The following story published in the New York Daily News is incredible. I was once on a plane from Kathmandu to Thailand and I was forced to put Tefillin on the plane. The same thing nearly happened to me.
Jewish teen's tefillin sets off bomb scare that diverts US Airways flight from LaGuardia Airport
A US Airways is escorted by police after being diverted to Philadelphia International Airport Thursday when passengers reportedly mistook a Jewish passenger's teffilin (below) for a bomb.
Holy mixup!
The diverting of a US Airways flight after a Jewish passenger's prayer box was mistaken for a bomb is:
A Jewish prayer box worn by a teen passenger caused a Thursday morning furor on a flight from LaGuardia Airport, forcing an emergency landing in Philadelphia, authorities said.
The mix-up involved the 17-year-old boy's tefillin, a black box filled with Biblical verses and tied with leather straps to his head, said Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore.
Fears of a potential terrorist attack led the Louisville, Ky.,-bound flight to instead land at Philadelphia International Airport just before 9 a.m., authorities said.
All 15 passengers and 3 crew members aboard U.S. Airways Express Flight 3709 were safely evacuated after the sudden landing, said airline spokesman Jim Olson.
Although the teen explained the significance of the tefillin to the crew, the pilot opted to land the plane in Philadelphia anyway, Vanore said.
The tefillin-wearing youth was traveling with his sister from New York to Louisville. The boxes - a second one is tied around the arm - are typically worn by men in certain Orthodox Jewish communities.
The flight was met by law enforcement personnel and officials from the Transportation Security Administration.
The teen was interviewed and the plane swept for explosive devices, with nothing found, the TSA said in a statement.
Vanore said the unidentified youth was cooperative with authorities after the plane landed.
To learn more about Tefillin please visit www.chabadic.com/tefillin.
Marian wrote...
Two authors ("journalists" of "reputable" papers?) and their editors were totally unprofessional in their report (having forgotten the rules of writing) and obviously self-hating Jews and Jew-haters.
With respect to the flight crew, they were nothing more than Jew-haters and their disproportionate feelings of hate clouded their judgment. This crew should NOT fly again until they take security training, and their records should be reviewed for other complaints.