After a little detective work and some Jewish geography, the driver reached us and told us he’d bring the briefcase to our hotel. My father sent me downstairs to meet him with a $100 bill to thank him for his efforts. Much to my surprise, the driver refused to take it, telling me that what he really wanted was a minute with my father.

Their meeting was short but surreal. The driver poured his heart out to my father, explaining that he had been married for 14 years and had no children. My father is a very emotional individual who sincerely feels the pain of others. He held the driver’s hand and with tears in his eyes, told him that he would celebrate the bris of his son the following year.

I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe that my father could make a promise like that to a man whose prayers had been unanswered for well over a decade. He isn’t the Baba Sali, and I had never heard him say anything like that before. But when I asked him about it, he responded with just five simple words: “We’re going to daven for him.”

We never exchanged contact information with the driver or even caught his name. Life went on, and the incident faded from my memory.

About a year later, our family found ourselves in Ner Israel Baltimore for Simchas Torah — a first for us. As we were dancing, I noticed that one of the bochurim kept trying to get my father’s attention. I asked him if there was something he needed, and he told me he had just come back from Eretz Yisrael where a taxi driver who heard him speaking English asked if he knew Rabbi Herschel Schachter.

Yes, it was the same driver. And yes, he wanted to tell my father that he and his wife had just become the proud parents of a baby boy, exactly as my father had promised.

I went over to my father. “Do you remember the taxi driver who returned your lost briefcase to us?” I began.

Without blinking, my father replied, “Of course. I’ve been davening for him three times a day, every single day!”

Only in Israel is a lost briefcase returned in a matter of hours. Only in Israel is a reward rejected and a blessing requested in its place. And only among Am Yisrael could the belief of one, and the love of another, combine to create a miracle.

Israel (Yummy) Schachter is the CEO and co-founder of CharityBids. He lives with his wife and three children in Toronto, Canada.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 830)