Posted on 01/21/2010 9:04:26 AM PST by Beaten Valve
Edited on 01/21/2010 9:08:24 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
PHILADELPHIA -- A misunderstanding about an Orthodox Jewish prayer ritual led a US Airways Express captain to divert his Kentucky-bound plane to Philadelphia on Thursday, authorities said.
A 17-year-old boy on Flight 3079 traveling from New York to Louisville was using tefillin, a set of small black boxes attached to leather straps and containing biblical passages, said Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
He had to do that on the flight? How about a rule where people can pray unobtrusively as much as they want, but rituals, etc. are banned on flights. Is that too drastic?
I don’t understand this, really. I’ve flown to NY and Philly and have frequently seen Orthadox Jews praying in the departure lounge, etc. *shrugs*
Flying out of La Guardia, and the pilot had never heard of phylacteries? Hm. Maybe he’s from Iowa or something.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=290&letter=P
Maybe not a good idea to cross myself on the plane?
kid should have known better, sad but this is what
we have come to. I can’t fault the captain on this one.
Eventually the Muzterrs will resort to protective
coloration, even as an infidel or hated jew, it’s
authorized in their indoctrination.
Maybe the pilot was establishing his PC credentials for the next time he has to bounce some shouting imam off the flight.
If he was washing his feet and bowing to Mecca there would be no problem.
Well yeah, exactly. Hehe.
Hysteria and panic do not protect people, and that’s what this was. Leather straps and leather boxes are not fuses and little bombs. Major drop out of common sense in this case.
Exactly what should he have known better? I’m confused.
Stupidity and hysteria does not protect airplanes.
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That's what I thought as well.
phyla what??
LOL!
I have never heard of them either. What makes you think that everyone knows all about Jewish practices?
There are time limits on when you can start to do this. If your flight leaves too early in the morning you can’t put on tefillin in the airport (besides, there is more privacy in your seat in the airplane). When I have done this I have notified the flight attendant so she can see what I’m doing.
There was a train in Chicago about a year ago that was halted because someone was putting on tefillin, he was sitting next to a sikh in a turban, and nobody knew whether they were together and what they were doing.
I assume you are saying that his religion required this action. Fair enough. If we allow all kinds of exceptions for religious practices, then how can we also object to Muslim women keeping their faces covered in driver’s license pictures?
Very few Jewish people display their Tefillin in public.
To the uninitiated, they look very strange.
I had no idea what they were the first time I saw them, and I grew up in a Jewish Neighborhood.
So, I would have to be understanding in the case of the pilot, especially in this current climate.
Not everybody is as well informed as us FReepers! :-)
How about a rule requiring air crews to exercise judgment?
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