"Sky Torah" takes to the air with Israeli carrier – Yahoo News
NEW YORK Reuters – Israels No. 2 carrier, Israir Airlines, is permanently installing a handwritten Torah scroll on board one of its aircraft, marking the first "Sky Torah" in aviation history, the airline said on Wednesday.
The scroll, which was created for the airline in Aventura, Florida, will begin its journey to Israel on Thursday with a ceremony at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport. At the ceremony, the Torah will be carried under a traditional chuppah, or canopy.
Israir expects the Sky Torah, as the carrier calls it, to be a welcome service for orthodox Jewish passengers on its flights between New York and Tel Aviv, a spokesman said. The Torah will be housed in a compartment on the plane and will be accessible through a flight attendant.
A Torah scroll, made up of the Five Books of Moses, is the holiest book of Judaism. It takes about one year for a scribe to write a Torah scroll, the company said.
The airline, which operates four flights a week between New York and Tel Aviv, said the onboard Torah will enhance the prayers of its passengers at a time they are closer to God.
I ran this story by my husband David, who maintains a consistent "orthodox agnostic" stance, as he very firmly does not know one way or the other, and shows more inclination towards science and logic than towards any semblance of faith or belief.
We both think it's nuts.
My first thought was "What if the plane goes down? What kind of psychic damage would that do to believers, beyond the tragedy of the crash itself?" Second thought: it's like trailing a big banner behind the aircraft that says "Here I am, baby" to all the small, obscure terror groups looking to increase their cred on the Arab street in one swell foop.
David thinks it's hijack bait. "Here, hijacker hijacker hijacker. Come and get me, hijackers, yeah." He also thinks that last line (in bold) is more like something a Christian fundamentalist would say. Come to think of it, some of those Apocalyptonauts would probably get all worked up just thinkin' about getting Raptured up out of that particular plane.
[tags]Sky Torah, nuts, funnymentalism[/tags]