Wait a second, Jeff.

Don’t you mean to say that El Al is an Israeli airline — in fact, the State of Israel’s flag carrier air line?

Yes, that is true.

But El Al is also a Jewish airline.

OK, you will ask. So, how does an airline become a Jewish airline?

Simple.

When it acts in a Jewish way.

Here is what happened.

The Israeli government had been planning to indefinitely imprison or deport tens of thousands of 38,000 African refugees.

Fearing that the destinations could be Rwanda, or a similarly dangerous African country, a group of El Al pilots stated they would not participate in the deportations.

The campaign was initiated by the NGO Zazim Community Action.

But, you need to read the words of some of the El Al pilots.

Ido Elad wrote on Facebook: “I have joined many of my best friends by declaring that I will not fly refugees to their deaths. I will not be a partner to this barbarism.”

Yoel Piterbarg wrote on Facebook:

The State of Israel is populated mainly by Jews who were in their distant and recent past refugees in countries [around] the world. Most of them went through the Holocaust, many were forcibly expelled from their countries, and many emigrated voluntarily to better their situation to better countries that agreed to accept and care for them.

It is precisely us, the Jews, who must be attentive, empathic, moral and public opinion leaders in the world to deal with the immigration of refugees who suffered and suffer in their countries of origin.

The refugees should remain and be treated as human beings – just as the Jews used to be refugees and wanted to be treated like human beings and not thrown out. Martin Luther King said that the terrible things in history happened not because of the bad people who committed them, but because of the ‘good people’ who were silent when it happened.

A third El Al pilot, Shaul Betzer, also declared on Facebook that he would not assist the government in the pending deportations.

“There is no way that I, as part of a flight crew, will participate in taking refugees/asylum seekers to a destination where their chances of surviving are minuscule,” he wrote.

Raluca Gena, the CEO of Zazim Community Action, said that since the campaign began 10 days ago, over 7,500 concerned Israeli citizens have sent personal appeals to the Israel Aircraft Association, the Israeli Pilots Association and the companies that provide the ground services at Ben-Gurion Airport for international flights.

So, what makes all of this Jewish?

Reach back, now, to the first chapter of the biblical book of Exodus.

Pharaoh decreed that death for Israelite children, and he gave the genocidal order to a pair of midwives named Shifrah and Puah.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shifrah and the other Puah, ‘When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birth stool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live. (Exodus 1: 15-16).

But these are midwives, and their profession is to enable birth, not to promote death.  “The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live” (Exodus 1: 17).

Several medieval commentators, such as RASHI and Ibn Ezra, teach that they did more than simply refusing to kill the children; they made them live by providing them with food and water. They were active, even aggressive redeemers.

Shifra and Puah were among the greatest inventors in human history. And what was their invention?

A little thing called civil disobedience. Shifrah and Puah are the “grandmothers” of Thoreau and Gandhi and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Notice how one of the El Al pilots, Yoel Piterbarg, relied on Dr. King as his moral role model.

That is how El Al transcended being simply an Israeli airline.

This is how El Al became a Jewish airline. By living Jewish values — in a daring, public way.

Not only Jewish values — El Al lived out the prophetic imperative.

You know how Jews chant the haftarah, the prophetic readings, in synagogue on Shabbat morning?

The melody is beautiful and haunting.

So, here’s an idea for this Shabbat morning.

Take those testimonies of the El Al pilots — and chant them according to the ancient prophetic melodies.

You can do it.

Amos and Isaiah would be proud.

There is only one way to describe what those El Al pilots decided to do.

It was the moral upgrade — to first class. 

It is at times like these that I am proud to be a Jew. And it is at times like these that I am proud to be a Zionist.