Chosson in Race Against Blizzard to Make it to His Wedding

By COLlive reporter

As a powerful winter storm brought New York to a standstill this week, one Chosson found himself in a race against time to make it to his own wedding in Paris.

Benny Winterfeld of Montreal was scheduled to fly out of JFK on Sunday ahead of his wedding to Rivka Levertov of Aubervilliers, France, with the wedding set to take place on Tuesday, 7 Adar, in Paris, France. With blizzard conditions worsening, the original 7:30 pm flight was pushed back, and he and his family were moved to an earlier 7:00 pm departure in hopes of beating the storm.

Passengers boarded and the plane taxied onto the tarmac. But takeoff never came. After sitting in place as conditions deteriorated, the aircraft was forced to slowly return to the gate. The flight was ultimately canceled.

Alerting his friends to his canceled flight, Benny wrote, “G-d has a sense of humor. We are returning to the gate. Need a nes gadol.”

With airports shutting down across the city and no departures available for days, the Chosson’s carefully planned travel quickly unraveled. After deplaning, Shomrim volunteers arrived at the airport and brought Benny and some of family members back to Crown Heights as they regrouped and searched for options.

With the wedding to take place on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. in Paris, the family frantically searched for other flight options. The earliest available flight they found was 11:30 p.m. Monday night from Newark, for which they purchased tickets. But relatives feared that the Newark departure would be canceled as well.

Looking beyond New York, a family member noticed that flights were still leaving from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, MD, which were not as impacted by the storm. They soon realized that the only realistic way to make it to the wedding in time was to get to Washington, DC, and catch a flight there. Early the next morning, they hired a car and drove to Washington Dulles International Airport, hoping to catch a Delta-KLM route to Amsterdam and then continue on to Paris. The wedding would have to begin two hours later, but it would still take place on the scheduled day.

Amid the stress and uncertainty, there was a moment of calm.

While waiting at the airport in Washington, Benny struck up a conversation with another Jewish traveler who mentioned that he had not put on tefillin in a long time. Right there in the busy terminal, surrounded by announcements and rushing passengers, the Chosson helped him wrap tefillin.

On the day before his own wedding, in the middle of rerouted flights and long drives, he paused to help another Jew do a mitzvah.

From Washington, Benny and some of his relatives will have a stop in Amsterdam before heading to France. If all goes as planned, the Chosson will land in Paris just in time to head straight to the Kabolas Ponim.

Despite the blizzard, the cancellations, and the long drive south, with Hashem’s help – and help from relatives, friends, and caring volunteers, the wedding remains on schedule.

UPDATE: Benny made it to Paris on Tuesday afternoon, just in time to head to the Kabolas Ponim.
Mazel Tov!