Flying rabbis blowing prayers in the wind

Here is one way of fighting Swine flu (oh sorry, I mean "Mexico flu" or H1N1, if you are offended by swine):

A group of rabbis and Jewish mystics have taken to the skies over Israel, praying and blowing ceremonial horns in a plane to ward off swine flu.

About 50 religious leaders circled over the country on Monday, chanting prayers and blowing horns, called shofars.

The flight's aim was "to stop the pandemic so people will stop dying from it," Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri was quoted as saying in Yedioth Aharanot newspaper.

No seriously. They spent money on this prayer flight? I hope they don't end up with a shortage of flu vaccine. But more importantly, do they realize that these prayers will be carried away via atmospheric currents - and may end up precipitating over the Mediterranean Ocean - protecting only a few fish? Perhaps, they could have stayed on the ground and used fans (not the adoring kind) and loud speakers to spread the prayer and cleanse the place of H1N1 - at the same time saving the money for something that actually works - vaccines.

By the way, this flying bit is still way less insane than what Marianne Williamson had suggested in the Huffington Post.

Read the full story here. Also see this short video of these flying Rabbis (by the way, why does one need an announcement telephone for a prayer? Shouldn't it be medium free? Just asking...).