Her darling new granddaughter isn't the only miracle on
Chana's mind these days. It seems that the arrival of this
sweet pink bundle brought even more blessings in its wake.
The story happened last week, when Chana's daughter Yael and
son-in-law Tzvi taxied to a hospital in Jerusalem to await
the birth of their first child. As they were settling into
the unfamiliar routine, Tzvi thought it might be a good idea
to get a bracha from Rav Chaim Kanievsky, who is known
for disseminating segulos for easy childbirth. Since
Tzvi's younger brother, Nachum, learns in a yeshiva in Bnei
Brak, Tzvi called him up and asked him to go to the Rav's
home on his behalf.
Nachum quickly got permission from his rosh yeshiva
and dashed out to the Rav's home. He was greeted by Rebbetzin
Kanievsky, who, upon hearing his request, gave him a small
vial of esrog jam as a segula for an easy birth. Great
- - mission accomplished, but how was Nachum supposed to get
the segula to Jerusalem where it would do the most
good?
He raced to the intercity bus stops, where several yeshiva
bochurim were preparing to board. Spotting a
bochur who looked about the same age as Tzvi, he asked
if he was traveling to Jerusalem.
"Well, yeah," the young man replied, a little preoccupied.
"Where exactly are you going?" Nachum continued.
"Uh, a hotel," he answered, clearly reluctant to pursue the
conversation. But Nachum, preoccupied with his own urgent
mission, persisted in drawing out more details. He found out
that the hotel was relatively close to the hospital where
Tzvi was waiting for the precious segula. "If you take
this," he promised the bochur, "my brother will come
to pick it up as soon as you get there."
He nodded and slipped the vial of esrog jam into his pocket.
The bus carried him along to Jerusalem, where he delivered it
into the hands of the expectant father, who whisked it to the
hospital where Yael gave birth to a lovely baby girl shortly
thereafter.
During their brief meeting in the hotel, something else
happened. When they introduced themselves, the young man
realized that Tzvi's last name sounded very familiar. In
fact, it was the same last name as the girl he was about to
meet at the hotel for a shidduch! His shidduch
was none other than Tzvi's and Nachum's sister, and exactly
one week later to the day, the two young people were
engaged!
As Tzvi's parents rejoiced at the engagement, they quipped,
"Our sons went out looking for esrog jam, and came back with
a most mehudar esrog!"
