Orthodox Jews forced to change the route of the plane because of Shabbat

Passengers staged a fight, because the flight was late due to the weather.

Photo: Facebook / Roni Meital

A group of orthodox Jews started a conflict during the El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv and forced the crew to change the route to prevent violations of the Shabbat, writes TJournal. On Saturday, believers are required to refrain from work.

The liner left the John F. Kennedy Airport on November 16, but because snow storm in new york departure delayed for several hours. Weather conditions have affected hundreds of different airlines, El Al acknowledged.

One of the passengers of the El Al flight, Roni Meital, said that the group of passengers was alarmed when they realized that the board would not land at the start of the Shabbat. According to an eyewitness, the Jews demanded that they be let out of the cabin before departure: at the same time they were pushing the stewardess, and also threatened to break the door to the cockpit. Meital posted a scuffle video on her Facebook page.

Another passenger, a tourist guide from Israel Bezalel Steinhart, said that he had not noticed cases of violence on board after the statement of the pilot to change the landing time. “I saw upset faces, anger, loud voices,” he noted. Steinhart added that he himself observes the Sabbath, and noted that he could not watch everything happening on board from his seat.

At the same time, Steinhart accused El Al of incompetence because of the flight delay of five hours (from 18: 30 to 23: 45) and lies from the pilot. “In 23: 40, when it was already clear that in the event of takeoff, we would be late for the start of the Shabbat, many religious passengers demanded that they be let out of the plane. To make them sit down, the pilot announced he was returning to the gate. Then the plane took off within a few minutes, ”the passenger stressed.

The stewardess delivers food to passengers of the delayed flight. Photo of Bezalel Steinhart

As a result, the plane El Al was forced to land in Athens, where he landed a group of orthodox Jews. In Greece, they waited for the first flight after the end of the Shabbat. The rest of the passengers were taken to Israel by other airlines.

Total November 16 from the United States flew two El Al aircraft to Israel. The airline usually does not operate flights on Saturdays, so she planned to land another of the planes in Rome ahead of schedule. However, due to the state of health of one of the passengers, the liner did not change the route and sat in at the Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. The airline apologized to the passengers.

In accordance with the Torah, they do not use electronics on Shabbos, since this is considered to be the incandescence of metal - on Saturday you can neither light, nor put out the fire. Thus, according to the Times of Israel, Orthodox Jews refrain from traveling on Saturdays. Among the exceptions are situations in which this must be done because of a medical condition or for safety purposes.

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