MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Yisrael Eichler has turned the tables on discussion regarding the right of a man to refuse to be seated next to a woman on an airplane. In his capacity as chairman of the Knesset Ombudsman Committee, Eichler has sent a letter to El Al Airlines requesting that women who request not to be seated next to a male should be offered an alternative seating arrangement.
Now, coming from the perspective of “women’s rights”, Eichler has turned the matter around from the all too common occurrence in which Chareidi men are painted in a distasteful fashion if and when they refuse to be seated next to a woman. Suddenly, the matter has a different flavor, and perhaps, it will be addressed by the airline as he bills it under the heading of ‘women’s rights’ and not a religious/chareidi issue.
In his remarks to the Knesset committee, Eichler points out that at times, the rights of women “are trampled” and this is unacceptable. According to an Arutz-7 report, Eichler made his remarks during a discussion on the Shabbos flight, during which he raised the issue of seating on flights and the rights of women to select not to be seated next to a man if she so chooses.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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21 Responses
why would an airline which is the official airline to a State that is Mechalel Shabbos,Eat nevyles Tryfes and kol minei avyres be concerned how chareidi women want to be seated.?
Rebyossel,
They shouldn’t be concerned.
Chareidi should purchase a big Boeing for themselves and stop bellyaching already.
Rebyossel, well if the Chareidim will boycott the airline like they did when they threatened El Al a week ago…then El Al will become thoroughly frightened and they’ll make separate seating with mechitzas too.
ITS NOT A CHAREIDY MATTER . ITS A WOMANS ISSUE. SHE DOESNT WANT TO BE ‘CATCALLED’
He isn’t talking about chareidi women. He’s referring to secular women who feel they need to be protected from male preditors as per the #metoo movement.
Such a stupid argument. What halacha says you cant sit next to a women especially with clearly divided seats (its not a bench) as well as armrests?
It’s an absolute chutzpah what the MK wants-that is to DEMAND it and no Haredi askan who requested from any other airline. It’s a Hillul Hashem. He’s going to creat more court cases and unnecessary animosity. See it done on the NY subway….:right!
If the person wants, buy one seat on the right, one in the left.
Because when they realize that it makes them look bad, they sometimes wake up.
Rebyossel says:
December 7, 2018 9:55 am at 9:55 am
why would an airline which is the official airline to a State that is Mechalel Shabbos,Eat nevyles Tryfes and kol minei avyres be concerned how chareidi women want to be seated.?
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why would ehrliche yidden vote in other yidden who are pro kol davarim asurim including pro gay, pro abortion etc…
Is there no shame when your local polititions in ny backed by agudas yisroel , who claim to represent yidden and yiddishkiet vote in the biggest mushchasim in history?
It’s not about charedi women.
Oh Rebyossel, you supposedly learned the punishment that the meraglim brought on Klal Yisrael following their lashon hara against E”Y . . . but you obviously haven’t learned the lesson. What a pity.
Rebyossel – of course they don’t care. The name of the game is to twist things around and present them in a way that will give them more difficulty getting out of this mess.
This is crazy going in BOTH directions. If you don’t want to sit next to a man/woman buy TWO seats and keep the one next to you empty . Otherwise, bring a good book or several long movies and keep your eyes looking forward. Whats next?? A chassideshe passenger refuses to sit next to someone who is obviously Litvish? A Chareidi man refusing to sit next to a secular guy reading some tabloid magazine or newspaper with pictures that offend him? Even as a state-owned airline in Eretz Yisorel, El Al has to operate efficiently and profitably. They cannot play musical chairs with 300 plus passengers demanding special seating accommodations after boarding and still have a hope of an on-time departure. Rav Moshe, Z’TL, paskind that it is allowed to travel on public transportation with mixed seating. A commercial airline is public transportation. If you truly want to be machmir, arrange for your own voluntary seat swap, buy the extra open seat or charter your own plane but don’t expect the flight attendants to waste the limited time before takeoff with your meshuggaas.
BillyW: with tight seating the armrest is of little use and it’s very common to touch each other.
With a little goodwill on the side of both the airline and secular as well as frum passengers these problems could get resolved quickly and satisfactorily. The problem are not the chareidim politely asking to change seats, the problem are the seculars who out of hatred refuse to help out.
This issue should not be one that El Al has to contend with. I suggest Chareidim purchase seats as groups, from aisle to aisle. Maybe an organization can be set up where men can let each other know when want to fly so that group tickets can be purchased.
takehmamah
what am aretz you are…the meraglim spoke against the LAND…as opposed to speaking against the anti torah ZIONIST thet bring about the tzuris …
Gadolhad.. Not sure how much of your post is serious but I agree with most of it.
Interestingly you mention about sitting next a guy reading a tabloid magazine…
In my experience that is the biggest problem for lone chareidi flyers like myself. Sitting next to a woman is not a problem, unless of course she is not dressed properly. I had that once on a Delta flight and the lady quickly realized and covered her legs with the air line blanket the whole way to JFK. However when newspapers are open next to you or some magazines or Ipads with movies on…it can be much worse.
@ shimen:
Learn the meraglim parsha with meforshim.
They spoke against land, against the people, against the climate,against the crops, and against Hashem.. Lucky you weren’t there or they would have nailed you too.
Now what’s with this frumme shtick , after decades of flying, men & women, chareidi ,non- chareidi, all of a sudden it’s an issue..
Where were you flyers all these years??? Some chevra started this shtick a few years ago, and now comes the bandwagon.. and of course, it’s the Zionists’ fault.
You’re a bunch of deluxe hypocrites.
It is extremely uncomfortable to travel for 12 hours on a overnight flight with a passenger seated next to you on “manspreading” position, or elbowing you every once in a while even unintentionally. Air India introduced last year female-only rows, can’t El Al do the same?
Etzhar: I was serious and your comment highlights the reality of using common sense and courtesy. Most commercial airline flights today (including El Al) are considerably more crowded then they used to be (as the airlines have cut capacity to maintain profitability) and the seats are narrower so the airlines can squeeze a few extra seats. The flight attendants already have their hands full trying to get everyone seated and baggage stowed prior to take-off. Arranging seat substitutions for men/women simply is not practical in most cases unless other passengers agree. Also, more seats are being pre-sold as “premium’ seats so If I paid for an aisle seat up front (as I frequently do when I cannot upgrade to business) I’m not going to move to a middle or window seat to accommodate either a man/woman who decides upon boarding they prefer to not seat where they were assigned. I don’t think I’m the exception. Also, while there is an occasional story reported about “inappropriate touching”, such incidents are relatively rare and NOT a major problem. Incidental touching is a reality on modern airplanes and there is no way to avoid it given the airlines’ efforts to squeeze us even closer. Purchase a seat up front (where spacing is wider) or buy the extra open seat if you are really worried about avoiding ANY physical contact.
ziongate
you didnt refute anything….will not bother to elaborate on you ignorance