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Photo: Orthodox Jewish Man Covers Himself In Plastic Bag On Plane
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 11, 2013
Modified Apr 12, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 11, 2013
Modified Apr 12, 2013
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We don't often see the classic Twin Peaks phrase "wrapped in plastic" taken so literally—but a Redditor posted the above photo of an Orthodox Jewish man who did just that on a recent flight. Poster "FinalSay" initially assumed the man was covering up because he was in front of women, but others pointed out that it is much more likely that the man is a "Kohen", who are holy priests (or descended from them).
Kohens are prohibited from flying over cemeteries ("A kohen initially was not supposed to approach any dead body, and if he did so he became ritually impure"), which as you can imagine, could be a major problem for travel. According to Haaretz, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, the leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community in Israel, "found a solution to this issue, ruling that wrapping oneself in thick plastic bags while the plane crossed over the cemetery is permissible."
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air travel
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jewish
kohen
orthodox jew
plastic bag
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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