Maybe it’s because Jews are under-represented in the stewardess corp, the cockpit and the Transportation Safety Administration. Maybe the religious diversity of New York isn’t reflected in the hinterlands from whence those charged with safeguarding us are drawn. Or maybe, just maybe, these people are just too flaming stupid to be allowed to decide anything that affects the life of another person. And yet we bestow vast power and authority on them to screw with people’s lives.
As reported in The Daily News :
A US Airways crew panicked by a Jewish teen’s prayer ritual aborted a flight from LaGuardia Airport on Thursday, landing in Philadelphia amid unfounded fears of a terrorist bomb.
The trouble began when the 17-year-old White Plains youth pulled out two small Scripture-filled boxes used for his morning prayers on the Louisville, Ky.-bound plane, authorities said.
Tefillin. Two leather boxes with leather straps that are placed on the forehead and arm by orthodox Jews. In USA Today :
“It’s something that the average person is not going to see very often, if ever,” FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver said.
That depends, J.J. Some people know about stuff and some don’t. But that really wasn’t the problem.
The teen explained the ritual after being questioned by crewmembers of the flight, which had left LaGuardia Airport around 7:30 a.m. and was operated by Chautauqua Airlines, authorities said.The 17 year old boy was described as cooperative and explained the situation to the FBI.
Officials with the airline, however, said crewmembers “did not receive a clear response” when they talked with the teen, according to a statement issued by Republic Airways, which owns Chautauqua.
“Therefore, in the interest of everyone’s safety, the crew decided to land in Philadelphia, where a more complete investigation and follow-up with authorities would be possible,” the statement said.
The plane landed without incident and was met by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and officials from the FBI and Transportation Security Administration.
The stew described the tefillin as boxes with wires coming out of them. Apparently she was unfamiliar with leather as well. The boy explained, but it’s probably hard to explain to someone whose life experience is limited to asking whether you want to supersize your happy meal. The pilot might have calmed the nervous stew down, rather than risk an emergency landing for fear of religious fervor. The FBI could have investigated tefillin before circling the plane and sending in the bomb sniffing dogs. There must be one Jew in the federal government somewhere who could have explained.
The justification for all of this is that none of them, from stew to pilot to the FBI, knew what tefillin were. And when our lives are left to the control of those who don’t know a whole lot, there are so many ways to justify their exertion of authority based on ignorance. The less they know, the broader their powers. The stupider they are, the greater their authority.
Just because you don’t know what something is doesn’t provide justification to deem it a threat. It just means you’re a dope in a position of authority beyond your grasp. The solution isn’t to subject Americans to ignorant will, but to keep ignorant people out of positions of authority.
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This post is ironic; you combat an over-reaction with an over-reaction.
I fail to see how anyone acted inappropriately. The flight attendant and the crew must have swallowed some pride when having to admit they had no idea what they were dealing with. In concert with this admission, they did what their training told them to do.
Did you consider that other passengers, no doubt just as unfamiliar with Tefillin, might have created an atmosphere of panic aboard the flight?
Its a shame that this young man of faith had to take time to explain this religious ritual. But lets face it, none of us are so “worldly” as to know the customs and traditions of all of the world’s religions.
I normally enjoy your posts but this one is a little heavy handed.
That’s the beauty of having my own blawg. I get to decide what my reaction is without the need for approval from each individual reader. I’m of the view that ignorance should not be the measure of our freedom, Neither other passengers, nor flight crews, nor the FBI, has to be familiar with every religious ritual, but lack of familiarity isn’t an entitlement to do as they please. You, of course, are free to subject yourself to whatever measure of freedom you think appropriate, but this reflects my view.
As I read your last two paragraphs, it struck me that your comments would apply equally well to your recent blog entry about the vice principal who called in the bomb squad when a student came in with a science experiment.
People in positions of authority may understandably feel a greater sense of responsibility for ensuring personal safety, but given the number of orthodox Jews that fly in and out of LaGuardia, it’s ridiculous that no one on the crew or at Chautauqua Airlines had a clue.
There are often so many dots that connect between these various incidents. They can be viewed as either fact-bound, isolated incidents, or part of a continuum of conduct that forces a choice between submission to authority, particularly in the face of ignorance which allows greater latitude than knowledge, or individual rights.
But as you can see, it’s awfully easy to justify submission to authority. Better safe than…
Thank you for this brilliant post. I find myself amazed by the calmness of the 17-year old boy in the midst of all the homeland security insanity.
If ignorance is the measure of our freedom we have none. It should have been very easy to get information on Tefellins, even if no one on the plane knew what they were (which I have trouble believing). Some cops have found that ‘feeling threatened’ can justify the most reprehensible killing of innocents (whoopsy, I’m a cowardly jerk with a gun, don’t expect me to be thinking of a child’s safety).
Ignorance can be benign or malignant. “Benign” means people don’t know something, but want to learn more, and investigate. “Malignant” ignorance is really just a cover for bad intentions, harmful behavior and/or a play for power.
My annoyance here is more at the landing of the plane than the initial lack of familiarity with tefilin. I’m a New York bred barely observant Jew, with some family members who are more observant, i.e., they wear tefilin. I wouldn’t expect your average gentile flight attendant to know what they are. The only time I’ve ever seen anyone put on tefilin on a plane is on flights to Israel. To me, the real meshugas is that once the tefilin were on the plane, having made it past the crack team at the gate, nobody could examine them and see hmmm, while these look strange and unfamiliar to me, I see now that they are some small wooden boxes with leather straps and are harmless. They are not ticking, have no noxious fumes, etc. I mean, they were already on the plane, if they’re going to explode during a visual inspection, there’s nothing that can be done. I’m not so much bothered by the lack of familiarity with tefilin, but the lack of sense to make a judgment on the spot that this is not a case for the bomb squad.
Exactly. If you consider the number of points in which this “situation” could have been ended without incident, yet wasn’t, and yet again, was exacerbated by yet another level of intrusion all the way to bomb sniffing dogs, that it continued to escalate defies credulity.
After watching the video of how to put on a Tefellin, it makes think that the crew was right to be concerned. If you are not familiar it, it sure a looks a whole lot like someone strapping on something for no good.
I have to admit that I went to Brandeis and never saw a Tefellin. (Maybe I was just hanging out with the wrong crowd.)
Did the crew overreact? It sure sounds like it. But who knows what happened in the conversation between him and the flight crew. I can’t understand what most teenagers are saying. I don’t expect that the “highly-trained” flight attendant on a small plane could either. Since the pilot is locked behind a door these days, he could not come out to help until the plane was on the ground.
I could be missing something (as seen through my Jewish eyes), but there is nothing about the video on putting on tefillin that suggests any reason for concern as far as I can see. What part of it suggests a terrorist threat to you? If it’s merely strapping on something with which you’re unfamiliar, then we have a problem. You’re unfamiliarity isn’t the measure of my rights.
“Strapping on” tefilin, is no more like an athlete strapping on some kind of equipment, or someone lacing up a pair of boots. The problem is that we’re operating in a state of paranoia that’s caused us to lose our common sense where we can say hey, that does kinda look like strapping on a bomb, but clearly is not strapping on a bomb so no need to divert a flight.
It was a flight out of LaGuardia — New York City, for crying out loud, not Idaho. It’s absolutely absurd to think that any flight crew for a national airline would be so ignorant that they wouldn’t know what tefillin were.
They were hassling a kid because they could — they had power and he didn’t. It’s a travesty, and SHG is right on.
I suppose if you’re familiar with a Tefellin, you would not be concerned about a young man wearing a yarmulke going through the process
If I’m sitting next to someone and they start strapping a black box on their body, I’m going to take notice and be concerned.
Concern means asking a few questions, getting reasonable responses, and in this case learning something new. A close look would show that it is not a threat.
Concern does not mean assuming there is a terrorist threat, diverting the plane and calling in the bomb squad. The flight crew over-reacted.
Common sense is sadly missing from the airplane security security process. You have undertrained TSA making sure you don’t have any liquids instead of focusing on true problems. There is too much power in the hands of under-trained and under-skilled people in air travel.
Yes, I think the kid’s behavior was worth investigating. But it should have stopped there.
Thanks for clarifying.
Your post reminds me why Randazza’s rant about American stewardessess was so spot on.
You weren’t even born when stews wore go-go boots and said “Fly me.” Getting a date with a stew was quite a coup back then for a traveling man.
(1) Yes. That’s the one.
(2) You channeling Austin Powers?
By the way, sorry for breaking your no link policy, but I knew you would clean it up before posting.
The other question is why on earth you would take a bomb out of your bag on a plane and strap it on yourself to detonate it right there in your seat. The only reason people would ever strap a bomb to themselves is to for stealth purposes, it’s not because bombs need body heat to work or something.
If a bomb is on a plane you just need to detonate it, you don’t need to strap it on you, run around, ululate a bit (unless that’s your thing, I guess) and then detonate it. That’s come straight from watching too many made for TV movies.
It seems weird that you can order a kosher meal on a plane but if you actually try any of that praying stuff you get dog’s abuse. I’d have thought one of the things you’d actively get taught in stewardess school is odd things followers of common world religions do / need.
I couldn’t help it, given my appreciation of Brother Randazza’s prose.
“Cockpit to ground. Teffilin. Google it.”
Nah. Better to bring the plane down.
Simple solution…next time, fly El Al! Or, for that matter, Emirates or Air Dubai or whatever…you can bet they know what tefillin are!
I don’t think they have service to Louisville, Kentucky.
You would think ….
Every kid who goes to Sunday School must see a hundred pictures a year of observant Jews binding scriptures on their arms and head. Clearly the flight attendant never went to Sunday school.
The lesson? If you sleep in on Sunday, your kid will grow up and embarrass herself in front of the whole country. Don’t say you weren’t warned!