Kohanim Back On Board

Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh wrote a letter this week to leading Rabbis and Orthodox politicians promising that El Al airlines would no longer route jets over a Holon municipal cemetery. According to halakhah (Jewish law), Kohanim (Jews of priestly decent) are not permitted to come in contact with or hover over dead bodies. Upon discovering that El Al’s flight pattern from Israel to New York involved traveling over a cemetery, some Kohanim stopped purchasing tickets on El Al flights and began taking indirect routes to New York with other air carriers. The flight routes were slightly altered following the Sept. 11th hijacking of planes in the USA. In the letter, Sneh confirms that El Al pilots would adhere to strict procedure and avoid flying over the cemetery.