Do you remember?
1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by?
a. Superman?
b. Jay Leno?
c. H arry Potter?
d. a Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40?
2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by?
a. Olga Corbett?
b. Sitting Bull?
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40 ?
3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:?
a. Lost Norwegians?
b. Elvis?
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:?
a. John Dillinger?
b. The King of Sweden ?
c. The Boy Scouts?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:?
a. A pizza delivery boy?
b. Pee Wee Herman?
c. Geraldo Rivera?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:?
a. The Smurfs?
b. Davey Jones?
c. The Little Mermaid?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:?
a. Captain Kidd?
b. Charles Lindberg?
c. Mother Teresa?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:?
a. Scooby Doo?
b. The Tooth Fairy and The Sundance Kid?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:?
a. Richard Simmons?
b. Grandma Moses?
c. Michael Jordan?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:?
a. Mr. Rogers?
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems?
c. The World Wrestling Federation?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:?
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd?
b. The Supreme Court of Florida ?
c. Mr. Bean?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:?
a. Enron?
b. The Lutheran Church ?
c. The NFL?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:?
a. Bonnie and Clyde ?
b. Captain Kangaroo?
c. Billy Graham?
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40?
But Wait! This post isn't enough about how the US refuses to profile...it's all about Canada's profiling of Orthodox Jews who pray on airplanes! Check this story out:
Jewish man removed from airplane for praying
Some fellow passengers are questioning why an Orthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight in Montreal last week for praying. The man was a passenger on a Sept. 1 flight from Montreal to New York City when the incident happened.
The airplane was heading toward the runway at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray.
"He was clearly a Hasidic Jew," said Yves Faguy, a passenger seated nearby. "He had some sort of cover over his head. He was reading from a book.
"He wasn't exactly praying out loud but he was lurching back and forth," Faguy added.
The action didn't seem to bother anyone, Faguy said, but a flight attendant approached the man and told him his praying was making other passengers nervous.
"The attendant actually recognized out loud that he wasn't a Muslim and that she was sorry for the situation but they had to ask him to leave," Faguy said.
The man, who spoke neither English nor French, was escorted off the airplane.
Air Canada Jazz termed the situation "delicate," but says it received more than one complaint about the man's behaviour.
The crew had to act in the interest of the majority of passengers, said Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stewart.
"The passenger did not speak English or French, so we really had no choice but to return to the gate to secure a translator," she said.
The airline is not saying if the man was told he was not allowed to pray, but a spokesperson said the man was back on board the next flight to New York.
Jewish leaders in Montreal criticized the move as insensitive, saying the flight attendants should have explained to the other passengers that the man was simply praying and doing no harm.
Revised Pop Quiz:
If you're going to daven on a plane:
1. Make sure you wear a kaffiya, use a prayer mat, and face Mecca.
2. Avoid the use of a siddur, tallit, teffilin, kippa or hat.
3. Avoid flying to/from Montreal and using "Air Canada Jazz"
4. Fly on ELAL.
5. Anounce that you will be davening on the plane, but your blog name is "Jameel"
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
13 comments:
I think that Frum people should realize that it might frighten some people if you start davening on a plane. There are people in the world who don't really know what a Jew is and people need to use their sechel before they do something like this. Get to the airport early and daven in a corner in an airport or wait to you land. If you are on an El AL flight or Israir its different because people would not be frightened if they see another Jew davening.
How long did it take whoever made that quiz up to come up with all the alternative answers???
Nobody denies that almost all bad in the world is from Muslim male extremists that are easy to profile. The beauty of America is that they wont profile them. Once they decide to stop all Muslims exclusively, they can then excusively target any race or group for any other reason. It's not such a far throw to stop Jews from being in the government because "Jews are known to try and rule the world".
Good davening in airport story:
On my last trip to Israel I was davening in the airport and an old man came over and was staring at me. I ignored him and kept davening, and he sat down next to me and kept staring. I finished davening and started taking off my teffilin, and he told me, "I don't remember the last time I wore Tefillin. Can I put yours on and say Shma?" I helped him put on the Tallit and Teffilin, and he said Shma, then he told me a bit about himself (which I of course forgot) and he walked away.
FWQ, I think anyone with a sechel will see you're not a terrorist when you daven, and who knows, you might cause someone else to daven as well!
i read that story earlier and was outraged. and i did sense an underlying theme to that quiz.... :D
as jews, we've spent the better part of our history trying to be inconspicuous in order to blend in with our surroundings. there is no reason why davening on an airplane should be out of the question. several years ago, i flew pakistani internatial airlines (PIA) to holland, and in the very beginning of the flight, and possibly a bit later on, the screen at the front started flashing arabic words, then a muslim prayer in english and several verses from the koran. granted, it was a muslim flight, but i strongly believe that if a member of any group (other than a jew) were to start praying on any random flight and then be taken off the plane, people would be outraged. because it's just us jews, nobody really cares.
I answered A on all the questions!
Okay, I'm going to play the devil's advocate. I'm sufficiently non-Orthodox to have grown up in a synagogue in which the kind of shukling-like-mad and davenning at the top of one's lungs that one sees in some Orthodox synagogues simply wasn't done. I had to move to New York to encounter that phenomenon. And I'm Jewish, for crying out loud. Just what makes you think that *most* non-Jews wouldn't describe shukkling as "lurching back and forth"? I'll grant you that there's no way to davven discretely once you put on a tallit and tefillin, but nowhere in halachah does it say that you have to "entertain" the entire plane. HaShem hears you when you whisper, too, ya know.
That said, the flight attendants should have been more assertive in insisting on a passenger's right to pray. I'm just pointing out that this is a two-way street--non-Jews are simply not accustomed to this kind of motion and commotion in prayer, and our Chassidic brother should have taken that into consideration.
I can see why non-Jews would be confused by watching an Orthodox Jew pray. Little black boxes with leather straps and large white shawls and rocking back and forth looks wierd to a non-Jew. But the airplane should have asserted the right of any of their passengers to pray, whether that means rolling out a prayer mat, donning a talit or using a rosary.
Since when are airlines radical democracies? The passengers don't get to vote about what is acceptable. Airplanes are supposed to be operated like benevolent dictatorships. There is no reason why they attendant couldn't have politely explained to the concerned passengers that the man is praying and that so long as he isn't hurting anyone or getting too loud, it is the airplane's policy to allow its passengers to pray whenever the need arises.
Anyway, I thought Canada was supposed to be more cultured than we rough-and-tumble cowboy Americans. I'm surprised they passed up the chance at a little multi-cultural education. ;-)
Hey!
There's enough turbulence on a plane WITHOUT shuckling!
Okay, Jameel - this is by far THE BEST POST I'VE READ in the past several weeks! It's biting sarcasm really hits home.
Ya think anyone who needs to see it will see it? Or are we 'preaching to the converted'? The stupid TSA security at US airports is a joke. Even Chris Matthews said in an interview, that our methods should model those of Israeli airport security: A deep interview of profiled individuals (yes, I'm talking about those 80 year old grandmothers) while carefully watching their behavior and mannerisms. But, as I said in one of my prior posts or comments - we do have to take off our shoes!
here's the solution:
before anyone can get on a plane from now on, one must temporarily renounce his religion (and nationality, while we're at it) so as not to offend anyone. when the plane has landed you can get all the renounced stuff back, along with the nail clippers and mouthwash you were forced to surrender at the gate as well.
that should make everyone happy.
The bottom line is be discreet. --> exactly.
(I guess in 'AirSteward101' they didn't teach them about Chasidim praying.)
StillRuleAll - You can't rely on non-jews who don't know what a Jew does or looks like to have Seichal to know the difference. Take Shoshanas reccomandation and listen to Rabbi Frands shiur about davening on a plane.
Jewish leaders in Montreal criticized the move as insensitive, saying the flight attendants should have explained to the other passengers that the man was simply praying and doing no harm.
How were the crew to know that? They couldn't communicate with him, because he didn't speak either of Canada's languages, so how exactly were they to know that he was harmless? How were they to know that he wasn't steeling himself to take over the plane, or tp set off a bomb or something? And how could they explain this to the passengers if they didn't know it themsleves?
Even if they actually knew that he was praying (and how were they to know that?) how does that reassure anyone? The danger is precisely from religious fanatics, so praying makes him more likely to be a threat, not less.
As it is, it appears that they took him back to where there was someone who could talk to him, ascertained that he wasn't in any danger, and put him on the next plane. He was delayed for what? An hour? Better that than that they should ignore the next terrorist who's saying vidduy before blowing up the plane, chas veshalom, out of a sense of “respect for religion”.
As for all the commenters who are imagining this guy getting out of his seat in the middle of takeoff and putting on tallis and tefillin, making sure to whack everyone within two seats of him with his tzitzis, where on earth are you getting this idea? It's not in the story. He was sitting in his seat, and was obviously saying either tefillas haderech or tehillim, or maybe even learning.
This shouldn't be too hard to understand: NOBODY DID ANYTHING WRONG. Not the Jew, and not the other passengers, and not the crew. The Jew did what he was meant to do; the passengers felt concerned, so they reported it to the crew as they were meant to do; the crew tried to ask him what he was doing, in both English and French, and when he didn't understand either they went back to the terminal to get someone who could speak to him, as they were meant to do.
This is a good result. It's a success story. The system worked. One planeload of people were slightly inconvenienced by being delayed 20 minutes, one passenger was significantly inconvenienced by having to wait for the next plane, and nobody was blown up or killed, or arrested or suffered any indignities.
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