A. Watch this video – Philadelphia Police call Phylacteries “Olfactories”, Daniel Seiradski picked up on this and gave a very clear explanation with this gem of a photo
B. Rabbi Jason.com produced a few pics and a great top ten list:
Tefillin On Board
Top ten Jewish-related things that may actually pose a higher security threat on board an airplane (with apologies to David Letterman):
10. Waving a Lulav (eye poker)
9. Wrapping yourself in a Tallis (whip passengers with those fringes)
8. My Grandmother's Chicken Soup (scalding hot, but it's liquid so its already banned)
7. Wielding a Challah knife (obvious!)
6. Purim Grogger (Metal corners make dangerously sharp weapon)
5. Full Set of the Talmud (heavy enough to bring down an aircraft)
4. Using Jewish Sarcasm (it's deadly!)
3. Giving a discourse on the history of the Jewish legal tradition (will put pilots to sleep)
2. Matzoh Balls (deadly as thrown object)
And the #1 Jewish thing more dangerous than wearing tefillin on a plane is…
1. Singing Shabbat song: “Bim Bom, Bim Bim Bim BOMB!!!” (c) Rabbi Jason A. Miller
We came up with our own similar list for The Weekly Bang HERE
Top Ten New Jewish Items restricted on Airlines:
10. Aluminum Foiled food, not dangerous, just always a mess
9. That annoying Brooklyn hocker who is always complaining about something irrelevant “Um Excuse me, nu, this chair, does it not go back further?” (finger snapping must be involved)
8. Ninja Throwing stars (i.e., Star of David necklaces)
7. Talis – known to Flight Attendants as the Jihad Kafiya Scarf
6. Shaitel foam heads – ok, we agree, these are freaky
5. Lulav twig swords aka. “naPalms”
4. Children under 3
3. Anyone whose eaten chulent in the past 24 hours
2. Siddur – may lead to Teffilin
1. Awful New York Times Weekend Section folders
C. Comedian Andrew Goldstein offered this one liner to Jimmy Kimmel:
Plane grounded due to suspicion over Orthodox teen's Tefillin. Even more humiliating, TSA agent performed a body cavity search on the kid thru a sheet