Two Yeshiva Bochurim, Reuvi Scheinerman, 17, and Yehudah Roffman, 21, were removed from an American Airlines flight this Sunday, May 5th, without explanation, and their families are now accusing American Airlines of having engaged in overt antisemitic discrimination.
The family told YWN that Reuvi was flying from Cleveland to Hartford, Connecticut, to return to his yeshiva in Naugatuck after Pesach break. Yehudah, meanwhile, was heading to his yeshiva in Far Rockaway. Both were dressed in visible yeshiva attire, including a white dress shirt, suit jacket, and black hat.
Prior to the flight, Yehuda noticed a dent in the plane’s tail and, concerned, mentioned it to the flight attendants and pilot. His concerns were brushed off. Minutes later, the gate agent ordered him off the plane. Reuvi, who had no interaction with the crew or Yehudah, was also removed, without explanation.
The plane departed and the Bochurim were informed that they were thrown off the flight. When they asked why, they were told, “You know what you did.” Both Bochurim were baffled – they had done nothing!
When Reuvi asked if it was anti-Semitism, the gate agent said the pilot had requested his removal and he has to comply. The gate agent threatened to blacklist them permanently from American Airlines, but later retracted his statement.
The Bochurim, uninterested in getting on a another flight, were then driven by one of their father’s through the night to their Yeshivos, bringing the incident to a conclusion. However, the incident is not going away. American Airlines has a lot to answer for – and hopefully, they will pay for it.
The families of the affected Bochurim have not yet indicated whether they intend to file a lawsuit against the airline.
American Airlines has not commented on the matter.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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27 Responses
Pls forward this to all ambulance chasers and to motorcycle mike
A professional truck driving instructor once told me “You can do the most offensive things to a truck driver, but NEVER tell him he cannot drive.” It sounds like the airline pilot feelings are the same!
They were thrown off for FWJ: Flying while Jewish.
this is germany all over again not the american way to do things u know
next thing is the the yellow star or ghettoes cv no more jewish doctors practice medicine
cmon what world are we living in these days where is moshiach already when we need him so badly now more than ever wake up can’t u even see the writing on the wall
If the aeroplane had crashed after taking off without these 2 בחורים, it would have been overt השגחה פרטית
Inconvenient and nasty, but no evidence of anti semitism. No airlines ever dabbled in anti semitism. Even during corona. They are obligated to make sure people are wearing masks! So not anti semitism. Even if they only kicked off Jews, so what? Because non-Jews weren’t wearing masks that means you could too???!!!!!
Not everything is anti semitism, ok? It’s not like when Trump didn’t condemn David Duke. Now THAT’s anti semitism.
American is known to dislike the jews
@Participant: “no evidence of anti semitism” but what – with no evidence of any wrong doing there IS evidence of anti-semitism!
An airline with the worst boarding process ever telling kids who are kicked off of a flight “you know what you did” sounds like no one knows anything frankly.
What happened to the 2nd boy “Reuvi” is concerning though I will wait to hear from the airline before passing judgement.
As for the main actor “Yehuda” it seems he was being a bit of a “Nudge” talking to a few flight attendants, the gate agent as well as the pilot. I don’t know what if anything they told him & perhaps it could’ve been handled better.
At the same time a little education or access to the Internet could’ve avoided this.
“As pilots, your safety is our first, second and third priority. Come to think of it, it’s probably our fourth priority, too. With that in mind, we take the physical condition of the aircraft extremely seriously.
Before each flight, in addition to the checks the engineers complete, one of the pilots will always conduct an exterior “walk-around” of the aircraft to ensure that they are happy with its condition.”
When flying it’s important to remember the pilots & crew have as much of a vested interest in getting there safely & alive as you do. They would be glad to be notified of a real issue but when it’s not & someone keeps talking to any crew member they can find it gets annoying real fast & can come off as being an unstable person.
I’m sure there’s more to this story. Stop playing the race card
@Participant
In an impressive feat of mental gymnastics you somehow manage to make this about Trump. It has been 3.5 years… Please seek help.
seems like they thought they were trying to yell “fire” in a crowded theater.
Its not at all clear that this is anti-Semitism
I Wonder whether bochrim are bakiim in halochos tachocha. Maybe they were expressing their opinion in such a way that pilot decided they can become unruly.
Nasty. Both very nice, refined kids. Scheinerman was booted as collective punishment. And the brochure who pointed out a potential safety hazard is to be thanked. I do hope they sue.
“And the brochure who pointed out a potential safety hazard is to be thanked….”
According to the article, they were not handing out saftety brochures but one of them verbally made some comments to the flight crew that got them agitated.
“You know what you did”…those are the key words that show that American Airline personnel have no valid reason to excuse their despicable behavior.
Gadolhadorah, I’m 99% sure that they meant to write “bochur” and autocorrect turned it into “brochure”
Chash, read the story more closely, it says the second bochur who was kicked off had nothing to do with the first one. Almost certainly antisemitism.
Considering the Boeing issues in the headlines currently, passengers have a right to voice concerns about the aircraft they’ll fly in. It may have been annoying to the flight attendants and/or pilot but they deal with worse on a daily basis.
When you work in the service of others, you have to tolerate all kinds of people and not let it ‘get to you’. If these young adults’ actions were as they are described here, it’s only reasonable to decry the overreaction as antisemitism. Unless AA can point to a reason for their removal.
If it’s not anti semitism then don’t use the term! The term has become a joke and likely won’t ever be taken seriously Anymore. Everyone is a Nazi or anti semitic. Why do they call Hamas Nazis! They aren’t Nazis they are Hamas, Muslims who hate Jews. 2 separate types of jew haters. Calling them Nazis makes the Holocaust seem less serious and calling oct 7 a Holocaust definitely makes a mockery. It was a pogrom by Arab muslims, not a Holocaust by Nazis!
Something here smells FISHY!
Some part of the story is missing.
participant was kidding (took me couple times reading it to realize)
He was absolutely not kidding. He was concerned due to recent safety issues on planes and was ignored, so he kept asking. A simple “yes, everything is fine” would have prevented the whole saga.
I hate to say it, but American Airlines doesn’t have the best reputation and this is not the first time that they’ve been accused of antisemitism. We’ll have to be patient and see if AA has a legitimate excuse for their actions.
What they did on October 7 was not “just a pogrom” and in no way trivialized what the nazis did u can be sure the nazis would have been proud of their sadism
Rightwriter, you are a wrong writer. Hamas are literally Nazis. Hamas is part of the Moslem Brotherhood, which was explicitly patterned on the Nazi Party, and was allied with it in WW2. When Hitler was defeated, his Arab allies continued the fight, and remain dedicated to it even 80 years later. If chas veshalom they were to succeed it wouldn’t be a “second” Holocaust, it would just be a resumption of the original one. The Simchas Torah massacre was exactly the same as the Einsatzgruppen.