Plane Diverted After Tefillin Mistaken for a Bomb

By JTA January 21, 2010

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 during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO