Plane diverted by tefillin

Parent Cafe
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<p>That’s a great question. Does anyone know?</p>

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<p>I don’t mean to be rude but I am curious. Is there a reason why the boy was performing this prayer ritual on the plane? Are there certain times of the day that the prayers need to be said? If not, I guess I wouldn’t be real thrilled to be seated next to someone who is going to be popping up from sitting to standing and wrapping himself quickly and then zoning out and swaying back and forth. I just want a quiet seatmate that reads to himself. I was just wondering…</p>

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<p>I had an ileostomy for more than a year, back in the 1980’s, between two surgeries. I had two or three awful accidents that I still remember, and there would have been another one if a very nice flight attendant hadn’t let me get up and use the bathroom right when the plane was getting ready to take off. (“I REALLY, REALLY need to go!”)</p>

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<p>Onward, yes it’s a morning ritual, 6 days/week (not Saturday/Sabbath). It needs to be done in daylight for reasons that involve being able to see the fringes on the other garments. In this situation, he began between 7:50 and 8:30 a.m. on the departing plane, which was 20 minutes late. </p>

<p>His other choices might have been in the airport hangar while awaiting boarding, if the sun was up and he had enough time to start and finish the whole liturgy (30-40 minutes, depending on how fast someone can move their mouth!)</p>

<p>The reason you see it in airports more than usual life is that people are caught in various travel delays and so forth. Normally such a kid would do this daily at home, or possibly with his schoolmates at homeroom if he attends a private religious school, or in synagogue on someone’s way before coming in to work (when older).</p>

<p>Training for it begins as a boy approaches Bar Mitzvah (age l3) so to practice it daily, to him, is associated with carrying out spiritual responsibilities as an adult. It might help to realize he’s not doing it to bug people, but in his system has no way NOT to do it and stay true to his promises to family and community. He can’t “skip it” for a day and feel in good conscience. </p>

<p>As a fellow airplane seatmate, I see your point, but it beats cracking knuckles! Plus he can pray for a safe landing, too. ;)</p>

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<p>Just wanted to add that I have a entire side of my family who are Orthodox Jews in Louisville.</p>

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<p>Cracking knuckles, I can take. This, I could take. The guy who shuffled, not played, shuffled, a deck of cards my <em>entire</em> plane ride to Hawaii, not so much.</p>

<p>I think Pizzagirl may be correct that someone from NY/NJ and Jewish might be more likely to expect others to know of this. In response to the comment that this wouldn’t happen to a Catholic with a rosary–my gut instinct was that rosaries and communion are often portrayed, much more often than orthodox Jews, in movies and tv and therefore, many people might be more familiar with those items.</p>

<p>That’s a fairly short flight. Could he have done this after landing, or was it required during the time that the plane was in flight? Also, I am wondering–if a flight originates in La Guardia, does that necessarily mean the flight crew is from the same area? I ask because I know several attendants/pilots who commute and their “home base” is 1 to 2 states away from their true home.</p>

<p>Agree it probably occurred based on the “better safe than sorry” premise and the fact everyone is currently skittish.</p>

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<p>I am from TN and I only know of the mode of prayer which was in question solely through having read the works of Chaim Potok in high school.</p>

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<p>Just want to point out a few things:
Not all orthodox Jews wear the traditional “Orthodox” garb of black suit/white shirt, etc. Modern orthodox Jews wear regular clothes (although they will usually wear a skullcap as well).
Growing up, I knew a handful of Conservative (in between Orthodox and Reform) kids who put on tefillin. Especially if he’s a teenager and involved in a Jewish youth group, it’s something I’ve seen otherwise secular teenage boys get into, if only for a while. </p>

<p>Yes, there are Jews in Kentucky. . . not a lot, but they’re there. I saw a great museum exhibit called Shalom Y’all a few years ago about Jews in the South. Additionally, there are lots of large Jewish communities in places you might not think of-- Savannah, many parts of Texas, and just about any large metropolitan area. I have a friend from my teenage years who belongs to one of the SIX orthodox synagogues in Las Vegas. When I was a kid, I thought we were all in New York, California, and Chicago. </p>

<p>Saying that, I don’t think it was unreasonable that people freaked out. Tefillin are weird looking. Most people haven’t seen them. On a plane from New York, how many observant Jews could there possibly be to vouch for this kid? I still, however, think they overreacted.</p>

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<p>gettinin, since you are presenting the South… </p>

<p>There is also a rather large Jewish population in Memphis, TN as well as a rather fairly well regarded Judiac Studies program at the University of Memphis.</p>

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<p>@Syrstress, I had to look up the answer to your question. I go to aish.com for explanation of Orthodox rituals.</p>

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<p>So as you asked, my reading here indicates the boy could have waited until any time later that day IF he recognized a “reason for delay” in advance. This was rather uncharted territory, so no wonder he saw no reason to delay, and just started with the program. Next time, not so much… </p>

<p>I was also a bit off when I said one must wait until sunrise to begin the ritual. It can be up to an hour before sunrise, too. I was right that it’s daytime, having to do with being able to see the fringes on other garments.</p>

<p>Just like everything, most people try to tick off their daily responsibilities, to fit it all in. So sooner is better (just like homework), and there’s admiration in Jewish training to “hurry to do the mitzvah” rather than drag one’s feet to perform any commandment. But if it can’t be, then there’s the chance to do it later. I doubt this boy will ever do this again on a plane. Grandma will just have to wait an hour, for him to pray in her condo, before she shows him off to all her friends or whatever fun was planned for that day. ;)</p>

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I agree 100%.</p>

<p>Also, stating that something weird looking is a “religious ritual” does not calm people down these days…</p>

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<p>Forgive me, but when I read this subject line, the thing I thought was </p>

<p>mmmmmm Indian food!</p>

<p>[Tiffin.Com-Fine</a> Indian Cuisine @ affordable prices](<a href=“http://www.tiffin.com%5DTiffin.Com-Fine”>http://www.tiffin.com)</p>

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<p>This shouldn’t be news. It is a statistical FACT that observant Jews blow up airplanes almost as often as 90-year-old white ladies, and nearly *twice *as often as infants. I feel better knowing they’re all being kept in line via an aggressive program of unpredictable, misguided harassment.</p>

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<p>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. </p>

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

<p>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.</p>

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<p>I’m sure if he was dangerous his father would have reported him to the government, and they would have stopped him at the airport and…</p>

<p>Oh, wait. That doesn’t work, either. Well, shoot, I don’t know then.</p>

<p>But seriously, I probably would have been weirded out, too, honestly. It just cracks me up how good we are at catching the wrong people. As a nation we have an abiding love of reacting to threats by inconveniencing every living person without regard for whatever methods might have actually been tried successfully in other countries. El Al jets are never blown up, and yet their passengers pass through security quickly with a minimum of intrusiveness. Maybe we could learn something from the Israelis’ methods?</p>

<p>Naaaaah! Instead, let’s reinvent the wheel and get it wrong for about twenty years before we figure it out on our own! America! #&@^ yeah!</p>

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<p>I never met a Jewish person until I was well into adulthood. I would always respect the religious observances of others if I knew what they were, but I have never heard of this practice of tefillin. I think this might have frightened me if I saw it on an airplane, since I would have had no idea what this young man was doing.</p>

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<p>Maybe I have a different understanding of what the words mean, but “not familiar (apparently) to most Americans” does not equal “odd” and “weird.”</p>

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<p>Perhaps that’s because that is not what is being said. Saying “I’m not familiar with…” and “it seemed ‘odd’ or ‘weird’ to me” does not equal an equation. it’s two facts, related by describing the same particular observation.</p>

<p>For the record, though I haven’t seen these used, I would have known what they were. But that’s apparently not true for many people, educated or not.</p>

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So good to see you defending religious practices mantori! (guess as long as it’s not Christianity, it’s fine by you, huh? ;))</p>

<p>For the record, as one poster mentioned earlier that nobody would be ‘weirded out’ if somebody pulled out rosary beads on a plane, I have never ever in many years of air travel seen anyone do this in an airplane or airport. If someone knelt down and started praying the rosary, I would definitely think that was ‘odd’ or ‘weird’ and I’m Catholic. </p>

<p>People traveling by public conveyance have to understand that just now people are very, very nervous. You have to know that laying out your prayer rug, strapping on teffillin, or kneeling down with your rosary is going to cause people to freak out and say “do they know something I don’t know and should I be worried?”</p>

<p>(I tried to find an image of the nun from “Airplane” singing sock-it-to-me, sock-it-to-me, but had no luck)</p>

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<p>I think for anyone unfamiliar with the ritual seeing this on an airplane is quite frightening:
[Google</a> Image Result for <a href=“http://www.chazzanut-esnoga.org/weekdays/pictures/tefillin%20yad%202.JPG[/url]”>http://www.chazzanut-esnoga.org/weekdays/pictures/tefillin%20yad%202.JPG](<a href=“http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chazzanut-esnoga.org/weekdays/pictures/tefillin%2520yad%25202.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.chazzanut-esnoga.org/weekdays/weekdays.htm&usg=__PeHi9rXM7gVNHNPJk9G5A27AO1Y=&h=1944&w=2592&sz=1246&hl=en&start=66&sig2=fItEDihRGJq1eDaphXtOJQ&tbnid=qrkTJ2xIMhrmzM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtefillin%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D54&ei=tHFcS-vaJIjyMa-FyPQL]Google”>http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chazzanut-esnoga.org/weekdays/pictures/tefillin%2520yad%25202.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.chazzanut-esnoga.org/weekdays/weekdays.htm&usg=__PeHi9rXM7gVNHNPJk9G5A27AO1Y=&h=1944&w=2592&sz=1246&hl=en&start=66&sig2=fItEDihRGJq1eDaphXtOJQ&tbnid=qrkTJ2xIMhrmzM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtefillin%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D54&ei=tHFcS-vaJIjyMa-FyPQL)</a></p>

<p><a href=“http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/34216/img_0091.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Middle_East/Israel/Tel_Aviv/Tel_Aviv/photo444218.htm&usg=__rdwfWbCSMwTXyw-XWPM0fxF66pE=&h=582&w=800&sz=56&hl=en&start=50&sig2=V6QNvH8Rq5GLVnH0JqXj2A&tbnid=Uqdn45WCJeqEPM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtefillin%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18[/url]”>http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/34216/img_0091.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Middle_East/Israel/Tel_Aviv/Tel_Aviv/photo444218.htm&usg=__rdwfWbCSMwTXyw-XWPM0fxF66pE=&h=582&w=800&sz=56&hl=en&start=50&sig2=V6QNvH8Rq5GLVnH0JqXj2A&tbnid=Uqdn45WCJeqEPM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtefillin%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;