To appease an ultra-Orthodox male, flight attendants on Israel’s national airline El Al asked an 81-year-old female passenger to change her seat on a flight from Newark to Tel Aviv. The man cited “the Torah” as his reason for not wanting to make inadvertent physical contact with a woman.
The Israel Religious Action Center, a liberal advocacy group, is now bringing a lawsuit against El Al for sexual discrimination. These seat-shuffles have been going on for years on flights to and from Israel and a lawsuit should come as no surprise. However it gets resolved, the real damage here is to the public perception of halacha, Jewish law.
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