Tel Aviv – An Israeli woman is suing El Al for gender-based discrimination after she was asked to switch seats on a flight from Newark to Tel Aviv in order to accommodate an ultra-Orthodox man who asked not to be seated next to her.
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According to The New York Times, Renee Rabinowitz, a Holocaust survivor who is now retired following a successful career as a lawyer, reluctantly agreed to switch her aisle seat in the business-class section of El Al Flight 028 this past December after a man wearing “Hassidic or haredi garb” took his place in the same row near the window.
El Al flight attendants, wanting to defuse the controversy, asked Rabinowitz if she would like a seat closer to first class.
“Despite all my accomplishments – and my age is also an accomplishment – I felt minimized,” she told The New York Times. “For me this is not personal,” Rabinowitz said. “It is intellectual, ideological and legal. I think to myself, here I am, an older woman, educated, I’ve been around the world, and some guy can decide that I shouldn’t sit next to him. Why?”
El Al flights have often been flashpoints of friction between the austere form of Judaism practiced by many ultra-Orthodox Jews and secular Jews.
Earlier this week, a Haredi Orthodox man rioted on an El Al flight home from Poland after complaining that the in-flight movie was “immodest.”
The passenger, 36, from Beit Shemesh, damaged two viewing screens and attacked the cabin crew during his rampage on Wednesday, the Hebrew-language news website Walla reported.
Police, who were waiting for the man when the plane landed, took him into custody to question him, according to Walla.
El Al told Walla that the company “is not prepared to accept violent behavior of any kind during flights.”
As for the Rabinowitz case, an El Al spokeswoman told The New York Times that “any discrimination between passengers is strictly prohibited.”
“El Al flight attendants are on the front line of providing service for the company’s varied array of passengers,” the statement said. “In the cabin, the attendants receive different and varied requests and they try to assist as much as possible, the goal being to have the plane take off on time and for all the passengers to arrive at their destination as scheduled.”
This woman is an idiot! The result of years of anti-charedi conditioning of the public by the Israeli government and the media.
And will you please stop using the adjective “ultraorthodox!! It is perjorative, implying that there is something wrong with frum people. Why not use “Devout” or “Frumi” instead? Every time I see that word in the media it sets my teeth on edge! I am orthodox and I am not “ultra” anything. I consider myself quite normal.
It’s time for rich donors to help the unfortunate brothers by paying for separate sections on planes where the super frum may travel without inconveniencing others.
I’m no legal eagle , however, Logic Dictates that if she was not forced to move , but was politely asked if she would accommodate the request, she had the option of refusing, and probably hadn’t got a case,
That said , the “charedi” fellow that initiated this whole thing is an ignorant jerk.
There is nothing in Shulchan Aruch that disallows a man from sitting next to a woman on a flight. Chosid Shota.
Here we go again…
If she had simply aid “No!” she wouldn’t have to be putting in so much energy in suing El Al. Obviously a god digger!
Good. She should be awarded whatever she is asking. Then, El-Al should stop catering to these lunatics. They have two choices, accept they seat they are assigned, or leave the plane IMMEDIATELY.
These hassidim are crazy. What kind of bad thoughts can this guy have by sitting next to a holocaust survivor??
If this woman would be Orthodox (as she claims to be) or at least respect the Orthodox people, she would make such stupid noise of this story.
1. If this charaidi Jew wants to get out of seat in middle the night, and not to push her legs by crossing her seat, he would need to wake up this old lady. Which is not nice to do.
2. If she has a smell of perfume on her, it is prohibited by Halacha a man to sit next to her and he would need to plug his nose all night.
3. If her hair is not covered with a full cover, he is not able to Pray next to her.
So it a real Antisemitic behavior to just Blame the man for asking a favor to change seats.
Also El Al would never force this lady to change seats. It was only as a volunteer to change and not by force.
She was asked and agreed. She’ll get her twenty minutes of fame but lose the lawsuit.
Of course if it would be a Muslim making the request she’d be understanding.
Oh come on good old lady! Were you “forced” or asked to switch seats??
I’m sure you could of refused if you wanted to refuse, there’s a million reasons why people like for their seat to be changed & yes 1 of them is Orthodox related please don’t take it so personable its not healthy for your heart!
This money hungry woman was not forced to switch, she agreed of her own free will. She could’ve said no. How dare she now sue?! This is despicable and clearly hatred of frumkeit!
I hooe she doesn’t get one rEd cent and that she has to pay for El Al’s legal fees as well,
Why doesn’t the man move? Let him buy two seats.
OMG, when someone is “asked” they have the option saying Yes or NO! This is a frivolous law suit and should be thrown out. Had she said NO it would have been the obligation of the “MAN” to deal with it or change HIS seat. There are no guarantees as to seat mates, he knew that when he booked his ticket.
Hopefully this is the first of many such suits which will force El Al and other carriers to stop catering to the crazies. If you really can’t live with people who don’t subscribe to your extreme views, which are not based on Torah in any case, start your own airline and leave us normal people alone. Quit dictating your ever-more impossible standards to the people around you.
You haters in the comments section are a bunch of big fat jerks! I was sitting very nicely in my seat on a bus when someone of questionable female origin sitting next to me fell asleep and kept plopping on me. I finally had enough and leaned forward just enough for her head to slip behind me. As soon as her head fell in there, I shot back with gusto the next time the bus movement called for it.
She wasn’t happy but what could I do when the bus kept short stopping?
What I do not understand is how come these nuts never fly with their wives so that they never have to sit next to another woman? I guess they are on an important mission visiting a living or dead Rebbe or schnoring money while the wife is home actually working to support their family.
“Excuse, would you mind moving to another seat as the neo-Nazi over there doesn’t want to sit near any Jews”.
Just the very fact that they ask her to move is an insult. She should not even be asked.
When an employee asks, finds an alternate seat and helps the person move, then it becomes “accepted” by the company as the flight attendant is an agent of the company. And is discrimination.
However, if he asked her, she wouldn’t have felt the pressure. It would have been easier for her to say no.
How can an elderly woman be expected to stand up to El Al employees who can be quite gruff.