Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, sheer guts plus arrogance; it’s Yiddish and, as Leo Rosten writes, no other word, and no other language, can do it justice. This example is better than a thousand words…

A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each. Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time and as he passed the pretzel stand he would leave her a quarter, but never take a pretzel.

And this went on for more then 3 years. The two of them never spoke. One day as the young man passed the old lady’s stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him.

Without blinking an eye she said:

“They’re 35 cents now.”

The young man replied, “For three years I gave you a quarter without taking a pretzel. Didn’t you realize something?”

To which she snapped, “take, don’t take, I don’t care either way. I’m just telling you that they’re now 35 cents.

What I find strange is that FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver said at a morning news conference that Tefillin are “something that the average person is not going to see very often, if ever.” What are we, in the middle ages?

A plane from New York’s La Guardia Airport was diverted to Philadelphia after a teenage passenger put on a religious item disrupting the flight Thursday morning.

Authorities say, Chautauqua Airlines flight 3079 from LaGuardia to Louisville was diverted to Philadelphia after a 17-year-old male strapped on a “tefillin” for prayer purposes after takeoff.

Sources say a female flight attendant had never seen a tefillin before, which has two small black boxes with black straps attached to them and one box was placed on his head and the other tied to his arm. The attendant became concerned and reported it.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says they were notified of a “disruptive passenger” on the plane and as a result was diverted to Philly.

The plane that departed LaGuardia at 7:25 a.m. landed in Philadelphia at 8:50 a.m. and the teen and his 16-year-old sister were met by Homeland Security and the Philadelphia Police Bomb Squad.

“Per standard procedures, TSA and law enforcement personnel met the flight. The disruptive passenger was interviewed, the plane was swept with negative findings, and the flight is taxiing to the gate,” the TSA.

The commuter plane operated by Chautauqua Airlines under the US Airways name was occupied by 15 passengers who according to sources were unaware of the incident.

No charges have been filed and the plane remains on the ground at Philadelphia International Airport.