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Nov. 24, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran : The Atheists' unintended gift
JWisdom.com: You are a Philanthropist with Aliza Bulow (5 minutes)
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review July 7, 2006 / 10 Tamuz, 5766

Friendly skies

By Lori Borgman

Lori Borgman
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The airlines warned us in May that travel this summer would be more crowded, more expensive and more hostile.


They were right about the expensive part. A flight I often take not only went up nearly 50 percent in price, they cut out the bag of four miniature pretzels as well. No doubt the next step will be to eliminate the drinks. The stewardess will come on the intercom and tell those who are thirsty to go to the restroom, cup their hands and drink from the faucet.


They were right about the crowds. It used to be that you boarded an aircraft by seat row. Now the crowds are so large you board by group number. Picture a rancher moving cattle. An attendant calls a group number, then a small herd rumbles forward, jostling into a single file line as they squeeze through the stockyards, er, I mean jet way.


Airlines can move a greater number of passengers at a greater speed this way, but still retain enough control to avert an all-out stampede.


I was hoofing it through the jet way with my fellow bovines, I mean travelers, and had boarded the plane when the line came to an abrupt halt. A man with a buzz cut was asking a man with a mustache if he would switch seats so he could sit with his pregnant wife. The mustache smiled and said, "Sure, no problem." The crew-cut eased into the aisle and the moustache wedged in front of him. They did a quick two-step, switched seats, and the line shuffled forward.


I reached my seat and heard the woman across the aisle ask the man beside her if he would mind switching seats so she could sit next to her daughter. He said he would be happy to. It was as though the captain had released Friendly Sky pellets into the ventilation system. The man slid across to the aisle seat as the mother climbed over his legs, lugging a carry-on bag, her daughter's neon pink backpack and snacks, smacking him in the chest and clipping him on the chin. All he did was smile. I doubled-checked my ticket to make sure I wasn't on a flight headed to Mayberry.


Just when I thought I'd seen it all, a harried middle-aged woman boarded late and was struggling to cram her luggage into the overhead bin when a young man jumped up and gave her a hand.


My mouth was still hanging open when the woman next to me said, "Did you hear about the little girl in row 15? It's her first day in the States. Her adoptive parents are bringing her back from China." Several rows ahead, a small tot with jet black hair and almond-shaped eyes was jumping on her new daddy's lap for a better view of the action. A collective "oohhhhh" went up from the passengers behind her. I have been on flights where hostility stretched like a bungee cord from the cockpit to the rear exit, where passengers crabbed at one another for looking out the window and a cad reading the New York Times threw each section into the aisle as he finished it.


This flight may not have been a typical picture of who we often are, but it was a nice reminder of who we can sometimes be.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Lori Borgman is the author of , most recently, "Pass the Faith, Please" (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) and I Was a Better Mother Before I Had Kids To comment, please click here. To visit her website click here.

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© 2006, Lori Borgman

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