Plane diverted by tefillin

Northstarmom
Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:25:00 +0000

I don’t see it as misguided harassment. He was doing an odd ritual with things that most people had never seen before. I don’t think that the pilot, steward and concerned passengers did anything wrong.

Any bomber could try to deflect attention by saying that their behavior is related to a religious ritual.

I’m more conversant with Jewish culture and religion than are most people, but I have never even seen pictures of tefillin, though I’ve read about them in books. If I had been seated next to that passenger, I would have been alarmed, too.