Louisville KY – At Louisville International Airport, WLKY’s Eric King spoke with the teen’s relatives who caused today’s Tefflin bomb scare. They said he was traveling with his sister to Louisville to visit family when the incident occurred.
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According to the Journal News the teen has been identified as Caleb Leibowitz from White Plains NY.
Watch below report.
Teen’s Dad Speaks Out On Plane Incident
The flight crew should have known better.
That a cute Bubbie!
Why can’t he put on the “Tiflin” before he goes on the flight?
anybody know who he is?
I like how the reporter says “Tiflin” Teflon with an I. hahaa
Tiflin , funny , the goyim cant pronounce hebrew correctly and , commentors here cant write english. winning combination. hope vin prints this.
Dont be so judegmental, just happy hes puttin em on
He should have known better. He’s not flying on EL-AL.
Don’t get it this picture is in the terminal not on the airplane, did he walk on the with them!!!
Due to the trying times we live in there should be an immediate ban initiated against putting on t’filin in the airport or on a plane. This should be imposed by the Rosh Yeshivas and the Rebbes to avoid such incidents in the future.
I don’t get it, if he’s not identified due to him being a minor why does his picture get broadcasted on tv? anyone can identify him. guess coz he’s a jew. But I in this instance would sue the airline and tv for my unapproved publicity. and hope he does too. A minor is a minor in all instances.
are you telling me that an entire flight from NYC and nobody can recognize a Jew? was the whole plane full of full of people from rural Kentucky? More “terror” threats to scare us into giving up our liberties. I really cannot believe an entire flight from NYC and nobody had ever seen a Jew daven on the subway.
From the picture he looks like a nice kid, God bless him. Although he should’ve listened to the flight crew.
This kid is in my grade, he is a nice, quiet dude
I think he made a big kiddush Hashem. It shows that while we strap on tefillin to daven to the Hashem, l’havdil, the ishmalites strap on bombs to murder.
Wonderful! Wonderful! Just think of how many neshomos might be awakened by the sight of these beautiful tefillin.
Just a couple of mornings ago, I had to fly from Miami to NYC on a flight leaving at 7:20am. I asked airport personnel regarding the direction of east, informed them I was going to pray, and then found a quiet area–but not hidden. Someone did come over and stare at me for a moment. I guess people are overly concerned.
On the bright side, millions of Americans–including many Jews–have now seen tefillin
(“tiflin”) for the first time.
This is insanity. With all the recent events, you would think that even a teenager would have the common sense to know you DO NOT do anything that raises security concerns. Rather than debating whether it was z’man or other arcane halachic issues, how about using common sense which takes priority over all other concerns, including davening with teffillin. You can daven without teffillin in an emergency.
a fee weeks back i put on tefilin in Warsaw, within 10 minutes security came to clear the area for a security sweep… I was watched by 5 polish security till i finished. no shame. don’t ever apologize – especially in poland.
get ready for loads of responsa forbidding or allowing teffilin on planes for the reason of……………………………….!?
maybe he said “ved debarta BOMB” and they took it as a threat ?
How many Jews just learned about tefillin from this incident? It was reported in the secular media. This young man did a kiddush Hashem! We are living in the USA where we are free to practice our religion. We should be proud of what he did and no one from the police on down is saying that he did anything wrong. All the media is calling it is what it was – a misunderstanding. And now thousands of Jews who never saw tefillin may actually wonder what it is all about.
There should also be a ban on ordering kosher food. Otherwise when people get food poisoning (like the instance 2 yrs ago) everyone will say it was the Jews. That’s why they ordered special meals, to poison everyone else.
You also shouldn’t carry a lulav case through the street! It looks like it may contain a rifle.
And ban that barbaric circumcision thing!
I’m actually thankful that airline personell are not scared to report things they find unusual. If they did that to all the Arabs who try to blow themselves up….
it says ki sham hashem nikro alechy alu tefillen sheberosh – and they shall see the name of HASHEM on you and fear you – it refers to tefillin – so i guesss they were afraid (and did not understand what they were afraid of)
Why the alarm? Are these people stupid to embarass the 17 year old?
Sources say he did not first go to the bathroom and then put a blanket on top of his head an arms while praying. This is a clear indication that he was not a terrorist and that Us Air flight attendants on this plane are complete idiots.
I know the boy involved well, and he did nothing wrong while davening on a flight. I have been on many flights where people used tefilin and have never seen any flight attendent or anyone else have an issue with it. In addition, if they really were scared that the tefilin were dangerous, they should have taken them away during the flight. Instead they let the boy keep them, and then contacted the FBI.
I love the person explaining the “Tifflin” and when the reporter asks him how many times he uses this and the reposnse was “I only used it once” and the teenager witht he big yarmulkeh was smiling!
We need to be mekarev more people.
On a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany (on our way to Lizensk) a few years ago about 30 or 40 of us davened b’tzibur, chazoras hashatz, taalis and tefillin and everything imbetween to boot without inciident other then some staring and dirty looks from some passersby.
Any airport official in the tri-state area who doesn’t know what tefillin are should get his head examined
This raises a really important question. Is it “tefilin,” or “teffilin,” tefillin. or “teffillin.”
I understand that if the word is spelled improperly, then any comment is posol midiraiisa, although some say the psol is only midirabanan. However,all shitas hold that you are yotzeh l’chatchila if you spell it as “phylacteries,” since shma is said in any language and there is no doubt about the correct spelling. L’mehadrin, you could use “tefilin” followed by (phylacteries) in parenthesis.
Its a shame that the same people who would go to great lengths to let a Muslim pray but would tell me to use common sense and not put on Tefillin.
if the airlines would now ban tfilin it would be understandable. in these times it is best to just sit in your seat on the plane and not fidget or do anything out of the ordinary. it is bound to get people upset.
there is also a legitimate security concern. a terrorist can concievably fill a pair of tfilin with high explosives. the straps can be a disguised fuse. he can wrap himself in a talis and under the talis do his business. just like amutallab wrapped himself in a blanket.
Local flight .. could have davened later.
Overseas flight – different story.
This boy’s family and rabbeim should have instructed him in school that security concerns trump religious freedom for the time being.
To a stranger who may or may not know about tefillin, its chutzpah to expect people to remain calm when watching something suspicious or unfamiliar. He needlessly inconvenienced many people.
I traveled 2 weeks ago on United with an early flight. I wanted to daven . I explained to one of the flight crew and showed the tefilin. She gave me a place in the back kitchen to daven. she told me not to come out from behind the curtain with tallis and tefillin because other travelers will become scared and I will cause panic. u smart guys you are the first to turn white and scared by any move someone makes not to ur liking. don’t do the same to others. we have to ensure not to make others in panic. ul get in to trouble and ul regret.
in such a situation you cannot daven earlier ask your rabbi what to do. there r many Teshuvas & Discussions written on this topic how to go about. don’t be a talmud chuchem your self. what you think is kidush hashem is daas balei batim. it could be an issur cause of many halachas involved.
today u cant trust anyone .the terrorists could disguise themselves as frum jews .so please daven before u go to the airport or when u arrive home.
Keep in mind, that the Mitzva of Teffilin is in this week’s Parsha. Unknowingly, this boy publicized the Mitzva of Teffilin to the entire world in an unprecedented manner.
This id the best thing to ever happen! So many Jews who might never have seen Tiffilen before just bacame aware of it! How lucky he is to have such a zchus (not to mention a tale of a lifetime!)
Aren’t you allowed to put on Tfilin until Shki’a?
I respect this boy and his knowing that he can be a proud Yid wherever he is.
Last week I was flying on a plane and was Davening with my Teffilin as it was an early morning flight, and the flight attendant asked me what it was and I explained it to her. The problem is that in this case they probably didn’t even bother asking him what it was, and just called the police. This waht happens when profiling is not done.
We should never ever need to hide who we are and the Mitzvah’s we do as Yidden.
Yasher Koach to this boy and for the Kiddush Hashem he made.
Don’t be so critical. Nothing is wrong with praying–even in the open. On a recent 7:00 am flight (and no, you do not always have the option of choosing an ideal time…) my husband and son dovaned on the plane, standing half bent over due to lack of head room. The goy sitting next to my son spent the remainder of the flight speaking to him about how impressed he was with Jews and their sincerity and behavior.
Also, if you read the press release, you will see that there were a total of 18 people on the flight including the pilot and stewardess, so yes, it is possible that 16 people, even out of NY, had never seen tefillin.
No one did anything wrong here. The fault lies entirely with terrorists who win even when they fail in their objective–as did the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber. They cause paranoia and cost us millions in security, hours of time in additional security, and a loss of innocence.
The reason why the flight crew was alarmed by the tefilin that they never saw before is cause they are junior flight crew, many pilots who fly the lagaurdia to louiville run flies the commuter rj700 which they are just out of school versus the senior first officers and captains. Who fly the bigger planes have exprienced in seeing Jewish men pray in thier tefilin.
I was Calev’s rebbe two years ago. He is a really wonderful young man – bright, thoughtful, polite and sincere. I can guarantee you that he would never do anything that might have the most remote possibility of causing a Chillul Hashem. Anyone who criticizes him, as some have done here, without knowing him, is guilty of Chosheid b’Kesheirim in the truest sense!
Beautiful Kiddush Hashem just for taking the time to daven and not being flustered when calmly answering the flight crew that he was simply praying.
The pilot, not knowing any better, acted reasonably. But it’s nice to hear this in the secular media as a portrayal of normal people and not as that some strange wearing these weird things. That’s gratifying, B”H.
looks from the video and pictures like he handled it with “jewish confidence”. good for him, and a kiddush hashem. more people will know about tefillin now!!
In this day and age, the rabbanim should tell all the talmidim as well as congregants to be more aware of the media and anti – semite unawareness. The whole world does not know what tefillin are! Unless you have seen a frum person davening, it is a bit frightening in this day and age of plane fears. Tefillin do not need to be put on public display, it is trouble enough going thru security. This must be something the gedolim can make the public aware of.
There’s nothing wrong with davening on a plane with Tefilin. Flight crews should learn about different religions, and cultures and what to expect from different people when training for thier jobs. And, of course all unusual obejects should be screened before boarding, including Tefilin (in case they’re fakes)
Kiddush Hashem, period. Handles himself well. G-d bless him. FLight crew was DUMB>
You people are so unself-conscious it is hilarious. Most gentile Americans, even from the New York, are completely ignorant about anything related to Judaism. I would argue that even most Jews outside of Orthodoxy (80%+) have only a vague idea about tefillin and most, particularly the women, have never seen them used before. I’m not arguing that Jews should refrain from wrapping teffilin in public, but just that frum Jews should understand how outlandishly weird they look in the eyes of 95% of the public, tied up in black leather with boxes protruding from their heads and arms, as they mumble and thrust their hips. It is not out of the question that an occaional person, even a flight attendant who has no interest in being blown up, panics when confronting with this behavior. Remember that the 9/11 hijackers wrapped headbands around their heads and muttered prayers before they took over the planes. I’m not arguing that Jews should not wrap teffilin in public, just that they should be aware of ignorance and fear (and maybe some prejudice) that surrounds them.