El-Al Receives Complaints Over Tefillas Haderech

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elalSome passengers traveling on El Al flights in recent days were surprised to hear the plane’s sound system playing Tefillas Haderech, both as the passengers entered the plane and at the start of take-off, instead of the regular background music, Yediot Achronot reports.

“What’s happening here is simply astonishing,” an irreligious company employee told Yediot Achronot. “About two years ago they hung a sign with Tefilat Haderech at the entrance to the plane. Passengers ignored it because one hardly notices it. But now we have been receiving complaints both from the air crews and from passengers. The company has quite a few non-Jewish workers, and it’s definitely unpleasant.”

A non-Jewish passenger told Yediot Achronot that during the X-mas season, American airlines welcome their passengers with “Season’s Greetings” in order to show respect to non-Christian passengers as well.

After receiving several complaints, the El Al management looked into the matter and found out that the Tefillas Haderech was initiated independently by the company’s rabbi, Rabbi Yochanan Hayout. He and the worker who added the prayer to the sound system were summoned and rebuked.

El Al offered the following comment: “Tefilat Haderech is not part of the regular broadcasts on the company’s flights, and it will be removed by the weekend.”

{Matzav.com Israel}


20 COMMENTS

  1. It is remarkable that people would be offended by the Jewish State’s airline doing something Jewish. The non-Jews or secular Jews who have to endure the minute or less of the prayer’s recitation takes are really that put out? Seriously this expression of Jewishness is just too much for you? I f that is the case I truly feel bad for those folks being so myopic and intolerant.

  2. Such a wonderful thing to do and there are idiots who oppose this? How disgraceful, since ELAL does represent the Jewish people and country. Instead of being thankful that the airline itself is initiating the prayer for travel in these uncertain times which is a Kiddush H’, these leftist, secular ingrates are intolerant of everything and everyone else, and it bothers them that there is the G-D of Israel protecting all of us. Sickos, to say the least. Sure that the non-Jews were not as bothered by this as these radical fruitcakes.

  3. Why would praylng for a safe trip offend anyone, religious or not? If you think it’s crazy, so you think it’s crazy. It cannot be harmful. Any of the major religions would agree that nothing is contradictory to their beliefs with this “broadcast”.

  4. How sad and pathetic that such an important tefilloh disturbs people,who have on the other hand no problem with the screening of the stupid,violent and immodest films that EL-AL show.How often have we heard of,and some of us have even experienced,momentary terrifying incidents during flight when even these non-religious passengers were mafsik right in midst of the most exciting part of their film to pray for salvation? Maybe,just maybe,if Tefillas Haderech was played through the sound system immediately after take-off,such incidents which might be a reminder from Heaven to recite this prayer,might not occur in the first place….Just a thought.

  5. Senator Joseph Lieberman is a moderately liberal Democrat and not a religious right wing fanatic. Yet when in the year 2000 election, when he was the Democratic Party’s candidate for Vice President of the United States, in the campaign, he spoke about how the holy, holy axiom of “Separation of Church and State” and “Separation of Church and Public Life” had been taken to wrong extremes. He sharply stated that the principle of “Freedom OF Religion” had been distorted to mean “Freedom FROM Religion.”

    He thus empathetically declared that there certainly IS a place for religion and prayer to be in public life.

    (See http://www.ontheissues.org/social/Joseph_Lieberman_Principles_+_Values.htm, the section “Joseph Lieberman on Religion.”)

    So it is most certainly appropriate for the El Al Airline — the official airline of the Jewish dominated country of Israel — to broadcast the Jewish prayer for traveling! That is what the Rav of the airline, Yochanan Hayout, instructed them to do!

    (And we certainly cannot object if airlines of the US, European states, and other Christian dominated countries will similarly want to broadcast Christian traveling prayers!)

    ————————————————————–

    When something is being broadcast over an airplane’s loudspeaker system, most of passengers on the plane barely even notice it and certainly do not closely listen to it. For those few who do intently listen to it, and the item is a prayer that they do not like, no one is telling them that they have to say it!

    So that some people — including a number of Jewish people who evidently have an atheistic outlook — stage this ridiculous complaint that thus compels El Al to stop the prayer broadcasts, is a terrible thing. And as this is with the official airline of the Jewish country of Israel, it is a great Chillul Hashem.

  6. Why shouldn’t a Jewish airline broadcast Tefilas Haderech? It hurts no one and no one is being forced to pray! The vapid radical secularists are too much-if they hate judaism so much ,why aren’t they joining all their brothers in the U.S. intermarrying and assimulating? Why do they always criticize what tney don’t ubderstand?
    Proud Jews should counterprotest that they want the broadcast continued!

  7. Senator Joseph Lieberman is a moderately liberal Democrat and certainly not some religious right wing fanatic. Yet when in the year 2000 election, when he was the Democratic Party’s candidate for Vice President of the United States, in the campaign, he spoke about how the holy, holy axiom of “Separation of Church and State” and “Separation of Church and Public Life” had been taken to wrong extremes. He sharply stated that the principle of “Freedom OF Religion” had been distorted to mean “Freedom FROM Religion.”

    He thus empathetically declared that there certainly IS a place for religion and prayer to be in public life.

    (See http://www.ontheissues.org/social/Joseph_Lieberman_Principles_+_Values.htm, the section “Joseph Lieberman on Religion.”)

    So it is most certainly appropriate for the El Al Airline — the official airline of the Jewish dominated country of Israel — to broadcast the Jewish prayer for traveling! That is what the Rav of the airline, Yochanan Hayout, instructed them to do!

    —————————————————-

    When something is being broadcast over an airplane’s loudspeaker system, most of passengers on the plane barely even notice it and certainly do not closely listen to it. For those few who do intently listen to it, and the item is a prayer that they do not like, no one is telling them that they have to say it!

    So that some people — including a number of Jewish people who evidently have an atheistic outlook — staged this ridiculous complaint that thus compeled El Al to stop the prayer broadcasts, is a terrible thing. And as this is with the official airline of the Jewish country of Israel, it is a grave Chillul Hashem.

  8. I feel elal made the wrong move. instead of fixing the problem, dumping it.

    what they should have done was

    “this is a prayer about the jews, were all brothers and sisters” if you are not one of us

  9. I fly ElAL at least every other month.

    I recite T.D. from a small Card… more than one time, non religious Jews have asked to borrow the card.

    A’N Camocha Am Yisroael!!! B”H

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