A gift from G-D


Every week religious Jews observe Shabbat, the Jewish holy day, and keep its laws and customs. Shabbat begins at nightfall on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday. It starts 15 minutes before sunset on Friday and runs until an hour after sunset on Saturday, so it lasts about 25 hours. God commanded the Jewish People to observe Shabbat and keep it holy as the fourth of the Ten Commandments. The idea of a day of rest comes from the story of the Creation: God rested from creating the universe on the seventh day of that first week, so Jews rest from work on the Shabbat. Jews often call the day Shabbat, which is Hebrew for Sabbath, and which comes from the Hebrew word for rest.


Here is true story about the power of Shabbat and about a Jewish man who tried to book a flight on that Malasia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The travel agent being an ultra-Orthodox Jew refused to book him on that flight to Beijing since it would be traveling on Shabbat. The unnamed travel agent tells his client “Andrew” this: ‘I wish I can give you a day later, but you know I just don’t like flying Jews on Shabbat,’ the travel agent wrote to his client Andrew. In turn Andrew told the agent not to hold the Friday morning flight and he decided to book a flight on Shabbat. He replied to the e-mail saying, ‘I guess I’ll just book [the Saturday flight] myself.’ The travel agent booked the rest of the man’s travel which included flights to Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Melbourne, Australia.


Later that evening, Andrew changed his mind and decided not to fly on Shabbat after all. He thanked the agent for prompting him to consider the obligation not to travel on the Sabbath, writing, “I reconsidered, you are right and I should be more observant. I’ll manage without that day in Kuala [Lumpur].” The travel agent booked the Friday flight and both men put the matter aside. On March 7, Andy successfully flew on Malaysia Airlines flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Exactly 24 hours later, the same flight ended in tragedy, resulting in the presumed deaths of the 239 people onboard. After Shabbat ended on March 8, the travel agent turned on his computer and read the grateful email.


‘Holy God, You sure heard what happened to Malaysian Airlines flight 370,’ the traveler, who only identified himself by his first name of Andy, wrote to the travel agent in an email. ‘I cannot stop thinking about this. This is a true miracle for the books. You are a true life saver.’ ‘I am so happy for you!’ the agent responded. But he saw a larger plan at work in Andy’s close brush with death. ‘Not I am the life saver. God and Shabbat were your life savers. You owe them something,’ he wrote.


This story encourages Sabbath observance in a way that will strike everyone. Telling the story of how one man ultimately decided to not board a plane on Shabbat because his religious travel agent wouldn’t book the ticket for him.


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