If the bomb squad is inspecting your tefillin because your fellow passengers think you were strapping a bomb to yourself and they drop them, do you still have to fast for 24 hours? I’ll have to ask the Rabbi that one!
I’m not a strong advocate of laying Tefillin, to be honest. Even as a new Bar Mitzvah, I thought it silly and a big impediment to comfortable praying. However, if someone wants to lay Tefillin, God be with him.
Now, having said that, I feel that laying Tefillin (or putting on a Tallis, or any other ritual) is a private matter. I think that the teenager was stupid to lay Tefilllin on an airplane, and he sounds like a showboat to me, which has always turned me off when I see this trait, especially during prayer, in my fellow Jews.
I believe he was more interested in keeping with the law than showboating. The times for this are pretty well defined. It also depends on if he were Chasidic, Orthodox, or Conservative. With that in mind a certain amount of understanding should be given. He should have probably done so before boarding the plane, true. I am unsure of the time of the incident so I really cant say if it allowed him to davin before boarding or if he would have time after landing.
Shlomo that ruling would depend on his affiliation. That does pose a very interesting question none the less. I’m not a rabbi, but from a personel ( and Chassidic ) point of view, I would say yes he would still need to fast. I would say if there are any Rabbis that would like to chime in on this I would be very interested in hearing an answer to that.
I would have to disagree with prayer being a private matter. So much of what we do as Jews is centered around the concept of community. If this were not the case, we would not require a minyan. And as for prayer in public, I don’t see this as showboating, myself, more of an afirmation that one is not ashamed to engage in the fundamental principals of our faith. I’m proud to be able to pray in public settings since it wasn’t that long ago that to do so would have gotten me killed.
As for when and where to lay tefillin, I am not as well versed in the different movements as I would like so I cannot say whether he should have laid them previous to boarding or after landing or if it was important to his beliefs that he lay them at specific times. For myself, I wouldn’t lay them in the air but at the earliest oportunity. I hope Hashem wouldn’t take that too amis.
