A US Airways flight traveling from New York to Louisville diverted to Philadelphia when crew and passengers became alarmed as a young man strapped something to his head and arm while speaking in a foreign language. Turns out that what they suspected was a bomb, was actually Tefillin, otherwise known by their Greek name, phylacteries. Pictured here, they are ritual wear strapped on for weekday morning prayers by Jewish men, and in more recent years, by some Jewish women.


Tefillin, or phylacteries, are a set of small cubic leather boxes painted black, containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with the following verses from the Bible:
Exodus 13:1-10: Kadesh Li — the duty of the Jewish people to remember the redemption from Egyptian bondage.
Exodus 13:11-16: Ve-haya Ki Yeviakha — the obligation of every Jew to inform his children on these matters.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9: Shema — pronouncing the unity of the One God.
Deuteronomy 11:13-21: Ve-haya Im Shamoa — God’s assurance of reward for observance of the Torah’s precepts and warning of retribution for disobedience.
We can debate whether or not the airline personnel overacted or were simply doing their jobs. Or, like all such moments, we can learn a lesson from this sudden fame brought to a little known ritual. While I admit to being pretty sympathetic to the airlines and the decision they made, I think that lesson trumps the news. So what’s the lesson?

Imagine waking every day and asking yourself what things you are bound to. What ideas (symbolized by the tefillin on the head) and to what feelings or physical acts (depending on what you think is symbolized by the tefillin worn on the arm with the box closest to one’s heart) really define your life? How will they be present with you as go through your day?
While there are many ways to think about Tefillin and what they mean, it seems to me this is an understanding that can work for all of us, whether we wear them or not. Raising those questions is always a gift, and now it’s even news!