Rabbi Michel Chill, longtime mechanech from Monsey, NY, was slated to take a flight with his family on Monday, heading from New York to Los Angeles to attend the pidyon haben of a great-grandson.
Inclement weather, including snowfall, caused takeoff to be delayed by three hours.
As passengers waited for takeoff, the pilot spotted the rabbi from Monsey. Approaching Rabbi Chill, the pilot offered him bottled water bearing an OU-P kosher-for-Passover symbol. He then invited Rabbi Chill to study Daf Yomi with him as they waited for takeoff.
As seen in the photo above and the brief clip below, Rabbi Chill and the pilot spent some quality time together, in the cockpit no less, studying the timeless words of Talmud Bavli.
{CB Frommer-Matzav.com Newscenter}
Gimmel above the word.
Nice resh if they are in the air.
Funny.
beautiful story but it seems that the OU does not require a KFP on bottled water!
I heard something about minerals in the water given out on the plane which can be an issue hence giving out water which wouldn’t be an issue.
The pilot is a shomer torah mitzvos and a great guy
Weren’t in the air. It was while they were waiting to take off. I know the pilot. A great man!
Which airline was this?
Is this the same Rabbi Chill that was the 12th grade Rebbe in New Rochelle back in the 80’s?
Yes
Yes he was my Rebbe
Yes, the same Rabbi Chill who was 12th grade Rebbe in New Rochelle (which then moved to Peekskill)
Yes! The pilot is a צדיק who I personally have had speak to my students. His stories are inspiring and his devotion to Yiddishkeit exudes holiness and a sanctification of Hashem’s name!
A confluence of 2 of my FAVORITE pursuits – Daf Yomi and Aviation! Except I am usually in coach when learning the Daf 🙂
The geek in me wants to know the aircraft type….
I can’t be 100% certain but it appears to be a United Airlines 757. What we do know is the following:
1. It’s definitely a Boeing, not an Airbus (control column vs sidestick, etc.)
2. The stripes on the pilot’s tie appear to be a United Airlines uniform.
A quick look on UA’s timetable shows that all of their flights between EWR-LAX are operated by B757, so we can put 2 and 2 together and voila!
Auto Pilot!
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