So, do the Rabbis think that women equal sin..is that why they ask for a woman free flight? I guess all religion figures have same mentality...jews, muslims...same but in different outfits..

I pity the poor things, they never knew nor ever will know what a woman is. And ELAL will bend everytime someone in the position of influence will demand something bizzare and shovinistic like this. Well done Ynet, the public must know about this...

Can someone tell me what this has to to with Judaism? This is just proof that the ultra are so removed from our faith that it brings up the question: are they still Jewish? Not in my mind.

No problem with El Al, a private company catering to private individuals, one side has goods for sale, the other side has money to purchase. I do not wish to use any abusive language against these people although many words and terms come to mind and are on the tip of my tongue , by doing so I might just lower myself to their level. Suffice to say that I hold them in the deepest contempt.

Well said, Jasmine (#1).

They're probably afraid the 92-year-old rabbi will try to join the Mile High Club with one of the stewardesses and not make it through the flight. Maybe it's better like this for everyone involved...

are dirty, unapproachable,not fit to deal with,held in contempt.How disgusting and inhuman, perverted twisted and primitive are the minds that the great creator meted out to these, his creations.

If these rabbis are so determined not to associate with women, where do they expect more followers to come from? Seems if we wait a few years, the sect will die out.

I am a normal man. I control my sexual urges every minute of every day, with no difficulty. Why are these supposedly righteous men so weak? Shame on this religion that despises half of human beings!

The article didn't make clear if the flight would still have normal passengers in coach class. Will they too be subjected to this ridiculous cancellation of movies and covering of the GPS screens? If so, I sure hope they get compensated, and if they aren't, I wouldn't blame them for never flying El Al again...

Ihave no problem with the rabbis rideing babe free,Honestly with allthe headcutting and killing going on i think we have bigger fish to fry.

If the Pope would have statues of Jesus all over the plane, no one would say a word. However, when it comes to Rabbis or Jewish people there is always something negative to say about them. My fellow Jews should be ashamed of themselves!!!!!!

In contemplating if I should even submit an opinion to this article, I realized that I must, the reason being that I am very knowledgeable both in Jewish Halacha (Jewish Laws) and Chasidic ideology and its customs. What I read in your article is in contradiction of Jewish Halacha, and goes against both orthodox and Chasidic ideologies, and thus I must voice my utter ejection of such travesty if indeed it was done at the behest of the Rabbis. Chasidic ideology is based upon its leadership, which the different sects derive their identity from the followers of a certain Rabbi, such as the Gerrer Rebbie followers are known as Gerrer Chasidim. Each sect has their own Rabbie that they identify with such as Satmer, Lubabvitch, Skver, Viznitz, and so forth, the single issue that they all have in common is, the Rabbie leads by example and not by issuing religious edicts, such edicts are the purview of the chosen rabbinical authority from that sect. To spend the enormous sums of money to avoid seeing any member of the female sex, is Halachicly proscribed, as it is an abuse of community property. And portrays a disregard of the funds collected ostensibly for public charity purposes and used for a very selfish personal reason. The same objective could have been accomplished by simply curtaining off the immediate area where the Rabbis were sitting, just as is done in all Chasidic public affairs, weddings, bar mitzvahs, charitable dinners, and the like, to go for the purpose of collecting charity monies from the public and showing their utter contempt for the value of Charity is unsupported by any sense of propriety and just denigrates the stature of the value placed upon their leaders.

what an excellent PR campaign for the Ultra-Orthodox: spending a whack of money to fly two "righteous" men to the States to raise funds. One would think that enough funds can be saved by not buying out the entire first class cabin and downgrading the righteous to the economy...I am sure all of us in Toronto are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the "righteous" by a private jet...The only winners in this game so it seems are the stewardesses of EL AL who are spared the pain of having to be in the company of two cranky 90 y.o. loons...

All first calss seats were bought? At 6-8 seats (depending on the plane) and about $7000 a ticket, who pays for the flight? Probably us.

Can't they have a section in a plane allocated just to them? On an ElAl flight I was on to London, an ultra religious guy made such a fuss about a female passenger having a seat next to him (and she was with her boyfriend) that the cabin crew politely asked her to change seats with a male passenger. Her boyfriend was livid, and stood up and said it was about time they had a separate section for the religious. Why should he and his girlfriend be separated on the flight? Wouldn't this be a good idea? How awful to fly all those hours to the States in 1st Class and not watch a film for distraction.

How much did those Gerrer meshugaim pay? How many first class seats are there? 20? They cost at least 5,000 dollars a piece (less?) so El Al will gladly remove women & films to fill up their coffers.

These leading Torah sages live their lives on a very strict standard. They do not not demand of others what they do not do themselves--they "Walk the Talk." They are entitled to special consideration--and it is also a solid business decision for El-Al.

So they are going to raise money for Jewish students, and spending money to buy out the entire first class section? I wouldn't contribute to a charity with priorities like that.

I dont get it, I am secular, but why does it bother any of you?? Let them live their life. Ever hear of live & let live?? You want them to not bother us, but why is it OK for you to make nasty comments about them, when they are following atradition that my grandparents and most liley yours adhered to as well???? Jason

I am shocked that so many talkbacks have been so harsh on the Rabbis. But then again I am reading talkbacks on Ynetnews which is so left-wing that anything religious is looked down upon. I am Baal Teshuva which is moving toward Orthodox observance. I fully understand the reason the Rabbis would like a seperation from women. Most posts here are ignorant as to what Judaisms view toward women is. This is not about unequal treatment, being anti-woman, keeping women down, etc. It is more about the ability to keep ones mind on prayer instead of thinking about the cute woman sitting next to you. I have been at Reform shuls where women try to talk to me and distract me while davening. This is not the fault of the women, but it is only natural in a world where sex and other urges distract you. Rabbis should have a higher level of Kevanna {Intention} in their prayers. I am sure that this women-free flight is to keep their thoughts free from women and sex. There is no hatred of women, just building a wall to prevent the men from being distracted.

Hooters Airlines!!!!

I do not deny that the "fear" of sexual urges is part of it but the main component of this primitive ideaology is that women are"unclean". I want to say so much about this but I do not really want to be abusive and they probably would refrain from publishing it anyway.

What a disgrace - this makes me totally ashamed to be Jewish. And how much did this cost - 10's of thousands of dollars - could not have the money be better spent - don't you have people (Jews) starving in Israel .

I think it's truly amazing how these rabbis are able to identify only with their souls and make it an integral part of their being not to want to let any sights of the secular immoral world in. the world today is at such a low level identifying ONLY with their bodies and physical desires that not one person in this talkback was able to respect the level of sanctity that these sages are on. they dont have any desires in the world other than what G-d laid down for them in the torah. shame on you people that you can't even fathom of getting out of the box IM A SOUL NOT A BODY

If the Rabbis are ultimate deciders in Jewish law, then they cant isolate themselves from the world like this. maybe this is why they waste their energy protecting child killing yeshiva students

Big Deal, El-Al probably gave them a sweet deal on the tickets, BTw, we are talking about maybe 6-8 seats, so why is everyone acting like a bunch of pussies. Let El al and the rabbis do what they want!

I am a wonderful funny person to sit next to. Boy is it your loss. j Must have been a boring flight. :P

to El Al. You may have made a few bucks here but you will lose out in the long term. I know I am only one person but I also know that many others think the same as me. I am a frequent traveller and I have not flown with El Al for many years only because of the in flight demands and behaviour of the Haredim. I am a very very proud Israel and very proud of the fact that we have such a safe and reliable world class airline, but use it I shall not and here are the reasons. They gather at the back of the plane by the toilets to pray and block your access and get annoyed if you even say excuse me. They have dozens of screaming kids. They are always dissatisafied with something and complaining. Once I had one sitting beside me who was not able to accept the food because it was not "kosher" enough for him. He proceeded to take a chicken leg out of his jacket pocket wrapped in a piece of plastic and started to chew on it, when he was finished he stuck the bone in the back of the seat. Most unpleasant experience. I could go on. I am genuinely very sorry to say that I have been and will continue to be unable to patronize out national airline.