What is a Tefillin?

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - A teenager strapping a tefillin, or Jewish ritual prayer box, to his head and arm caused a flight enroute to Louisville, Ky., to be diverted to Philadelphia International airport Thursday morning.

The tefillin are two small cube-shaped, leather boxes painted black. They are attached to black leather straps which are used to tie the boxes to the observant's head and arm. The boxes contain scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the first books of the Bible and are worn by observant Jewish men during weekday morning prayers, but not on the Sabbath or on most Jewish holidays.

They are worn as reminders of God and of the obligation to follow Jewish law during daily life.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library boys are trained to start wearing tefillin one to two months before their thirteenth birthday and putting on the tefillin is the first mitzvah, or Jewish law, assumed by a Jewish male upon his Bar Mitzvah.

The use of the tefillin is believed to stem from the Torah. Judaism 101 noted that Deuteronomy 6:8 states, "Bind [the words that I command you today] as a sign on your arm, and they shall be ornaments between your eyes."

The tefillin are removed at the conclusion of the morning prayer services.

Tefillin are also called phylacteries.

During the incident on board the plane a stewardess working USA Airways Express Flight 3079 did not recognize the item, became concerned and alerted the pilot. The pilot landed the plane and reported that a man with a device with "wires" on the plane, according to Philly.com .

The 17-year-old boy and his sister were removed from the plane and when they explained what they were doing the police determined that they were not a threat. Philly.com reported that the flight, which departed from New York's LaGuardia Airport continued to Louisville, though the brother and sister stayed behind and waited for relatives to pick them up.

Rabbi Ira Stone from Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel explained to MyFox Philly what a tefillin is and how it may have caused confusion on the plane.

"They're called tefillin, the Hebrew plural for the word filla, which means prayer," Stone said. "They contain within them some parchments that contain words from the holy scriptures."