Generous donation in New York: Orthodox Anonymous pays for plane tickets to Israel for 250 reservists

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300,000 – that is the number of reservists that the Israeli Ministry of Defense called up shortly after the deadly attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists. Since then, thousands of soldiers from all over the world have traveled to Israel to fight terror together.

Numerous soldiers from the US were also called up. At the airport in New York, one man seemed particularly concerned about the reservists who would reach fiercely contested Israel on Monday. He quickly bought plane tickets for all the soldiers to Tel Aviv. The only condition: they had to show him the draft announcement from the Israel Defense Forces.

The Jewish man, who wishes to remain anonymous, ultimately paid for about 250 plane tickets. And this from an aircraft that can accommodate 282 passengers. The New York Post, among others, reports this.

Many want to pay for plane tickets for reservists

Avi Meyer, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, also wrote about the incident on X, formerly Twitter. The generous donor stood at the ticket counter of the Israeli airline El Al on Monday and started talking to several soldiers. Meyer bases his work on the stories of an El Al crew member.

According to airline spokeswoman Ofri Rimoni, the man is not an isolated person. “There are a lot of people who come to our counters at JFK and ask to buy tickets for soldiers,” Rimoni told the newspaper. It’s “great” that Americans are coming to the airport to help buy tickets.

The case caused a stir on social media. While some users raved about the man’s generosity, the case sparked criticism from others. Some complained that the man pays for the struggles of others, but does not go to war himself.

The donor’s religious orientation calls for criticism

It also sparked criticism from some users that the donor was a so-called charedi, an ultra-Orthodox Jew. The charedi tend to have very traditional practices, including gender segregation in public. In addition, they often study for long periods of time in Torah schools to avoid being drafted into military service. In this way, they would come into contact with women who also perform military service in Israel and, it is feared, could succumb to worldly temptations.

Because not every reservist can benefit from such a generous donation, the El Al airline tries to keep flight prices for reservists affordable. In addition to El Al, Israeli airlines such as Israir Airlines and Arkia also offer additional flights to Israel from cities around the world. (dzc)

Source: Blick