KLTA Reports

FBI agents and police responded to reports of three men acting suspiciously on an Alaska Airlines flight headed into Los Angeles, Sunday.

Both police and FBI agents determined that the trio had been praying and posed no threat.

FBI spokeswoman, Laura Eimiller, said many passengers had reported their concerns to the flight crew after they thought they witnessed items or wires being used by the men as the plane approached Los Angeles International Airport at around 8:40 a.m..

Eimiller said the men, who were described as Mexican nationals, were removed from the plane and interviewed. The objects were then determined to be leather artifacts used for an orthodox prayer ritual.

The spokeswoman said Alaska Airline flight 241 was inbound from Mexico City with a stop in Los Angeles before departing overseas.

The men were reportedly cooperative and other passenger’s flights were not delayed, Eimiller said.

Evidently Foxnews found it amusing enough to report it.

The item in question is known as tefillin:

Tefillin (sometimes transliterated as tefilin), are a set of small cubic leather boxes painted black, containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, with leather straps dyed black on one side, and worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. The hand-tefillin, or shel yad, is placed on the upper arm, and the strap wrapped around the arm, hand and fingers; while the head-tefillin, or shel rosh, is placed above the forehead, with the strap going around the head and over the shoulders. The Torah commands that they should be worn to serve as a “sign” and “remembrance” that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Young Jewish male wearing Talit & Tefillin

Not that I’m criticizing, I just found it kind of surprising that on Alaska Airlines, a United States based carrier, cabin crew didnt know what this was. Millions of Jews wear this every day,  and it is rather common to find Jewish people praying on board an aircraft wearing tefillin. It’s what a Bar Mitzvah is basically about, the age which 13 year old males begin putting on tefillin every weekday. Hey, there are even Tefillin Barbie’s

In the airlines defense; the flight originated in Mexico City, may well be that this route is not often travelled by observant Jews and the cabin crew really were not familiar with much of Jewish culture. Though I’m still surprised that the FBI in Los Angeles weren’t familiar with this ritual and opted for an interrogation.  Then again may well be that as soon as an incident is reported, for security reasons, it automatically triggers a full investigation, even though the investigators are familiar with the circumstances.

In any event, all’s well that ends well. I just found this story amusing and apparently so did Foxnews and KLTA.

As for why the passengers couldn’t wait to land before they said their prayers. Tefillin is worn during morning prayers, which are usually carried out during the first four hours of the day. As a result if one happens to be on an aircraft during this period they would have no choice but to put them on in flight.

UPDATE: Alaska Airlines posted the following on their Facebook page (we’re posting it in full hopefully the airline won’t mind):

Shortly after Flight 241 departed from Mexico City bound for Los Angeles yesterday, flight attendants observed unusual behavior from three male passengers that continued during the four-hour flight. Out of concern for the safety of all of the passengers onboard, the crew erred on the side of caution and authorities were notified. The crew did not realize at the time that the passengers were Orthodox Jews engaging in prayer ritual in Hebrew.

Here are a few of the issues that concerned the flight crew:

• Flight attendants instructed everyone to stay seated with their seatbelts fastened as the aircraft flew through turbulence shortly after takeoff. The three passengers disregarded repeated requests, however, and stood up several times to retrieve objects from their luggage in the overhead bin that the crew had never seen, including small black boxes fastened with what appeared to be black tape. The crew learned after the plane landed that these were tefillin boxes worn during the prayer ritual.
• The men prayed aloud together in a language unfamiliar to the crew while wearing what appeared to be black tape and wires strapped to their forearms and foreheads and wires on their chests. Their actions and behavior made some other travelers and the crew uneasy. The three passengers responded, but provided very little explanation, to a flight attendant’s questions about the tefillin boxes and what they were doing.
• Later in the flight, two of the three passengers visited the lavatories together while the third waited in the aisle and continually looked around the cabin and toward the flight deck door. Flight attendants thought he appeared anxious, as if he were standing guard.

The safety and security of our passengers is our top priority. While our flight crews must be vigilant in watching for suspicious behavior, they are also trained to be aware and recognize the personalities and practices of a very broad and diverse group of travelers. Out of an abundance of caution to protect all of our customers, we misinterpreted the behavior of the three passengers who were praying and wearing tefillin.

We embrace the cultural and religious diversity of our passengers and employees. We apologize for the experience these three passengers went through after landing in Los Angeles as well as for any inconvenience to our other customers onboard. To help make sure this misunderstanding does not happen again, we plan to incorporate awareness training of Orthodox Jewish religious practices into our ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts. We’ve asked the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle for their assistance to help us better serve our Orthodox Jewish customers and employees alike.

First let me say this; it’s really nice of Alaska Airlines to release the statement, they didn’t have too. All they could have said is that they were concerned and when it comes to security we don’t leave anything to chance. The fact that they released this entire statement and committed to incorporate awareness training of religious practices is evident that they mean well. I wish Alaska Airlines every success.

Now to the three passengers.

I am an observant Jew and put on tefillin every day. When I travel I try to schedule my flights so that I wouldn’t need to do my prayers on board. For starters, I don’t want to bother my neighbours and I don’t need everyone staring at me wondering what I’m up to. But mostly, when I pray, I like to be focused, concentrate without worrying about turbulence.

On the rear occasion when I do have to pray on board. I would usually put my tefillin into a little bag and place it in the seat pocket in front of me. I would advise a member of the crew that I will be doing my prayers after take off. Once the seat belt signs are off, I quietly pull my bag out, turn to my neighbours, explain to them what I’m about to do, put my tefillin on, do my thing. On completion, I would take them off put them back into the seat pocket, and usually end up having an hour long chat with my fellow passengers about what tefillin is all about. The conversation usually turns to politics and I don’t have to tell you where that ends up.

In Jewish law, safety is paramount. If a flight attendant asks that seat belts be put on, you do it! Praying is no excuse not to do it. If a flight attendant asks you what you’re doing, you tell them, you don’t go around acting like you own the place and you don’t take it for granted that they should know, how should they? You didn’t invite them to your bar Mitzvah. Sure it’s OK to wonder how on an American Jet-liner the cabin crew are not aware of tefillin, but that’s what blogs are for. In flight, when you’re asked a question, you explain yourself. You’ll be surprised how helpful the crew will be after you spent five minutes explaining it to them. They might even, as happened to me once, take you into first class for peace and quite for the duration of your prayers.

Based on the carriers statement, everything those passengers did aroused suspicion. If I had been on board that flight I would be convinced they were terrorists disguised as Jews. I would probably have kicked them of the plane myself . I’m not even going to try to understand what the two guys did in the bathroom together that they needed someone to guard them. Maybe they were trying to use the toilet as a Mikveh (ritual bath), though I highly doubt it.

Whether the cabin crew did or did not know about tefillin is irrelevant. They acted professionally and appropriately. If anything, it’ll teach those people a lesson; when you’re on board an aircraft remember you’re  one passenger among others, you don’t own the place.