One evening I was in my home in East Flatbush when my sister Sara’s father-in law, Rabbi Leib Kramer, came to visit. At that time, I had reached a marriageable age and Rabbi Kramer related that when he was a student, a number of names were proposed to him for marriage, but none seemed to fit the bill that he was looking for. When he told this to the Frierdiker Lubavitcher Rebbe, he replied that the Talmud says that 40 days before a child is born an angel calls out that the daughter of person “a” will marry person “b”.
Angels are created through words of prayer and good deeds. The Frierdiker Rebbe said that sometimes, if a person does a mitzvah in an incomplete way, such as without properly enunciating the words or without the proper Kavana (intent), a ‘handicapped’ angel is created – one that stutters or does not speak clearly and therefore if such an angel is the one calling out, it is not clear who is supposed to marry this boy. So it happens sometimes that a boy goes out with one girl, and then another, and then another until he meets the girl that was called out for him.
What is interesting is that Rabbi Kramer gave this example: If the angel calls out in an unclear fashion the name Chana, then the bochur is proposed many different people until that Chana comes around.
You guessed it – my wife’s name is Chanie.