U.S. Air Reaction to Praying Jew Understandable

Some rabbis have criticized a US Air crew for religious insensitivity when it diverted a plane and called in a bomb squad to investigate a Jewish teen who turned out to be...praying. However, the reaction of the staff was very much understandable.

Some rabbis have criticized a US Air crew for religious insensitivity when it diverted a plane and called in a bomb squad to investigate a Jewish teen who turned out to be...praying.

The 17-year-old boy was wearing Tefillin--or a set of religious leather accessories that are strapped to the forehead and arm--as part of his morning prayer ritual.  (See images below.)

The passage in the Bible that commands us to wear Tefillin (Deuteronomy, 6) also commands us to wear them "u-ve-lechtekhah baderekh, when you are going on your journeys."

So this student's devotion was on the one hand admirable.

However, the reaction of the staff was very much understandable.

For the uninitiated, Tefillin can look a little weird.

As someone who has many times worn tefillin on an airplane, I often wonder what people think I am doing.

But lets look on the bright side.  Thanks to this passenger and flight attendant, many more people now know what Tefillin are and maybe more Jewish people will wear their Tefillin every day (except when flying on US Air).