This is the story of a lovely family, the Hendeles House- (you know like the Brady Bunch?), who was bringing up many lovely boys. But, unlike the Brady Bunch, there were no girls. All of them had hair of brown, blonde, black…some turned grey, some went bald in their twenties or thirties. Some had blue eyes, some had brown eyes, some light skin, some darker skin.

But all boys. It was the best of times, times of pride and joy. And worst of times, times of scrapes and oys. Times of mischief…times of late nights with friends. Times of long nights studying, times of A plus grades, and times of not such good grades. Times of bullying at school, and times of playfulness at camp. Times of barbecues, and bike riding, and beach sandcastles. And bubbles, and baths, and rubber duckies.Wait, wait. Let’s backtrack a bit. Like back to 1945 when a nice Jewish couple named Lazare (Eliezer) and Moselle (Mazal) Hendeles came over to America after getting married in Shanghai, China, where they were part of a group of Jews residing there during World War II. Lazare had escaped from Poland together with his brother Freddie (Shraga Feivel) and Moselle had been born and raised in Shanghai. The other Hendeles brother (the ones besides Fred and Lazare who escaped) together with three sisters perished in Poland, along with whatever descendants were born by that time.

Shortly after their move to America, this couple, Moselle and Lazare had a lovely daughter whom they named Bryna Tzirel (also known as Cecille). They began to rebuild from the ashes of the Holocaust, the terrible destruction of the Hendeles family in Poland and the others whom they witnessed suffer in Shanghai by the hands of the Japanese. Around the same time, Freddie and his lovely wife, Betty (nee Verschleisser) had a daughter, also Bryna, but known as Brenda.

Moselle and Lazare went on to have two sons, Moise (Moshe) and Hayim (Chaim). The three siblings, who were born in NY, were raised in Los Angeles and grew up to be upstanding members of their communities and families.

Whilst Cecille and her husband had a mixture of daughters and sons, followed by a mixture of grand-daughters and grandsons, Moise and his wife followed by Hayim and his wife kept having Hendeles boys. All over LA, these boys were known as the Hendeles boys, the Hendeles cousins. The proud grandfather, Lazare kvelled over the many descendants to carry the Hendeles name in spite of the many who perished in the War.

Some were into baseball and basketball, others were the more studious types. Some were tall, others were kind of on the shorter side. Some quiet, others loud. But all were (and are) cute and adorable, and quite rambunctious. These boys eventually grew up, playing and studying and dining and chatting and growing up together through simchas and sad times in and around Los Angeles. Then they each got married to lovely young ladies.

Over the following years, these couples had boys. More blue. More bandaged knees and baseball, and basketball, and bar mitzvahs.

Innocent and friendly remarks from friends, neighbors, acquaintances and random folks were heard, such as: “Oh girls are so fun, and it’s great to dress them in pink….and girls are easier when they’re babies…and girls don’t play ball in the house, and girls help so much with cooking and cleaning….and girls become your best friend when they are older….”

And we wondered, they wondered: Will there ever be a Hendeles girl? One who we can dress up in pink, and bows, and frills. We love our boys and were very proud of the many Hendeles sons and grandsons. We were honored to have a family minyan at all our gatherings of simchas. And we thanked G-d for the blessings of healthy children and grandchildren.

But…..you know….? Pink. Ruffles. Dresses. Tights. Come on. Years went on, and we got the pitying looks…

Only boys? Seriously?

But, G-d had something waiting for us. Because today……(drum roll!)…..today, we got the call. Our son and daughter-in-law had a baby girl. It was true, it was real. She was here. She is here. Our new baby and precious grand-daughter. The very first Hendeles girl born to our family. Mazel tov!

Pink! Frills! Yay!

And for that, we are grateful. For a healthy and beautiful girl. And that’s the story and tale of one gender which eventually became two genders.

So. There’s your story…of the Hendeles household. A Tale of One – now Two – Genders.

Moral of the story? Never ever lose hope. Things can change and surprises always happen. But still, a disclaimer: If you marry into our family (and yes, there’s currently one Hendeles cousin of marriageable age), chances are you will be blessed with boys! (or maybe not…..after all it’s now a tale of TWO genders…).