Ritual Seen in Ft Lauderdale Airport

Hi Al,

What you saw was someone reciting his weekday morning prayers while wearing tefillin. Here is an explanation of tefillin, also sometimes called phyllacteries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin

The boxes have the central prayer in Judaism, the Shema, inside them on parchment. The Shema has the words of Deuteronomy 6, which mention binding the words as a sign on the hand, and reciting them when you’re on your way.

Maybe the man was a rabbi, or maybe just an observant Jew who prays every day in the morning, afternoon and evening wherever he happens to be. He ought to have been facing east, not in four directions, and might have moved forward and back for certain prayers.

It was good that you didn’t interrupt him while he was praying, but I’ll bet he would have answered your questions about what he was doing afterward, when he was stowing his tallit (prayer shawl, also said tallis) and tefillin.

Hope that’s helpful. It’s nice to feel connected to someone because you share a heritage with them.