Queens, NY – It is every Orthodox traveler’s worst nightmare: not making it home in time for Shabbos.
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But for a group of Brooklyn traveler’s whose trip to Lizensk took an unexpected turn when poor weather conditions forced to them to be diverted to Syracuse before eventually landing at JFK an hour after shkiya, their Shabbos at an airport hotel turned out to be a surprisingly positive experience.
Because they were unable to clear customs in Syracuse, the men had to continue on to JFK instead of spending Shabbos in Syracuse, as previously reported on VIN News.
Yanky German was one of several people who found himself in a quandary on Friday afternoon, as their Delta flight from Poland was detained for hours in Syracuse before finally getting clearance to leave for JFK at 5:35 PM, 15 minutes after licht bentshing.
“By 4:40 when I saw I was still in Syracuse, I called up a friend and said ‘go bring food and check in a few hotel rooms at the closest hotel to the airport,’” German told VIN News.
German also asked the friend to bring along a non-Jew with him to facilitate the technicalities that would likely ensue since the group landed in JFK after Shabbos had already started.
“He waited for us after customs with a sign with our name on it, shlepped everything and took us to the hotel,” said German. “We had a beautiful Shabbos experience, without the shtreimel and the bekeshe.”
The food was prepared by the wife of one of the passengers.
“It was a real nes Chanukah,” remarked German. “Just like on Chanukah there was enough oil for eight days, we had enough food for all five of us to eat.”
German credited the hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, for going the extra mile to accommodate the group.
“They let us put our food in the refrigerator, gave us onions and oil for the eggs, salt…whatever we needed they gave us,” said German.
For the Hilton Garden’s Guest Services Agent Nick DeMarco, making special arrangements for the men was all in a day’s work.
“We put them on a lower flower and I opened the doors for them, putting on one light in the room and another in the bathroom,” said DeMarco. “I did everything I could for them. We are a very busy hotel and have a lot of international guests and when we see someone needs something we do what we can to help them out.”
The men used a table in the lobby for meals and davening.
“We made the best out of it,” said German. “From beginning to the end, it was a beautiful trip and we know Hashem was with us the whole time.”
If they were going to the Garden Inn, they could have gone to Lawrence which is just a bit further!
why did they not go to the five towns ?
I knew German will make the best of it.
As I posted on Friday leave it to him.
Kol Hakavod
I can’t understand how frum people arrange to land on a Friday afternoon, in the winter, knowing full well that the is a good chance that their arrival may be delayed. Is traveling to the Rebbe’s burial place more important to them them than shabbos?
What was the emergency that they had to be flying on Friday afternoon? I would never book a flight that has me coming in even 6 hrs before shabbos. This sort of thing can happen way too easily.
Next time do not travel on erev shabbos unless you arrive at your destination at least 6 hours before shabbos
for another family, their plane diverted to washington,d.c. waiting clearance in jfk however they pleaded to be allowed to go off and were denied so they landed after licht bentshen in jfk
a non jew was waiting for them with food and coats , then they proceeded to crown heights on foot for five hours.
I’m sure Reb Elimelech was happy that they decided to take a Friday morning flight instead of staying for Shabbos. You shouldn’t test hashgacha pratius when you decide to take a flight erev Shabbos.
This is the same Yanky German, the hero of the kletzky story
You have to be an idiot to fly on Friday. My friend just told me she arrived 2:30 pm this past Friday afternoon from Israel. What in the world are people thinking????>
Who with sechel schedules an arrival for 1p on an erev shaabos ESPECIALLY when shabbos is 519?
Glad it worked out for him. But the article says it’s a Ortho Jew’s worst nightmare. It’s not. It’s bad and inconvenient and boring. But not one’s worst nightmare. Also, it’s interesting that what this guy focused on was his bekeshe, shtreimel, and egg salad.
Umm, why were they allowed to leave the airport on shabbos???
BH ..they are safe…but it’s not so clear that what they did is..al pi Halacha…
Everyone knows That flights are prone for delay. Everyone knows in the winter time it’s even worse. Why get on the plane when you know there’s a chance of Chillul Shabbos..
Let’s all remember that Shabbos is more important than visiting Any Rebbes grave..
This is a perfect example of a time when we have to be dan lekaf zechus! Even in the case that they were wrong to fly on Friday, it is incumbent on us to be dan lekaf zechus.
The Halacha is that someone who finds him self traveling on shabbos more than the tchum, must not move more than 4 amos, which precludes going, even, to the nearest hotel.
Can we all start thinking positive about our fellow brothers. The weather was nice was going to land
1 it’s only 45 minutes away from Brooklyn. How manny times do we leave to monsey ערב שבת 
1:30 when there is a big chance for bumper to bumper traffic. Let’s start seeing the מעלות of our friends rather the חסרונות
I don’t get this….. If they were alllowed to be taken by this goy to the hotel, why couldn’t he take them already to bp? And how were they allowed to exit airport and go? Weren’t they supposed to stay at JFK till Motzei? And how about the hotel’s oil? Doesn’t oil have to be kosher? Whatever.. Too many questions.
I don’t want to re-iterate what so many have said – how could you fly on a Friday?
The only word that comes to mind is – shtus !
My focus is on this trip to a rebbe’s grave. You fly all the way to Poland to visit a grave? And then fly back (on erev Shabbos) ? How about stopping at some of those massacre places in Poland (well documented) and saying Kaddish for the kedoshim of those towns, even if they never would have met the standards of you so-called Frumies (who actually fly on erev Shabbos).
It’s outrageous !
This reminds me of the stories we read here on VIN every summer about Yidden who are shocked that they can’t make it on time to their bungalow on Friday afternoons and have to spend their shabbos in an understanding home. Moral of the story is as a 5 year old can tell you is don’t travel on erev shabbos or this will happen.
Yet ANOTHER reason why Yidden should not make these UNNECESSARY trips to Europe. Meanwhile, the innocent families of these travelers had to spend shabbos without their husband and father. Terrible.
The halacha is , on friday it is forbidden to travel between cities ,for fear of chillul shabbes
To those wondering about travel on Friday Why is everyone panicking?
Everyone of them consulted with theyr mora horaha on how to deal with this unfortunate situation al pi halacha.
They landed Bein Hashmoshes before the tzes (there was no problem with tchum shabbos) they were taken to closest mukom moshav by a non jew which al pi poskim was allowed.
To those wondering about travel on Friday. I have heard from many Dayanim that if when someone departs on schedule and there is no anticipated delays or severe weather at arrival and the arrival time is more then 3 hours before Shabbos there is no problem flying.
There are a lot of businessmen flying all over the world weekly and it is everyones wish to be home for Shabbos. My suggestion, consult your local rav, dayan, mora horaha with your questions instead of bobbling your dreams on a blog.
My father was from Warsaw, and went through the war running from place to place. My father NEVER wanted to go back to Poland. He didn’t want his children or grandchildren ever going back to Poland. For him it was anathema.
You want to be inspired? Visit Yerushalayim. Really, there’s nothing better.
If they went to Reb Elimelch’s kever – they did NOT go on the Yohtzeit! His Yohtzeit is Adar Sheni as he was nifter in a year with Adar Sheni. Its really sad that they had chilul shabbos, but even sadder to that the basically could have gone any other time of year, and to fly long-haul on a short winter friday without any real reason is just nairish.