An Esrog by Express Train

According to some traditions, this is how the shidduch (match) between the Imrei Noam and Rebbetzin Devora, the daughter of Rav Kalonymous Kalman Reinhold Pitzales, came about. One year there was a severe shortage of esrogim, and the holy Ropshitzer had been unable to procure one.

A wealthy merchant woman of the Pitzales family heard of this. She sold all her property and wealth to buy an esrog, and the price left her penniless. Seeing no other way to get it to the tzaddik before Yom Tov, she sent it by express mail on the train. She instructed the postman that when the train reached the station, the conductor should announce its arrival by sounding the steam engine's horn.

That Sukkos the Ropshitzer still had no esrog. The tzaddik had resigned himself to reciting Hallel on Yom Tov morning without one. But during the Rebbe's tisch, the sound of a steam engine's horn was heard. "Aha, an esrog," the Rebbe exclaimed, and sure enough, that Yom Tov the tzaddik made the berachah on an esrog with great joy.

When he saw who had sent this prize esrog, the Ropshitzer declared, "Write down after Yom Tov that one day our descendants will marry one another." And so it was.