Snow problem? No problem

With their plane delayed, 500 stranded El Al passengers in JFK airport are eating well thanks to the generosity of community members in Far Rockaway and the Five Towns.

Trouble began for passengers on the 002 El Al flight to Israel almost immediately after they boarded their plane at 7 p.m last night. A heavy snowstorm blanketed the east coast, grounding air traffic to a standstill. The flight was continuously delayed and when El Al finally decided to cancel the flight, the airport had closed and the runway had iced over. Passengers were forced to stay on the airplane until three a.m. By the time passengers managed to disembark, they, along with another El Al flight that had been delayed, faced another hurdle.

“You can't get kosher food at four in the morning,” said Roberta Bauer of Far Rockaway who was traveling with her husband.

As the night turned to day, El Al attempted to get sandwiches to the passengers but the truck got snowed in.

It had been a particularly long night for Rabbi Benzion Klatzko. Leaving Monsey at six on Sunday night to make his 11 p.m. flight, Rabbi Klatzko made it to the airport at about the same time the passengers of El Al flight 002 were allowed off the plane. Rabbi Klatzko, the national director of outreach for the Wolfson Foundation, was running a trip for unaffiliated Jewish college students. Altogether over 200 of the passengers were visiting Israel as part of Birthright and Aish HaTorah programs. The delays and lack of food were having an effect on the trip participants.

“It was pretty brutal and some of these kids were even speaking about pulling out of the trip,” Rabbi Klatzko explained.