(Oneg Shabbat, Issue 1843)
This story was told by the Rosh Yeshiva of Telz, Rabbi Gifter zt"l: "I was invited by one of my students to participate in his wedding celebration. Since the wedding was held far from my place of residence, the student sent me a plane ticket. In addition to me, eight of his friends were invited to me, and he also honored them with plane tickets. On the appointed day, we set off early in order to get to the chuppah on time. As we approached the landing site, it became clear that the plane would not be able to land there due to the heavy fog that prevailed there. We continued to fly until we reached an airport a considerable distance from the wedding venue. When we realized that we would not be able to get to the wedding at the designated time, and that we would not be able to pray in public, we prepared for the afternoon prayer at the airport. We asked one of the porters we had come across on our way to direct us to a place where we could pray undisturbed. The anonymous porter agreed to our request and led us to a side room at the airport. We were about to pray. And the porter remained standing at the entrance to the room and looking at the nine worshippers, and when we finished the prayer, the porter asked, to our surprise, "Why didn't you say Kaddish?" It was evident on his face that he was excited. And indeed, at the end of the recitation of the Kaddish, the man told us what made him so excited about reciting the Kaddish.
"Today is the anniversary of my late father, and for a long time I have unburdened myself with Torah and mitzvot, and I do not pray. Last night, my late father appeared that you should say Kaddish decreed to me and said to me: 'Today is my anniversary. for me.' I said to him, 'I don't pray, and even if I wanted to say Kaddish about you, I can't, because where I am there is no minyan of Jews.' But my father came back and said, 'I'll make sure you have a minyan and you say Kaddish.' When I woke up this morning, I said to myself, 'I don't say Kaddish, but now, when I saw how my father's words were being fulfilled, and with G-d's help, nine kosher Jews came here from a great distance. I could not: 'May the name of Rava be magnified and sanctified...'
