this picture was sent to me by a few people, and has since also appeared on Facebook by a bunch of people and on forums. As far as I can tell it is real, but I take no responsibility for it, and unfortunately I have no idea whom to give photo credit to.
While it looks like this might be the carry-on bag of the fellow sitting in the next seat, it is actually a person who is a kohen flying from Cyprus to Israel. It seems all flights coming to Israel from Cyprus fly over a Jewish cemetery of Gush Dan and this fellow received a psak that he could take the flight if he seals himself up in a bag upon the approach to Ben Gurion. I have no idea how he is breathing in that bag, assuming it is hermetically sealed as is required, but if it is just for a few moments maybe it is not a problem.
The issue became "hot" a few years back, but I never actually saw a picture of someone doing this (or using a body bag as some of the stories mention)...
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What I want to know is how the the airline allowing this and not saying it is a major safety issue? If they had to evacuate the aircraft it could cause a real problem
ReplyDeleteI want to know how he got into it and tied it up. did he climb into the bag in front of everyone? what was everyone else thinking at the sight of this? his friend in the seat next to him (I assume they are traveling together) must have tied the bag at the top...
ReplyDeletewas he in Cyprus to get a civil marriage?
ReplyDeleteIf a kohen can drive a car through a cemetery, then why can't someone in a sealed place fly over one?
ReplyDeleteI dont know the details of the psak. I know there is a machloket if an ohel zaruk is called an ohel or not, and this might be dependant on that. Also, the plane is going over the graves, while the car might be going through the cemetery but not going under any ohel.
ReplyDeleteI do not know why the bag is considered any more sealed than the plane itself, and therefore why it should keep him pure if the plane does not. Presumably there is some sort of ventilation or opening in the airplane itself that makes it not hermetically sealed?
I sure hope there isn't an opening in the plane! I think the simplest explanation is that this guy and his Rav are idiots. The rest is needless pilpul.
ReplyDeleteMost flights from North America fly over Europe, also a Jewish cemetery. Do the crazies also don a bag in that case?
ReplyDeleteAt my wife's funeral in the Beit Shemesh cemetery (not Eretz HaChaim) they put some panels over the body before filling in the dirt. After hearing a number of interesting speculative explanations, the chevra kadisha was asked for an explanation. They said the cover was to create an Ohel inside the kever to prevent the tuma from going up to the sky.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how wrapping yourself up in a plastic bag adds any more protection than the plane itself. I guess the next logical step is I will find people at my door to collect money to purchase hi-tech body suits that protect you tuma and women.
that is the reason I was always told, but it is possible not every cemetery uses the same methods. as well, despite that procedure in place, we still do not allow kohanim into cemeteries (except in sections for kohanim).
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a hitech body suit...
Last time I was at a funeral (Eretz haChayim)in a family of Kohanim, the chevra kadisha had the kohanim stand on the road on the other side of the low (very low) stone wall, and the niftar was interred right near the low stone wall. I didn't see any covering (panels, etc) other than dirt and rocks placed over the niftar.
ReplyDeleteMark, then you missed it or just didnt notice. they place, and I know they do this at eretz hachayim, cnderblocks over the dead body in a row covering the entire body. there is a protrusion out of the wall on the sides of the body, sort of a slight platform, and they put the cinderblocks on that over the body.
ReplyDeleteI did indeed see some cinder blocks (not many) placed inside the grave. But I didn't remember if before or after the niftar was put in. But I didn't see any protrusion or wall, seemed like a plain hole in the dirt. However, by the time we actually buried the niftar, it was already nighttime, so it was dark. The chevra kadisha guys had hand-held battery-operated fluorescent lanterns for walking on the path back to the building. After the hole was filled, they put a rectangle of loose bricks roughly around the outline of where the niftar was below.
DeleteInteresting, re burial practice in Beit Shemesh. Has no one yet complained that they are making it hard to jump out at techiyat hameitim?
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't know about the Tum'a Boka'at Ve'ola reason, here are my top 10 reasons for this guy wearing a bag on the plane:
ReplyDelete10) "The in-flight movie was too non-Tzanu'a."
9) "The guy 2 rows back forgot to shower."
8) "I can concentrate on Tefilat Haderech better with this thing on."
7) "I have a contageous disease and I sneeze a lot."
6) "I feel safer sliding down the inflatable tube with it."
5) "I heard I'm a descendant of Ben Bag Bag."
4) "I'm anti-social, so my psychologist prescribed this as reverse psychology."
3) "I might touch the flight attendant as she gives me my meal."
2) "I've always dreamed of being an astronaut. This is as close to it as possible."
1) "Help! The highjackers put me in here! Can someone get me out of this thing?!"
11) "I used to serve in an Abach unit so I'm used to being in plastic."
DeleteKikar says Yated has explained the incident
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kikarhashabat.co.il/%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%99-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A1-%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%9F.html
for details see the link above. bkitzur, Rav Zilbershtein told him to do thsi to be able to fly. by doing this he accomplished "tzamid ptil" and tuma did not enter the bag. the plane itself I guess is mekabel tuma as it is made of aluminum, so that was not good enough..
if they are approaching NATBAG, why are the suitcase compartments open above him?
ReplyDeleteby approaching natbag I didnt mean they are in the middl eof landing. I meant they are near the end of the flight. he didnt sit in the bag for the entire flight - just as they crossed the few minutes of Israeli territory approaching natbag
DeleteI think we are approaching nutbag, not natbag
ReplyDelete