Flydubai Flight #1073. Miracles within miracles within miracles:
• The good pilot, the captain, manages to unlock the cockpit door despite suffering stab wounds to the head and bleeding to death.
• The plane endured a drop of 17,000 feet in less than a minute, recovery from which could itself critically damage the airplane.
• The plane lost its rudder. Other pilots have testified that landing a plane without a rudder is highly dangerous and risky. Yet this plane landed without incident, by two other pilots, with no flight preparation no less.
• Many overhead bins opened and luggage flew out. Such an occurrence is a primary cause of airplane injuries, as reported in the IJN just three months ago by Dr. Yehezkel Caine. Yet no injuries have been reported.
• The terrorist pilot had knives or an ax at his disposal. The heroic passengers, led by Yaniv Hiyoun — a plumber by profession — had no restraining tools at their disposal besides headphone wires. Yet no injuries were suffered by the heroic passengers.
• Hiyoun, who “happened” to be seated in front, knew how to pull the plane out of a nosedive since he “happened” to have recently watched a TV show which demonstrated such a scene.
• There “happened” to be two pilots flying as civilians on the plane.
• A dentist “happened” to be on the plane, and as the only doctor on board successfully saved the heroic pilot, despite the fact that dentists do not receive much training in the way of treating major stab wounds.
Due to early holiday deadlines, I write this one day after the incident unfolded. I imagine additional miracles will be revealed as more passengers share testimonies. Even so, by the time this publishes, the hijacking may very well be considered “old news.” So why write?
If we rewind to the beginning of this year, there was a drumbeat of “imminent war” — a phrase regularly bandied about since Jan. 1, 2026. Not for nothing, of course, as the Iran war indeed was declared on March 1. But during January and February, when that was unknown, the constant chatter about potential war generated significant anxiety amongst the Israeli public, understandably so.
During January and February, and when the sirens blared that fateful Shabbat of March 1, however, I found myself remarkably calm, which is not how I felt during previous attacks from Iran. One reason is that we moved last summer and now live in a safer part of the country vis-à-vis Iranian missiles. Another reason, though, is that I had been working on lessening anxiety in the months preceding the war. Perhaps it can be helpful to others to share the two primary methods I have been incorporating toward that goal.
One factor in my effort to maintain calm relates to minimizing my news consumption. It seems ironic to be writing this in a newspaper. Counterintuitively, though, I believe weekly and daily newspapers are an integral part of restoring internal balance and harmony in a world ridden with anxiety.
The news, in its modern-day format of incessant updates and notifications, algorithms and clicks, is a perfect trap for generating anxiety.
Research is increasingly shedding light on this unfortunate reality. Social media and other news outlets, particularly online ones, feed off generating constant content and driving higher click rates. Thus, they frequently are programmed to amplify negative, anxiety-inducing story angles.
This correlates with users/site visitors playing out myriad different kinds of worst-case scenarios, ruminating on what will be, etc.
For many years, and especially since Oct. 7, I spent enormous amounts of time reading multiple news sites, multiple times a day. Some of what I read was important, but much of it I didn’t need to know. Most important, virtually none of it was something I needed to know right now. Such as, right in the middle of writing my report. Or, right in the middle of the short time I had to play with my kids.
As in the pre-internet days, I decided to try and limit my news consumption to pre-work hours and post-kids’ bedtime hours. To aid the effort, I removed the internet from my phone, apart from active wartime, during which I reinstall it.
This did wonders.
Plus, I locked myself out of my social media accounts and my wife changed the password. (I still have Gmail, Whatsapp, and the ability to use Google search).
Even my IJN reading became more meaningful. I noticed that just about everything I read about in the IJN would have made no extra difference had I read about it a couple days earlier.
Don’t be fooled, I believe there is significant importance to being informed and connected to the news, for numerous reasons. However, given human beings’ finite cognitive and emotional capacities, I find that reading news which has been curated by a trusted editorial team is valuable. Regardless, the news generally need not be the urgent matter constantly demanding our attention. Taken together, these steps largely displaced a significant source of anxiety in my life.
The second factor is not actually primarily about maintaining calm, but about increasing faith. Lower anxiety is simply a beneficial outcome of this core aim.
As part of a musar group I participate in, led by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, we have spent the past two years working on increasing our awareness of G-d, be it through nature, history, current events or personal experiences.
It is impossible to convey in writing the specifics of the musar practices honed through regular, in-person meetings, but the core idea of one practice is this: meditate about something which generates within me a sense of G-d’s presence.
For me, one imagery I repeatedly come back to during this practice was what happened on Friday morning, June 13, 2025, when I came downstairs, looked at the news and abruptly told my wife and kids to stop heading out the door since school was canceled. Israel had pulled off a preemptive attack as miraculous as the opening act of the Six Day War of 1967. As I wrote at that time, in contrast to the worry and concern of the Diaspora over Israel’s attack on Iran, the primary feeling in Israel during that war was one of relief.
Having meditated last January and February on the Divine Providence that guided the June, 2025 preemptive attack on Iran — most radically, covert Israeli military bases on Iranian soil! — I felt secure despite the imminent possibility of renewed war.
So what does all this have to do with the miracle of Flydubai 1073? It should not fade into the background. Imagine if the hijacking succeeded, G-d forbid. The worst-case scenario would be the plane flying into a Tel Aviv skyscraper in an imitation of 9/11. The best-case scenario would be the plane crashing in the desert, killing all on board and dealing a heavy blow to the Abraham Accords, too.
In either scenario, the world would go through another life-changing, before/after event the likes of which everyone over age six would remember exactly where they were when they heard the news. Renewed, intense warfare would be a real possibility. Our holidays of joy, Sukkot and Simchat Torah, would be devastated once again.
No, imagine this: Through heroic actions of extraordinary passengers we witness an epic miracle.
For us, Flydubai 1073 ought to remain a life-changing before/after event which everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news.
One way to do this is through a daily meditation, recalling the event and its display of Divine Providence. For those who pray daily, the Shema or Amida prayers are perfect times to dedicate 20 seconds to this endeavor.
The timing of the miracle of flight 1073 ought not to be forgotten, either. It occurred on Sukkot, the holiday on which we leave our sturdy, permanent homes and live in fragile, outdoor huts, which commemorate the Divine protection provided to the Jewish nation in the Sinai desert after its Exodus from Egypt.
Three years ago, Simchat Torah was marred by the Hamas terrorist rampage. We were subject to severe Divine judgement. Just as we struggle to comprehend — in a good sense — the unprecedented miracle of this failed hijacking, we struggle to comprehend how the Simchat Torah attacks happened. A year ago, all remaining living hostages were released on Hoshana Rabba (the eve of Simchat Torah, and traditionally regarded as the final day for appealing Yom Kippur’s judgement). We struggle to comprehend the hostages’ suffering and their release alike.
All of these events defy conventional norms. All were orchestrated by G-d.
My neighbor and I were talking and figured out something eerie. The flight number was 1073.
10.7 (Oct. 7, 2023) + 3 years.
© IJN 2026
