“I deeply appreciated everything which the shaliach, Rabbi Yehudah Friedman, has done here in Canarsie, Brooklyn,” relates Hertzel Borochov. “After the morning minyan in the Chabad House began to be well attended and a daily schedule of study classes proved successful, my wife, Chagit, and I resolved to obtain a Torah scroll for the Chabad House.

“Shortly afterwards, we visited Crown Heights on Sunday to mention this to the Rebbe. The Rebbe gave me his blessing and an extra dollar to put in the tzedakah box at the Chabad House in Canarsie. A while later, I spotted my wife Chagit, who had also spoken with the Rebbe. She looked baffled. ‘Well, what did the Rebbe say?’ I asked.

“ ‘I don’t understand,’ she blurted. ‘The Rebbe handed me an extra dollar to be given to tzedakah in… Los Angeles!’

“ ‘Los Angeles?!’ I repeated in wonder. My wife nodded.

“We were familiar enough with the Rebbe to understand that this was not a mistake. Then and there, we decided that my wife would make a trip to the West Coast. We had gone to the Rebbe in January, when the price of air travel is relatively high. So we waited a couple of weeks until the prices fell, and purchased a ticket.

“There was, however, one problem. We have no family or friends in Los Angeles, and we wondered whom we could contact to host my wife. As we were thinking, it occurred to me that on her last visit, my mother-in-law mentioned that one of her friends, Bila Allon, Chagit’s kindergarten teacher from long ago, was living in Los Angeles and was involved in Chabad activities.

“We could not find the woman’s phone number. Chagit did not want to delay the trip any longer. She was confident that I would find a place for her and promised to call me from the airport in Los Angeles.

“While my wife was on the way to her destination, I worked diligently until I located Bila’s telephone number. I called, and luckily she was home.

After I introduced myself, she told me stories about my wife as a little girl, and we both spoke about our families. As our conversation continued, my wife’s teacher confided in me, ‘Eleven years ago, my two-year-old drowned in our swimming pool. At that time, I resolved that in the year that he would have had his bar mitzvah, I would have a Torah Scroll written and donated in his memory.’ ”

Stirred by the Divine Providence of these events, I told Bila about Chagit’s encounter with the Rebbe and how she was now on her way to Los Angeles. Bila was also moved.

Some time later, a Torah scroll was donated to the Chabad House in Canarsie. The dedication ceremony included a guest from Los Angeles.