Aboard Plane, Tefillin Causes ‘Security Situation’ (more)
In what was dubbed by police a “security situation,” a Chautauqua Airlines flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Louisville, Kentucky was diverted to Philadelphia this morning when an observant seventeen-year-old from White Planes tried to put on tefillin. Or as Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore described the “religious device”: a set of small black boxes attached to leather straps and containing biblical passages.
According to news reports, a stewardess became alarmed when the boy stood up and started wrapping them on, alerting the Transportation Administration Authority of a “disruptive passenger” and triggering the stop in Philly. The flight attendant had simply never seen tefillin before.
As rabbijam quipped on the Shefa list: “From what I understand, the pilot diverted the plane to Philly instead of Kentucky out of concern that the boy wouldn’t find a minyan in Kentucky. Thoughtful.”
But, seriously, people are so jumpy about the wrong things.
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