New York – Two different accounts have emerged about an unverified photograph of a chareidi man sitting on an airplane covered in a full length plastic bag that took the internet by storm last week.
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According to reports in The Gothamist, El Al media representative Sheryl Stein said that the picture, which surfaced last week, is not a recent one and may likely be a decade old.
“[A colleague] remembered this from at least ten years ago,” said Stein.
While many online comments have suggested that the man may have been a Kohein looking to avoid any possibility of contamination when flying over a cemetery, Stein said that the airline specifically rerouted its planes to avoid flying over cemeteries in order to accommodate Kohanim and that to the best of her knowledge the issue is no longer a problem.
Stein’s explanation runs counter to a story that appeared last week in the Israeli newspaper Yated Neeman as described by Israeli news source Kikar Hashabat.
According to the Yated, the story behind the widely circulated picture took place two weeks ago when two Israeli men from Bnei Brak, who were returning from a fundraising trip to London, missed their flight back to Israel on the Friday before Pesach. While they were able to get seats on the next available flight to Israel, the plane was rerouted to Cyprus after a farewell ceremony in honor of President Obama forced the closure of all Israeli airspace. The pair spent Shabbos in Cyprus where they subsisted on only bread and produce. Planning their return trip to Israel after Shabbos, just hours before the onset of Pesach, they discovered that all flights from Cyprus back to Tel Aviv flew over the Jewish cemetery in Holon, creating a problem for one of the men who was a Kohein. Turning to prominent Bnei Brak posek R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein, a son in law of Reb Eliashiv, for advice, the man was told to cover himself with a large plastic bag before the airplane passed over Ben Gurion Airport.
VIN News declined to publish the photograph when it began making the rounds on the internet last week due its lack of verification.
Another picture of a person draped in a plastic bag, this one a white Zaka bag with blue letters, also appeared on The Gothamist with no further information regarding when, or by whom, the photograph had been taken.
Despite its lack of verification, the photo created a flurry of activity on the internet, which Israeli news source Haaretz says first appeared on photo sharing site Imgur and was then linked to by an atheism board on Reddit where it garnered over 2,500 comments. Haaretz is reporting that the original photograph received one million views in just two days.
Over the past several days, despite its lack of authentication, the picture has made its way from the social media sites to the news sites including Britain’s The Daily Mail, The Huffington Post, The Daily News, The Jewish Press and Israeli news sites Kikar HaShabbat and YNet News.
From reading the comments on all those sites last week one thing is clear that all people respect us for our religion. Lol
maybe someone should create an app with all the Jewish cemeteries in the whole world so one can now when flying in a plane when to put on a bag
I thought that כבוד הבריות (human dignity) overrides issurim derabbanan, which includes the issur of a Kohen becoming tamei (since we are all tamei anyway).
Can someone advise about this?
Nice to see the fresh Anti-Semitism from such an old photo, lol!
Wouldn’t the plane itself be like a box that the Kohen is in for this halacha? Or does the plane not count for some reason?
So does the tuma extend into outer space?for ever longer?or is there a length limit to tumah? like as high as mt. Everest or one mile more high or 100 or ad ain sof.
miles in the atmosphere?
lets hear from a big poisek
I read the comments on the reddit post. The only thing that is clear is that people redicule us for things like this. Do you really think hashem is sitting on his throne, looking down at a man wrapped in saran wrap and saying “ah yes, that is what I wanted”
Though not an expert on Taharos, I’m not sure why a bag is necessary inside the airplane. Doesn’t the plane fall into the category of ‘Shida, Teiva Umigdal’ and not subject to the potential Tuma’ah below??
Second, even if he places a bag or covering over himself, isn’t there an opening (for air) that would negate the enclosure created by the bag. (unless smaller than shfofreres HaNod)?
Thirdly, the El-Al planes routinely carry coffins in the luggage compartment below. That may require the passenger to wear the bag at all times….
Fourth, why was it a problem landing and not taking off two weeks prior??
Maybe it’s a new Chumra to avoid any possibility of coming in contact with a woman. As such it might be a solution for bus and subway rides too. Just joking of course!
Let’s say it’s a real halachic issur. A Kohen is forbidden to fly over a cemetery even though he’s inside an airplane, and his only option is to wear a plastic bag.
Even if all that is true, what happened to kavod habrios (human dignity). For exampley, if you are wearing shatnez derabbanan, you do not remove have to it in the street, because that’s too embarrassing. Why doesn’t that principle apply here. There is no need to make a complete a** of yourself just to keep a rabbinc law!
several comments questioned why the plane itself doesn’t count as a ‘Shida, Teiva Umigdal’ – my chavrusa said its because the plane is a “zaruk” – a moving ‘ohel’ – which doesn’t count as a stationary ohel.
if a Kohen can stand outside the gates of a cemetery 30 -40 yards away, why when the aircraft is 30,000 feet way does he still need to cover himself??????
Anyone hear of Photoshop. It’s a doctored photo and meant as a joke. Anyone who takes this seriously needs to see a good psychiatrist – or better yet, go to Austria and have a whole group of Freudian experts analyze him.
Sheeeesh – where is the world coming to, when a joke is taken so seriously
Europe is one big cemetery of 6,000,000 dead. Ever hear of a single cohen not going there for business or pleasure?
Give us a break !
But the person in the bag is also moving, so why is the bag better than the plane?
Also if people are buried in accordance to halacha in eretz Yisrael?, why is there Tuma’ah at all, is there not more than a Tefach between the Mes and the ground ?
Regarding a cohen flying by plane over a bais hakvaros – can someone please explain why there is no heter of “oines” an incident beyond ones control – As once the plane is flying there is way to get off of the plane?
Don’t worry guys, the way our brothers in half our communities are going today, we will all be wearing bags by Passover next year.
While being this machmir is admirable, it also causes a chilul Hashem and holds Jews and Judaism up to ridicule by Gentiles and shame by fellow Jews. This bag-wearer may have thought he was doing the right thing, but look how much ridicule Jews have endured as a result.
When the stewardess went around with a large bag collecting trash, was there any confusion as to which garbage bags should be given in? I guess he flew trash class.
Would have loved to hear his answer to TFSA when they asked him: what are you carrying in that bag?