NY Jewish Film Festival at the Lincoln Center. In January. I wrote to the producer, telling her my dad's story, and she told me that tickets would be on sale soon. It was the perfect gift for my dad and his sister (my aunt)... the ability to see this film with the producer and other people from the neighborhood.

My dad, my mom and dad's sister all went to see the screening yesterday: At Home In Utopia. It will be on PBS in May-ish. The gift was better than I could have imaginined... my aunt and my dad each called me raving about it. They had a ball. They even saw an old photo of their Yiddish teacher in the movie - they were amazed. They'll be watching it again on PBS and I should probably buy the DVD. They want to e-mail the producer and tell her more of their stories.

That gift was a good thing. And maybe, just maybe, dad will try a Google (or even an e-mail) on his own.

Nah.