El Al has been ordered to compensate 82-year-old Mrs. Rina Rabinowitz, who was asked to change her seat to accommodate a chareidi man who did not wish to sit next to her.
The Jerusalem Magistrate Court heard the case and accepted the agreement reached out of court by the sides, citing El Al is not permitted to compel one to change one’s seat for gender reasons under the law.
Rabinowitz, a retired lawer, was on a flight in December 2015 from Newark Airport to Tel Aviv. Not too long after being seated a member of the crew approached her and offered her a better seat towards the front of the plane, but she was not interested. She did not wish to be moved to accommodate the request of the chareidi man seated to her side.
Judge Dana Cohen-Lekach made it clear, that it is unlawful for airline personnel to request that a passenger change seats due to a gender request as this case. The court instructed the airline to inform all employees of this within 45 days. El Al agreed to pay Mrs. Rabinowitz 6,500 in damages.
Rabinowitz, who defines herself as a Torah observant Jew, quoted a teshuva from Rav Moshe ZT”L in which he permits being seated aside a woman in the public sphere. She also encourages others who are subject to the same discrimination by “extremists” to fight back as she did.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
It would be interesting to find out why this article is so contrary to all other reports on the internet. All other sources make it clear she was asked to move and told explicitly she did not have to move if she did not want to. To quote the NYT on what she herself said about her own thoughts:
> WHEN Ms. Rabinowitz returned to her original seat to collect her hand luggage, with the attendant’s assistance, she asked the other passenger, “Why does it matter? I’m 81 years old. And he says, ‘It’s in the Torah.’ ” After briefly arguing the point, she moved to the new seat. “I thought, ‘He’s going to be unhappy,’” she recalled. “There was no other seat available for him next to a man so I thought I’d try it.”
They also note that this woman went to the “Israel Religious Action Center, the legal arm of the Reform Movement in Israel” to launch the lawsuit. (The way the NYT tells it, it sounds like the reference to R. Moshe she learned from her son after the incident happened, and that she does not even speak Hebrew, which seems to have been part of the problem)
Since when is the court interested in a psak of Reb Moishe?
Was Reb Moishe also mattir to go to a secular court?
What does Reb Moishe say if the male has to sit BETWEEN 2 women?
And she calls herself torah obverservant!
Why is there only discrimination against women (when politely asked whether she minded to change seats…) and not against chareidim and chassidim who follow their religious believe and principle?
This is nothing but a kangaroo court asking a secular women to decide whether a women may be asked to change seats for religious reasons.
On a airplane one isn’t just seated next to a person -you are in physical contact with that person unless you’re in first class or you’re a small child.Given the decreasing size of the seats and the increasing size of the average person it’s ridiculous.As a woman I’m certainly not sitting next to a man not my husband or son on a flight.If Elal can’t accommodate religious values , it’s time for frum Jews to boycott them.
I hope this discriminatory ruling against religious Jews is appealed.
To ask 82 year old lady to move away??? Does not sound right to me under any circumstances.
Hey doc- if you want to invent new religeous values, i suggest you fly united. Then we can all see you dragged up the isle with your burqa pulled up past your navel while we thank G-d that you were removed from our public sphere.
Well, chareidi amiti would have gotten of that seat, and if there was no other seat on that plane, chareidi amiti would have booked 3 seats, the whole row, on the next available flight. No Shailos! No Chillul Hashem!
Charedi amiti,shomer negiah isn’t a new religious principle, you need to speak with your rav or do some reading on the subject.
Yes, in the ‘old’ days frum men used to sit next to women on the buses in Israel too. As long as you did not touch there was no issur but today it is not done and the p’sak has been forgotten since beeing frum does not required study rather acting in a specific manner.
Hey Israeli lawyers -this ridiculous ruling is a gold mine for you! You can now find lots of young people who were asked to give up their seat on Israeli buses and trains for elderly people(it’s even pasted on most buses and trains”לפני שיבה תקום”).They can sue for age discrimination and how the poor things were socially pressured and embarrassed.
And we oldsters can sue the young people who voluntarily get up and let us sit in their seats since it is so “socially embarrassing “and age discriminatory.