A senior kosher supervisor and rabbinic coordinator for OK Kosher, Weinfeld was on his way to the Bahamas to oversee the kashering of a local restaurant that was set to host "Yeshiva week."As he landed and thanked the pilots, however, he was surprised when the pilot replied by saying "zei gezunt," Yiddish for "be well."“When he said that, I asked him, ‘are you Jewish?'” Rabbi Weinfeld said to COLlive. “He said yes, and I asked him, ‘have you put on tefillin?'”The pilot had one before, but was glad to do it again when Weinfeld offered.However, the co-pilot, who was also Jewish, had never put on tefillin before.“He remarked that he knows the Shema, and says it sometimes, but he said he is 44 years old and had never put tefillin on in his life,” Rabbi Weinfeld said to COLlive.And so, the co-pilot put on tefillin for the first time, celebrating his bar mitzvah as the three began to dance in the cockpit singing "Siman tov u'mazal tov."According to Weinfeld, the co-pilot contacted him again, and said that his family was "thrilled" about his bar mitzvah."[He also] said that he would like to keep in touch to learn more," the rabbi added.
Rabbi officiates bar mitzvah aboard United Airlines flight – watch
“He remarked that he knows the Shema, and says it sometimes, but he said he is 44 years old and had never put tefillin on in his life,” Rabbi Kalman Weinfeld explained.
