December 13, 2010
Tefillin cause bomb scare on New Zealand ferry
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An Israeli putting on tefillin set off a bomb scare on a New Zealand ferry.
The captain of the interisland ferry, who believed the boxes and leather straps looked like a bomb, reported his concerns to police during Sunday’s voyage between Wellington and Picton, New Zealand’s two main islands.
Police detained the Israeli and his three fellow travelers when the ferry docked in Picton, where they were questioned and released.
The mistake follows an incident in the United States in January, when a US Airways flight from New York to Louisville was diverted to Philadelphia after a 17-year-old passenger’s tefillin were mistaken for a bomb.
Comedian Joel Chasnoff on tefillin
