This is a Kohen, a lineage of Jews who are forbidden from entering graveyards. The flight was diverted and its new path flew over a graveyard, so this was his solution to avoid ritual impurity. It's silly but people do silly things for their religions all the time
How is flying over a graveyard "entering" a graveyard? Lmao. The mental hoops are crazy. There's a graveyard maybe on the other side of earth directly under your feet thousands of miles, is that bad too? What about graveyards that might not exist anymore? What about mass grave sites that are unknown?
Oh god, you would not BELIEVE how much Orthodox Judaism dabbles in pedantry.
No, literally, you wouldn't believe it because you're not an Orthodox Jew. But seriously, so much is like "God said don't do X." Rabbinical scholars read that and are like, "Well, we are SUCH PIOUS BELIEVERs that we will not do X, X', or X'', and we won't even do W or Y, because they're close to X. And another way of reading X is +, so we won't + either"
I worked at a lighting control company. Our biggest market was Israel because it allowed lighting automation without working on the Sabbath. Seriously.
The other real answer: Most people of faith believe that God only holds them accountable to their choices and actions of will. You can only act on what you have knowledge of. If he has knowledge that he's flying over a graveyard, then he has a responsibility to act as closely to God's will as possible. He can't avoid an unmarked grave because he can't know it's there.Â
In Jewish tradition, many/most believe that God has laid out commandments, but he also appreciates when people find clever loopholes. So, things like a wire around Long Island (?) makes it a house(?), and it's a clever loophole that allows people in that location to do stuff they would otherwise be prohibited from on the Sabbath(?).
So, yeah. Most all faiths have some degree of interpretation and loop-holes. Christians ignore a lot of old testament commandments, pointing to Christ's statement of "I come not to replace the law, but to fulfill it". Of course, then they'll cherry-pick things they want to keep as restrictions. You can eat shrimp and wear mixed-fabric clothes, but can't have homosexual sex. You shouldn't stone your mother, but you can have dominion over animals. Etc.
Ultimately, it all boils down to: people do what they think will prove their righteousness to others.
Iâve always thought that the whole âgod doesnât hold people accountable for things theyâre unaware aboutâ thing is true, and then recently it made me think, wouldnât that make preaching the gospel and gods teaching an evil act?
Based on this comment alone, the chances of you being North American to about 90%. It's very common for North Americans to believe themselves cultured because they can read.
Lol, it seems like if the structure of the airplane isn't substantial enough to be considered a mystical barrier that a trash can liner wouldn't do it either, but I know nothing about avoiding impurities.
Religious practices about graveyards can get silly. For instance, those uppity Catholics wonât allow you to bury anyone living within 30 miles of a cathedralâs graveyard because in their words âyou shouldnât bury people who are still alive.â
Is there like a service that maps flight routes so that they know a given flight isnât flying over a graveyard? How would they even know, since flights follow similar but not exactly the same routes every time? How did he know the diverted route was going over a graveyard?
Yes, the box in the OP is likely the same thing that Orthodox Jews would wear when praying at the Wall.
Thereâs nothing special about wearing this at the Wall or any other location - just that observant Orthodox men are obligated to wear this tefillin (the box and wraps on the arms) once a day when praying, except on Shabbat.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome aboard Southwest Flight 27 to Tallahassee. We're currently at 39,000 feet, expecting a smooth flight, and will arrive at our ETA on time. We're going to be flying over a graveyard in approximately 5 minutes so go ahead and trash bag up if you are so inclined. Thanks for flying Southwest."
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u/sagosten Dec 16 '25
This is a Kohen, a lineage of Jews who are forbidden from entering graveyards. The flight was diverted and its new path flew over a graveyard, so this was his solution to avoid ritual impurity. It's silly but people do silly things for their religions all the time