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Oct 25, 2016

Arabs use tallis to pray in Ben-Gurion Airport Shul

The story goes that yesterday, on the Shmini Atzeres/Simchas Torah holiday, some Muslims from Turkey decided to take advantage of the fact that there would be no religious Jews in the airport and they went to pray in the Ben Gurion synagogue. They used tallitot from the shul as their prayer mats to kneel on.

A secular Jew happened to spot them (and record the video below) and told them that it was not appropriate. They apologized and left.



This incident has caused a bit of a ruckus. It was passed around in a few groups I am a member of, accompanied with criticism and comparisons as to what would happen if a Jew would have done something similar in a mosque.

I am a bit torn.

On the one hand, we are more tolerant, for better or worse, and while Arabs would probably murder Jews, or at least riot and turn it into an international incident, that did this in a mosque, we let it slide with just some words of criticism by the people. We are not a violent people, and we don't turn every minor, and often even major, incident into an excuse for violent actions.

On the other hand, maybe we should be more protective of our honor and of our religious sites. After all, they would be, so why aren't we? Do we respect our sites less?

On the third hand, is it really a big deal? Are other people really not allowed to pray in our shuls?  Obviously not, when dealing with anything classified as avoda zara, but what's wrong with prayers that are not involving avoda zara? In the Beis Hamikdash non-Jews were allowed to pray and offer sacrifices, so why not in a shul?




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3 comments:

  1. For me, I am torn since I think there is less of an issue of them praying the the shul, but I am also aware that the Muslims see it as a commandment to conquer places of worship of the infidels.
    I agree that we are more tolerant and let it slide too easily, mainly because our secular media is even more tolerant and could not care to make it a big deal. There are swastikas painted on synagogues once in a while, and it might get a mention on one hourly update but nothing further.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why do you think that Arabs would riot if Jews did this in a mosque? It is very common for Jews to pray in designated prayer spaces in airports, many of which are really mosques.
    I davened once with talit/Tfilin in the prayer space in Singapore airport, the room was set up like a mosque, complete with a sign asking people to remove shoes and a place to wash feet. I davened in a side room, which turned out to be the women's section. There I was in the middle of the Amida when a group of women entered, removed their shoes and started praying. No one was upset, everyone smiled at everyone, certainly no one rioted.

    The only unfortunate component of the incident in BG airport was that the Turkish Muslims were not aware of what a Tallit was and used it as a prayer rug, but when they realized their mistake the apologized - no harm done.

    The real question is why BG airport doesn't have a mosque on non-denomination prayer room to meet the needs of Muslims travelers?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interestingly, based on the photo, it looks like they're praying in the "wrong" direction - they're facing slightly to the left of the Aron Kodesh, which at the airport should be facing east-southeast.

    This is probably the best indicator that they honestly mistook the prayer spot for a mosque, and didn't even intend to "conquer" a Jewish place of worship.

    ReplyDelete

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