ISRAEL — Haredi airline passengers are being advised to hang a new type of mehitza – a halachic barrier to separate the sexes – around the top of their airplane seats, to shield their eyes from immodest neighbors and in-flight movies.
Rabbis Advise: Use Personal Mehitza on Airplane
ISRAEL — Haredi airline passengers are being advised to hang a new type of mehitza – a halachic barrier to separate the sexes – around the top of their airplane seats, to shield their eyes from immodest neighbors and in-flight movies.
The Rabbinical Council for Public Transportation, which is also representing the haredi community on the issue of gender-segregated “mehadrin” buses, is now placing advertisements in haredi newspapers encouraging the community to purchase the traveler mehitzas.
The new mehitzas, made of white nylon, stick onto the fabric of the airplane chair using Velcro and can be arranged to make a protective “shield.” The mehitza goes around the head and is mostly in front of the passenger’s face, protruding only a little to the sides. Its designer, who asked that his name not be published, declined to share pictures and his design details, but said the mehitzas were “airy” and did not bother anybody.
“They’re very nice,” said Rabbi Shimon Stern, spokesman for the Rabbinic Council for Public Transportation. “Very cute. It’s very practical.”
The mehitzas are designed to be portable and fit into a small box, which passengers can bring on the plane.
The airplane mehitzas come in the wake of other recent steps by the haredi community to avoid immodesty, such as the mehadrin bus lines and separate-sex sidewalks in Jerusalem’s Geula neighborhood.
Stern said the main reason for the latest recommendation was to enable haredi passengers to block out in-flight movies. Television sets are banned in haredi communities, and movies are forbidden. In aircraft with large movie screens, it is difficult to avoid watching the films.
Stern said that before the issue of the new mehitza was raised, the council had been in talks with El Al Airlines to create seating areas with no movies, but the results had been unsatisfactory. The council is also publishing a list of flights that do not show films.
A favorite airline is United Airlines, which had to drop its in-flight movies for financial reasons.
Separating haredi passengers from their “immodestly dressed” neighbors is another concern. The mehitza is only partial, but Stern said stewardesses were usually happy to arrange seat-swaps.
Stern said the mehitzas were also there to provide passengers with a private space to pray and study Torah.
“You can daven, you can learn,” he said, “It gives you privacy.”
The man who designed the mehitzas on order from the council said they had been used thousands of times and that he had received only positive reactions from customers. According to him, the airplane crew on one flight even asked one of his clients for his mehitza so they could use it for future passengers.
But the mehitzas are still unknown to the larger haredi public. Despite the ad campaign in newspapers, they are only available privately from one source – the designer, who charges only a nominal sum for their use. Passengers can even return the items and get their money back when they return to Israel.
A travel agent in Bnei Brak said she knew of only one client who had mentioned the mehitzas. None of the staff at another travel agency in a haredi neighborhood had even heard of them.
An El Al spokeswoman said that none of the personnel with whom she was in contact were aware of them.
Haredi journalist Mordechai Plaut said he knew that there had been an initiative to help Orthodox passengers avoid in-flight movies, but that he had not heard of the mehitzas.
They are not “in,” acknowledged Stern.
But a rabbi in the community, who also requested anonymity, said that it was only a matter of time before they caught on.
“The whole machine will go into it,” he said, referring to the council’s educational arm, which uses newspaper articles, speeches and posters to reach the community.
The Rabbinical Council for Public Transportation is backed by some of the most senior rabbis – including Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, 99, one of the leading halachic authorities in the haredi world – according to haredi observers who say the council’s recommendations are widely respected.
Einat Hurvitz, the legal adviser to the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center who is leading the case against mehadrin buses in the High Court of Justice, said the individual mehitzas were a step in the right direction.
“If it’s not something that is bothering other people, then it is freedom of religion,” she said.
However, she added that it was another example of the extremist direction that haredim were taking.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
OMG you may as well walk around with one in the street! can’t believe this!
put in your ipod and close your eyes!!!!!!!!!
amazing!
that is over the top
Adar is in the air
Is this for real or in the Purim spirit?!
here we go..
G-d help us!
in state of disgust
Why not when you’re walking the streets? Why not a garbage bag over your head? Why not looking for therapy?
safety?
Im surprised they allow them with all the safety issues going on now
cool!
Can I purchase one for walking around the streets?
purim joke
this is an early purim torah …. a joke. go check it ou this does not exist
Where can I get a few?
For the man who has everything – just in time for Purim, a good laugh. How can I order one for the people sitting next to me in shul?
non of ur bsinees
this is so pethetic
yosel
what a disease, a shmetah for the flight, before we know it the charedi will have our women wearing burkahs
the world is breathing down our backs, Iran is arming it itself to annihilate us and the charedi are worried about someone glimpsing an in flight movie.
Oy have we fallen far. What about self control!!!!!
auss
wow thats a new one
Stam a Potz
Its about time. And what about some sort of Mechitza we can use on the street. Maybe something like a portable Sukkah that we can use to Shield ourselves from all the Bad things in this world, Woman mot in burrkas, bus shelter adds, Naked dogs vechulo.
my gosh
ludicrous
I Agree
“’If it’s not something that is bothering other people, then it is freedom of religion,’ she said.
However, she added that it was another example of the extremist direction that haredim were taking.”
Well said. To each their own, but they’re still nuts.
Letz
Is this what the airlines are refering to when they speak of “overhead compartments?”
Very Enthusiastic
I am so happy about this that I’m almost moved to tears.
All my life I’ve wanted to be truly holy, but I didn’t want anyone else to find out how holy I really am. By suspending this new device from a hat (something like a bee keepers helmet) I’ll be able to wear it everywhere, all the time!
Now that no one will be able to see my eyes either, I’ll finally be able to tape them shut and avoid looking at Olam Hazeh at all. And yet, because of this new device no one will be aware of my great holiness. I’ll even be able to eat without looking at my food, which will greatly assist me in my life as an ascetic.
This new invention is truly what I’ve been waiting for!
Jew without a burkha
You’ve got to be kidding. I think Chareidi is another term for Muslim. These folks have no place in Judaism, they should stop calling themselves Jews.
mendel engel
if you want to be frum to that extent they already have travelers eye-covers for sleeping. This is going too far there is no reason why a frum Jew has to stick out like an astronaut- in their own private partition.
..........
I ALREADY BOUGHT 3 OF THEM FOR MY FAM. THERE GREAT!! PURIM BADADADADA PURIM BADADADADA!!
SILLY SILLY
rb
please remember religious tolerance, even to those who are more extreme than you
Unheard Of!
Wow!!!!
This is a really special idea! It will be ideal for all those kind of peeps who refuse to look at me when collecting tzedaka, never mind letting me put the money in their hand. But their wives must be so upset, the highlight of their journey is watching the films! And now their husbands have found a new way to stop them!
Nebach
elchonon
Excellent starter to protect our wonderful gift from g-d.
come on
wow whats with all the negative comments. if this is really true, why does it bother e/o so much. it is a personal choice, if s/o does not watch tv and does not want to see it while travelling and there is a way to help him why not? it does not bother anyone. as to the comment just put in an ipod and close your eyes, it is difficult to close your eyes and not see anything next to you for the complete duration of a flight
angry
keep it up elal i will boycott ur entire airline