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“Ki eshmira Shobbos, K-ail yishmeraini…” – Zemiros L’Shobbos.
“When I safeguard the Sabbath, G-d will safeguard me…” – Sabbath Liturgy
There is an old Jewish saying, “More than the Jews keep Shobbos, Shobbos keeps the Jews.” When Jews are faithful to Hashem’s commandments everyone merits special Divine protection, as the following true story illustrates:
Shalom Dadoun began flying for United Airlines in 1986. Shortly after, he married a sweet pious girl, whose good influence led him to be a more observant Jew. Eventually, Shalom gave up flying on Shobbos.
This however is easier said than done. United pilots sign up for their flight assignments one month at a time in advance. When pilots of Shalom’s seniority level sign up to fly the Boeing 767, they are assigned a month worth of flights and have no say in the particular flight dates. It would be possible to be forced into flying on Shobbos.
If a pilot chooses to fly the Airbus, he would have control of his actual flight dates for the upcoming month. The 767 flights paid much more, but Shalom would not put himself in a position where he might be compelled to work on Shobbos, so he always chose the Airbus.
One of Shalom’s favorite flights was the Boston-LA flight, which had always been flown using the Airbus. In September, 2001, that route was given to the 767 fleet. Since Shalom would not fly the 767, due to the possible Shobbos consequences he could not fly the Boston-LA route which he usually flew.
Had it not been for the inspiration of his virtuous wife and his Shobbos No-Fly policy, he would have been on the Boston-LA flight on September 11, 2001. United Flight 175. The flight that crashed.
Posted 2 months ago #