Dr. Renee Rabinowitz, a retired attorney living in Israel for about a decade, feels El Al Airlines discriminated against her because she was compelled to change her seat in business class to accommodate a chareidi man on the flight. She is seeking compensation over what she views to be a discriminatory policy by the airline.
Dr. Rabinowitz, 81, was traveling to Tel Aviv on a flight originating in Newark, NJ a number of months ago. She explains a distinguished looking chareidi man was assigned a seat in her row but he objected to being seated next to a woman. An El Al employee offered her a “better seat” elsewhere in an effort to accommodate the frum man and reach an acceptable compromise. She explains that she agreed to move, albeit reluctantly.
She told the NY Times in an interview conducted in a Jerusalem apartment “For me this is not personal, it is intellectual, ideological and legal. I think to myself, here I am, an older woman, educated, I’ve been around the world, and some guy can decide that I shouldn’t sit next to him. Why?”
Anat Hoffman, of the Israel Religious Action Center, is quoted explaining her organization, which is described by the Times as a “liberal advocacy group” explains “we needed a test case that involved a flight attendant” and it appears Dr. Rabinowitz’s incident will become the test case against El Al. Hoffman told the Times she and her colleagues have been searching for such a case for two years.
Ms. Hoffman’s group, the Israel Religious Action Center, the public and legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel, has championed many a battle against chareidi life in Israel, including mehadrin bus lines which led to the 2011 High Court ruling outlawing compelled separate seating on public buses.
Despite telling the media she is in no way anti-chareidi, Dr. Rabinowitz is moving ahead with her case as Hoffman’s group has already sent a letter to El Al explaining Rabinowitz felt “pressured by the flight attendant” and accusing the airline of discrimination. The Times report the attorney demanded NIS 50,000 in compensation for Ms. Rabinowitz. El Al offered a $200 discount on her next flight, explaining there is no gender discrimination on board flights, adding the flight attendant made it clear, that she was not compelled to change her seat.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
Dear, you are NOT on the side of the angels! There was no discrimination involved, at all. This gentleman’s (and your) Creator dictated the separation of the genders. (You are a woman, aren’t you?) So maybe you also need to abide by your Creator’s requirements. Think so?
There are two issues here:
1) The charedi man didn’t want to sit next to her. This could be viewed as discriminatory on his part;
2) El Al pragmatically wanting to get the flight off on time asked the lady to move. They asked the lady not the man because it would be very hard to find a lady-free row to put him on. This is not discriminatory against women on their part, they were trying to solve a problem, albeit one caused by something which could be viewed as discriminatory.
So if you want to sue someone, sue the chosid, not El Al.
TBH I think 100% of normal chareidi people are sick and tired of the chilul Hashem people like this make in their utter inability to ask for things politely. If anyone doesn’t believe me then check the comments page on the NYT article which has over 1000 readers quoting similar stories which happened to them.
Its just embarrassing for me to think that, as a Chareidi, I’m going to be identified together with such people.
@2 I agree.
1. It’s a public space. What possible potential sin can happen here? No yichud.
2. I guess a certain segment of the community could start its own airline or charter special flights for those who need them. Great new business idea
3. Extreme segregation seems to be having the opposite effect to its intent. No opportunity to learn self control and even the slightest exposure seems to be too much for this person to handle.
4. What’s the psak on sitting next to a person who is the same gender but who doesn’t identify with that gender?
5. If you ever find yourself in a hospital room with transgender person, the law says that’s ok. No discrimination allowed. And if you are uncomfortable with that, you will have to move and get another room. You can’t ask them to move. Look it up.
6. So back to this situation- really? If you choose to live in this big world as a Torah observant Jew, you can live in an isolated bubble where you are rarely tested (but don’t impose or demand that everyone else make things comfortable for you per your requirements). Or you can take some risk, develop a thicker skin and grow up. This is the world..Deal with it.
#4, did you ever hear of negiah? Why don’t you check and find out what your Creator, who knows a heck of a lot more than you, requires? And guess what, #4? This is the REAL world, G-d’s world! Deal with it.
#2 assumes that “100% of normal chareidi people are sick and tired of the chilul Hashem people like this make in their utter inability to ask for things politely.” It is not clear from the article if the “distinguished looking” (i.e., probably someone older, not some younish “hot head”) chareidi man was violent, abusive, threatening, or even just impolite, in his request. He simply made a request that she didn’t like, and she decided to try to make hay (and maybe some money …) from it.
If I wish not to be seated next to, say, a very obese person, and request a seat change, is that discrimination? If I am assigned a seat next to a woman who’s perfume is causing me a serious allergic reaction, am I guilty of discriminating against her or her perfume? What if some very extreme vegan would object to being seated next to someone who is, or will be consuming a chicken or beef dinner? In my hypothetical cases, I’m not asking if the seat change is justified. I’m asking if you would react with the same level of impatience and annoyance as that expressed toward this frum Jew?
@4, @2 and every one else in between.
to answer your polite questions;
1) It was a request, not a demand. OK?!? Got it. A request, in order to feel more comfortable, not any halachah r”l. OK? Nothing in halacha, chassidus or otherwise religion related at all r”l, only to feel more at ease. And a request, not a demand.
2) read above
3) read above
4) read above
5) read above
6) read above
OK?
This article was taken from another site, not so bent on portraying us in a positive light (to put it mildly).. that’s how it got out.. and that where all other (true and otherwise) stories originate.
And this kind gentlewoman is out for the bucks (and the smirch, of course – look who banded with her, someone JUST WAITING for a story)… even El Al sense that.. even they’re not buying it.
While I agree with #2 & #3, I just want to add:
1. Business class is not sardine – there is plenty of room for this man to sit without having to touch the lady.
2. El Al should have put her in first class as compensation.
23. The man should have been offered a seat in economy – bet that would have settled it.
Bottom line – next time Mr. Bigot, buy 2 seats together or take your chances. But to be fair, the old lady was not “compelled” to move. She shouldn’t cry foul now.
To bahby #1:
The Creator made no such requirement.
It is 100% muttar al pi halacha for a woman to sit next to a man on an airplane and vice versa.
And since there’s no prohibition al pi halacha, there is no hetter to ask someone else to move.
This is SO ridiculous. I’d expect a bit more intelligence from someone with a doctorate. Then again…
El Al is 100% right on this one. She was ASKED if she would be willing to switch. She could have said no, in which case the flight attendants would have looked for another solution for the guy.
This is SOP on El Al for decades. After takeoff, the flight attendants look around for solutions for people with seating issues. Sometimes it’s because due to a mixup family members were separated, sometimes it’s because someone really, really wanted a window seat and they got an aisle and they’re looking for someone to switch (or vice versa), and yes, sometimes it’s because a man was seated next to a woman and he’d like to switch (or vice versa).
No one is “compelled” to do anything to accomodate any of these people; flight attendants respectfully ask passengers if they would be willing to switch seats. In this case, they offered the woman a better seat than the one she had. She didn’t have to take it.
If the Israeli judicial system has any respect for itself, this case will get thrown out of court before it even gets in. But then again…
If the chasid is as frum as he claims to be, either his eyes would be in a gemara the entire time, or he’d be sleeping. Either way, he supposedly wouldn’t be looking at the woman, so what’s the problem sitting there?
As a woman who was seated next to a man on my last flight, I will attest to the fact that it was VERY uncomfortable. The seats are narrow, and there is no way to go in or out without literally climbing over the man next to you. It is impossible not to touch.
When my seatmate fell asleep, his head kept falling onto my shoulder. As for myself, I didnt close my eyes all flight in case I did the same thing back to him.
A long flight, with hours of boredom, and lowered boundaries, is a dangerous situation to get into. Im not saying its yichud, but definitely not the separating of the genders as the Torah demands.
Anyone who does not see a tznius problem here, has lost their sense of what a frum Yid represents.
Bahby, I agree that Hashem created the separation of genders in regards to certain mitzvos and obligations. What I strongly disagree with you, and feel you are misleading is with your understanding of the “Creator’s Requirements”. We can’t daven together (without a Mechitza), lein from the Torah together, or dance together- but in the circumstances of a public domain, with assigned seating, by means of transportation; it is not only a Chillul Hashem to request a female senior citizen to move, but also with no justifiable prohibition to sit next to one of the opposite gender.
This has been going on for a long time
The air line did nothing wrong as stated before they only wanted to leave on schedule
The problem are these holier then though. Learn to live in society.and to he first big mouth. Bake challah a don’t pigskin you are lacking much
bahby, I think you said it correctly on #5. This is the real world. Meaning that there will be times on trains, buses, and airplanes where you may have to sit next to someone of a different gender because that’s the real world that we live in. Secondly, the “Creator” doesn’t know a heck of a lot more of negiah than us. The Torah is from Hashem, with positive and negative commandments. Many of those commandments are broken down to be understood better from the Rabbonim. From learning and understanding how certain mitzvos are to be practiced and implemented in 2016 is from a compiling of sources of Rabbinic literature (Gemorah, Shulchan Aruch, Mishna Brurah, Rav Moshe). So, when you something bizarre regarding the “Creator” knowing a “heck” more, it is a bit opaque and confusing. Please understand that an example of sitting next to someone on a plane is not in the Torah.
The 81 year old Dr. Rabinowitz should have felt flattered by the gentleman’s request.
@mom me…we ate discussing business class not economy. Nobody has to climb over anyone nor will anyone accidentally fall asleep and their roll onto the next person. It is totally seperate.
My first impression is never make an 81 yr old woman move MO matter who you are…unless maybe you’re an 82 yr old woman. Other than that there Is no heter anywhere to compel anyone to move for religious belief it is up to each person to make do with the hand dealt. Now I am not siding with her because obviously she is out for blood…she says not personal yes it seems very personal. The other lady involved states she’s been looking for 2 years for a case like this. You have to be some pretty sick person to go spend your time looking for a problem . I would further based on this question the AcuraCy of her statement. Considering I don’t think anyone would make an 81 yr old woman move if they heard even the slightest of objections.