Even before the restrictions on hand luggage were eased on Tuesday, Heathrow airport chaplain, Rabbi Hershey Vogel, had obtained a guarantee from security officials that passengers could take their tefillin and tallesim on board.

He said: �I explained what�s inside the tefillin and what value they have, to demonstrate they are not cheaply made and cannot be made by anyone.”

Rabbi Vogel added: �I was delighted. This was a major thing for us. I personally do not check in tefillin and tallit because you can find at the other end that a case has been damaged or lost.�

Among those caught up in last Thursdays airport chaos was former Israeli Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, whose flight back to Israel was cancelled. Rabbi Vogel arranged for him to return instead on a flight that evening and also organised for kosher sandwiches to be made available to passengers at Heathrow.

TJC