AP
Three men praying on an arriving Alaska Airlines flight sparked security concerns on the plane and at Los Angeles International Airport, but authorities say there was no threat and no arrests were made.
Airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan says flight attendants on Flight 241 from Mexico City became alarmed Sunday morning after the three passengers began an elaborate orthodox Jewish prayer ritual, which involves tying leather straps and small wooden boxes to the body.
The pilots locked down the cockpit and FBI and customs agents, along with police and fire crews, met the plane at the gate.
LAX police say two or three men were escorted off the plane, briefly questioned by the FBI, and released. There were no arrests.
I just returned from Melbourne, Australia where my son Hershy got married to H. Henenberg.
On the plane I ‘davened’ with my ‘tefillin.’
Since I ‘davened’ after ‘chatzos’ the crew took my ‘tefillin’ away.
‘Chutzpah!’
they shuld of just told them he needs to daven
evrything would be OK
i
To #13 – Thanks for that information. What would we do without you? To #7 – I flew from West Palm Beach Florida in January 2010. This is an airport that certainly has its share of religious Jewish travellers that bring along talis and tefilin. The security folks wanted to open up the bags eventhough they went through the scanners. My guess is they felt like targetting a Jew. In Buffalo which has far fewer Jewish travellers they did not hassle me at all. (BTW… I would not let them touch the tefilin. I told them they were holy and… Read more »
obviously, they don`t trust their own screening machines. that`s why they find bottles of water, and not 4″ pocket knives (see Zman Magazine the latest issue for an extensive article on “airline (in)security”)
#14 Smartest Comment Around…
Yes, dumb airline.
You’re right…the Jews could possibly sue the airline for harassment.
My niece from California who studies at a prestigious university visited me but never heard of ‘Tefillin.’
My son and I showed and explained them to her very well. She liked it. Thought it mysterious and fascinating.
#14 Who are you?
[email protected]
if the tefillin make it through screening, then what does it matter what the people do with them on the airplane? if they were swinging them around and hitting people with them or choking people with the straps, ok… otherwise its no one’s business any more than all those ipads, phones, mp3 players, books, magazines, kids toys, etc. no different at all.
thifilin is not wooden is from a cow!!!!
This is not the first time this has happened. you would think that different airlines would stay up to date with news regarding the safety of their planes. but instead the airlines remain ignorant of what s a threat and what is not so security is a joke.
This is what, the 7th time this happened in the last year or two? And its been in the news every time, they havent caught on yet???
Just tell the flight attendant, we are going to pray… explain tefillin, problem solved
The article says three men were praying, but your headline says there were two frum men. Therefore one of them must not have been frum.
Sheesh. Why is a country that was founded on religious beliefs paranoid of people practicing their religion?
Because of the Muslims!
It’s impossible that a flight attendant has never seen a frumme Yid davenning before.
It’s remarkable that airline personel never received training that Othodox Jews might pray on the plane and wear such “gear”. I believe that the TSA knows about tefillin and doesn’t stop anyone and ask what is in the boxes.
If you must daven on the plane – tell the flight crew ahead of time. HELLO?!
People should know to tell the flight attendant they will be davenning
keep making a kidush hashem
All you have to do is turn to the non jew sitting next to you or a flight attendant and just say “Excuse me i will be praying for the next little while, my prayers involve me needing to stand and tying some black straps and a shawl, you may have seen this before on the plane or even n a movie, im just letting you know because ocassionally people get alarmed by this rather unusual scene” I travel a lot and do this regularly. Not only am i able to daven freely but it often leads to many questions… Read more »
Why on earth don’t they explain to the cabin staff before they start davening? That way there would not be any problems.