Religion is a mental illness

[trog.livejournal.com]

Photo: Orthodox Jewish Man Covers Himself In Plastic Bag On Plane

Why is he doing this? Don't read further. I'm telling you, you do not want to know...



We don't often see the classic Twin Peaks phrase "wrapped in plastic" taken so literally—but a Redditor posted the above photo of an Orthodox Jewish man who did just that on a recent flight. Poster "FinalSay" initially assumed the man was covering up because he was in front of women, but others pointed out that it is much more likely that the man is a "Kohen", who are holy priests (or descended from them).

Kohens are prohibited from flying over cemeteries ("A kohen initially was not supposed to approach any dead body, and if he did so he became ritually impure"), which as you can imagine, could be a major problem for travel. According to Haaretz, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, the leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community in Israel, "found a solution to this issue, ruling that wrapping oneself in thick plastic bags while the plane crossed over the cemetery is permissible."



Source: http://gothamist.com/2013/04/11/photo_orthodox_jewish_man_covers_hi.php

Comments

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

OH, I agree that he's going way beyond what you or I would normally see as the requirement. But I just don't see it as show-boating - at least not to the world at large. I doubt very much he cares what anyone else thinks, except his Rabbi, of course.
Hey, if he's happy, and he's not bothering anyone, who cares.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

I consider it show-boating. I cannot say with certainty that it *is* such and such, but it seems to me.

But then again, I consider speaking in tongues at pentacostal churches to be show-boating, so....