Many years ago, when airplane travel was still relatively new and exciting, people really would drive out to an airport just to watch the planes take off and land! It may sound a bit strange now but if you’re skeptical, just ask your parents or grandparents. Even today, an airport can be a great indoor venue for a shidduch date, with many of the positive aspects we’ve already discussed.
It’s indoors, warm, free of charge, with tons of people around so there’s absolutely no problem at all with yichud. In fact, those people can provide you with endless topics of conversation.
Moishy: “Hey! For just a second, I thought that lady there was my Aunty Baila!”
Shaindy: “Which lady?”
Moishy: (pointing) “See, that one over there with the big blonde shaitel, schlepping that blue suitcase on wheels. But nah, it can’t be her. Aunty Baila hasn’t left Flatbush, or gone more than a block from her house, in over ten years!”
Shaindy: She really hasn’t? Why not?
Moishy: Apparently she doesn’t like crowds.
Shaindy: There’s a name for that kind of thing. Um, what is it? Claustrophobia?
Moishy: I think it’s called agoraphobia, a fear of being in crowded, public places.”
Shaindy: You mean like an airport?
Moishy: Exactly!
Airports offer many amenities such as coffee shops. Even better, Chabad centers can be found in many airports where you can get coffee for free or a small donation.
While enjoying your virtually free coffee, you can trade best/worst/interesting airline travel stories with each other.
Moishy: I once heard a story about these yeshiva guys in Israel, sitting around feeling kind of homesick for things in Brooklyn, especially Dougie’s Chicken Wings. So one guy gets an idea: ‘Let’s all chip in like a hundred bucks and one of us will fly to New York, buy enough wings for all of us and come right back!”
Shaindy: “And that’s what he did?”
Moishy: “That’s what I heard!”
Shaindy: “Well, when I was in sem, I heard a story about a girl whose wedding was to be in Eretz Yisroel, but whose brother was learning in yeshiva in New York. He was a real masmid type and didn’t want to miss his learning so he flew to Ben Gurion Airport, took a cab straight to the wedding hall in Yerushalayim, was included in all the family photos, ate the meal, danced with the chassen, and as soon as the bentching ended, he took another cab straight to the airport and flew right back to New York. He didn’t even spend one night in Eretz Yisroel!”
Moishy: “Wow, that really is a masmid!”
Now that Shaindy’s brought up the subject of weddings and if things are going well, Moishy could continue the topic from there. But if not, he can simply look out of the window at the next jet taking off and wish he was on it, no matter where in the world it was headed.
