DAILY REPUBLIC
January 21st, 2010

Flight crew response no surprise to Solano rabbi

By Ian Thompson

A local religious leader said today he's not surprised a 17-year-old following his Jewish faith was singled out while flying aboard a passenger jet.
“It did not surprise me,” Rabbi Chaim Zaklos of Chabad of Solano County said of the incident. “I thought it was only a matter of time after Sept. 11 occurred. It does not show religious discrimination, just a misunderstanding.”

The teen was trying to pray today on a New York-to-Kentucky flight when he pulled out a set of small boxes containing holy scrolls, leading the captain to divert the flight to Philadelphia, where the commuter plane was greeted by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and federal agents.

The teen explained the ritual after being questioned by crew members of the flight, which had left LaGuardia Airport around 7:30 a.m. headed for Louisville and was operated by Chautauqua Airlines, authorities said.
Officials with the airline, however, said crew members “did not receive a clear response” when they talked with the teen, according to a statement issued by Republic Airways, which owns Chautauqua.
The flight landed in Philadelphia about 9 a.m. without incident and was met by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and officials from the FBI and Transportation Security Administration.

Authorities said the plane was searched and passengers were questioned. The teen, who is from White Plains, N.Y., and was traveling with his 16-year-old sister, was very cooperative, Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore said.

The tefillin is part of a morning prayer ritual that Jewish men are supposed to do shortly after sunrise, Zaklos said.
Observant Jews would put on these boxes, which contain prayer scrolls and have leather straps binding them to their arms and head, every morning during prayer, according to Zaklos.
It is done to remind people of their love of God and that their actions during the day should be aimed toward being good and productive.

Zaklos has done the prayer ritual while flying and said he made it a point of approaching one of the flight attendants beforehand to explain what he wanted to do.
“I have never had any problem about it,” Zaklos said.
Zaklos said the young man on the flight was innocently trying to practice his religion and was very cooperative with authorities. Unfortunately, people are not familiar with other religions, so they are suspicious, he said.

“It can actually be a beautiful religious experience,” Zaklos said.