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Overcast Waylaid in a war zone
FAA flight ban strands Beth Emeth Synagogue leader and his family in Israel
Rabbi Elliot Skiddell and his wife, Julie, of Beth Emeth Synagogue in Rockville Centre, were visiting their children in Israel last week. They lived in Israel for many years, and they usually go every July to reconnect with family and friends. This year’s trip included a rabbinic mission with the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, which is headed by Rabbi Skiddell.
The trip turned out to be four days longer than they planned, thanks to the Federal Aviation Administration’s temporary ban on all U.S. flights to and from Israel, issued not long after a rocket landed a mile away from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on July 22.
Two of the Skiddells’ three children still live in Israel: one of their daughters is a student at Tel Aviv University, and their son is on active duty in the Israeli Defense Forces.
“Last time we heard from him [was] yesterday afternoon,” Rabbi Skiddell said on Tuesday. “He was OK; he’s fine. We just keep hoping and praying that they all stay safe.”
The Skiddells hoped to have dinner with their children on the night of July 22 and fly back to the U.S. the next day. Their son could not come because he was deployed.
“Just as we were getting ready to go out and have dinner, we were all packed and ready, and the phone rang,” the rabbi said. It was Delta Airlines, informing them that their flight had been canceled, and they had been rebooked on a KLM flight going to Amsterdam.
“Fifteen minutes later we got a message from Delta and KLM that the European airlines were following the lead of the American airlines and also canceling flights,” Skiddell said. “So that meant we couldn’t get out on KLM. We tried to get a flight on El Al, because Israeli airlines kept flying, but we weren’t the only ones with that bright idea.”
The Skiddells kept checking airlines, and their travel agent tried to find them a flight out, but nothing was available. “My wife is a trouper,” Skiddell said. “She found an outlet through her Facebook posts, and writing day by day what she was going through and what she was experiencing.”
