Plane Diverted After Tefillin Mistaken for a Bomb
A commercial flight was diverted to Philadelphia after a Jewish passenger’s tefillin were mistaken for a bomb.
A passenger on the US Air flight Thursday from New York to Louisville mistook the religious prayer article as a bomb, after the Jewish passenger had taken them out to pray, according to reports.
Tefillin consist of two boxes each on a strap of leather.
The passengers and crew were taken off the plane in Philadelphia. Fire trucks and police met the plane on the runway. The Jewish passenger, reportedly 17, was questioned and released. No one was arrested in the incident.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
