When Was the Last Time You Saw a Pilot Wearing Tefillin?

This is Moshe Fogelman’s story and I’ll let him tell it in his words.

Last week, I boarded a 6 AM flight from Los Angeles to New York. About an hour after takeoff, I got up, took out my tallit and tefillin, and began to pray. Things were pretty quiet on the plane as most people were asleep and I found it easy to focus.

As I was removing my Rashi tefillin*, a flight attendant approached. I could see she was uncomfortable. She told me, “You know you'll need to be seated soon.” I said I was just finishing up and then I’d sit down, no problem.

When I next looked up, there was someone standing nearby, talking to his son and pointing at me. I heard him say “tefillin,” and then he approached me. He told me that his community had a program where families hosted wounded Israeli soldiers for a week or two after they were discharged from hospital. The soldier he had hosted was religious and put on tefillin every day. When he realized that his host’s son was almost 13, he gave his tefillin to him, on condition that from the day of his bar mitzvah, he would put them on every day.

We weren’t really disturbing anyone as we talked softly in the aisle, but after a few moments, several passengers headed to the front of the plane and shortly afterward, another flight attendant approached and started staring at us, making us feel very uncomfortable. He didn’t say anything, but it was clear that people had been complaining. We wrapped up our conversation quickly and the man returned to his seat, while I put on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin*.

This wasn’t the end of the story, however. There was now a minor commotion going on at the front of the plane, and then the captain emerged from the cockpit and I realized trouble was heading my way. As I was wrapping up my tefillin, the captain approached me and I thought: “Okay, here we go.” But all he did was whisper in my ear: “Listen, if you need to pray or study or whatever it is, go to the galley. I told them to clear a space for you there. These non-Jews have no idea what's going on.”

Of course, when I realized he was Jewish, I asked him if he’d like to put on tefillin, but he refused. “No, I have to get back to flying the plane,” he said, and he headed back to the cockpit.

Several hours later, we arrived in New York and I jumped up so I could be the first to reach the door. I knew the captain, the Jewish pilot, would be standing there to say goodbye to everyone, and as I approached him, I thanked him for such a smooth flight and added, “I have a favor to ask, if you don’t mind. I’ll wait until everyone disembarks.”

The captain shook his head. “No, tell me now, because once everyone’s off the plane I’m leaving.”

“Will you put on tefillin?” I asked him. “It will only take 60 seconds.”

“Impossible,” he responded abruptly.

“Listen, I’m here in New York for the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s yahrzeit, which is today. I’m going straight to his gravesite. Please, just do me this favor and then when I get there, I can have something positive to share with the Rebbe.”

The pilot thought for a moment, and then said, “You’re right. Let’s do it, right now. Let everyone see.”

And so it was that the Jewish pilot ended up saying goodbye to all the passengers—including those who had complained about my tefillin—while adorned in tefillin himself.

* Chassidim put on two different types of tefillin every day (except for Shabbat). Rashi tefillin are the tefillin that all Jews put on; Rabbeinu Tam tefillin are arranged differently and, since there is a dispute in halachah (Jewish Law) regarding which is the correct form, Chassidim put on both.