Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, was a hero both to Israelis and to Americans. We all see him as the fearless explorer, someone who embodies our idea of courage, who dares to pioneer the limits of human understanding and human capability. But Ilan was not simply the fearless Israeli astronaut. When the space shuttle orbited over Jerusalem and Israel, he said Shema Yisrael: "Hear O Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One." When he was asked before leaving what he most eagerly anticipated from his trip, he replied, "Looking out the window at a heavenly view of Israel and Jerusalem."
Ramon made it clear at every opportunity that he went to outer space not simply as a citizen of the State of Israel, but as a Jew. He recited Kiddush on Friday night. He insisted on eating only kosher food in outer space. As a representative of the Jewish People, he took along the national flag of Israel and a miniature Torah Scroll. He took along a book of Psalms and a picture drawn by a fourteen-year-old boy who was killed in Auschwitz. He told Prime Minister Sharon from his heavenly view, "I think it is very, very important to preserve our historical tradition, and I mean our historical and religious traditions."
But Ilan Ramon was not simply a Jew. He was an Israeli Jew. He was a scientist and a fighter pilot. He fought both in the Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon wars. In 1981, Ramon was one of eight Israeli F-16 pilots who obliterated the French-built Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad in a lightening raid that shocked the world. Ilan volunteered to be in the eighth plane ? the most exposed plane, and therefore the most dangerous.
Ilan explained to his commander, General Yadlin, that he was the child of Holocaust survivors. His mother survived eighteen months of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Many of his mother's relatives perished there. His father was a refugee from Hitler's Germany, who fought in Israel's 1948 War of Independence. Therefore, Ilan wanted to do anything he could do to prevent another Holocaust. This was worth any risk to him.
Ilan Ramon was intent on using his space mission to bridge some of the divide between secular and religious Israelis. His intuitive sense was that a key factor in Jewish unity is to show respect for the traditions that have kept us together for millennia. He said, "We have to find a way to bring our people closer together, to show more patience and understanding. I hope that my eating kosher will send a message of willingness to do so."
Ilan Ramon has left us an important legacy. He went into space as a Jew and as a patriotic Israeli, someone who fought to protect the Jewish homeland; as a fighter pilot who was part of the Israeli Air Force that destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor before it could destroy Israel and the rest of the world. In addition, he fought with all his strength to unite the Jewish people, both those living in Israel and those living in the Diaspora.
His love for the Land of Israel and the people of Israel is exemplified by one of his last requests. In a televised conversation from space during the Columbia mission, Ramon told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, "I call upon every Jew in the world to plant a tree in the Land of Israel during the coming year. I would like to see at least thirteen or fourteen million new trees planted in Israel exactly one year from now, on the anniversary of the launching."
It is significant that Ilan Ramon wanted every Jew in the world to plant a tree in the Land of Israel during the coming year. He did not call upon us to exclude the Biblical heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria.
This is where Ramon differs from those Israeli politicians who are willing to abandon Judea and Samaria, the Temple Mount, and Hebron of the Patriarchs to the enemy in order to give them a Palestinian state. "Territory for peace" means negating Judaism, Zionism and the Land of Israel. This is what Oslo is all about. This is what the Road Map to a Two-State Solution is all about. This is the agenda which, G-d forbid, would lead to the demise of the Jewish State.
Ramon's space luggage included a tiny, wallet-sized Torah Scroll that a boy in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp received from the Rabbi of Amsterdam on the day of his Bar Mitzvah, sixty years ago. That Torah Scroll exploded with Ramon and his fellow astronauts at an altitude of two hundred thousand feet over a Texas town called Palestine.
To Ramon, this Torah Scroll symbolized his dream of a unified people under G-d, with an invincible spirit. "The meaning of this Scroll," he said, "is the ability of the Jewish people to survive everything, including horrible periods, and to go from the darkest days to days of hope and faith in the future."
May G-d give us strength to continue the fight for the realization of Ilan Ramon's dreams. Unfortunately, it is in grief that we have fulfilled Ilan's dream of unity.
Our hearts and prayers are with Ilan Ramon's parents and his wife, Rona, and their four children. May the G-d of Israel comfort them and their children, along with the rest of the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Ilan Ramon will definitely go down in history as an Israeli Jewish hero.
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Ruth Matar is co-chairwoman of the grass-roots activist organization Women for Israel?s Tomorrow (Women in Green). This article was adapted from the Women in Green radio program on Arutz Sheva - Israel National Radio, which can be heard on demand at IsraelNationalNews.com.
Ramon made it clear at every opportunity that he went to outer space not simply as a citizen of the State of Israel, but as a Jew. He recited Kiddush on Friday night. He insisted on eating only kosher food in outer space. As a representative of the Jewish People, he took along the national flag of Israel and a miniature Torah Scroll. He took along a book of Psalms and a picture drawn by a fourteen-year-old boy who was killed in Auschwitz. He told Prime Minister Sharon from his heavenly view, "I think it is very, very important to preserve our historical tradition, and I mean our historical and religious traditions."
But Ilan Ramon was not simply a Jew. He was an Israeli Jew. He was a scientist and a fighter pilot. He fought both in the Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon wars. In 1981, Ramon was one of eight Israeli F-16 pilots who obliterated the French-built Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad in a lightening raid that shocked the world. Ilan volunteered to be in the eighth plane ? the most exposed plane, and therefore the most dangerous.
Ilan explained to his commander, General Yadlin, that he was the child of Holocaust survivors. His mother survived eighteen months of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Many of his mother's relatives perished there. His father was a refugee from Hitler's Germany, who fought in Israel's 1948 War of Independence. Therefore, Ilan wanted to do anything he could do to prevent another Holocaust. This was worth any risk to him.
Ilan Ramon was intent on using his space mission to bridge some of the divide between secular and religious Israelis. His intuitive sense was that a key factor in Jewish unity is to show respect for the traditions that have kept us together for millennia. He said, "We have to find a way to bring our people closer together, to show more patience and understanding. I hope that my eating kosher will send a message of willingness to do so."
Ilan Ramon has left us an important legacy. He went into space as a Jew and as a patriotic Israeli, someone who fought to protect the Jewish homeland; as a fighter pilot who was part of the Israeli Air Force that destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor before it could destroy Israel and the rest of the world. In addition, he fought with all his strength to unite the Jewish people, both those living in Israel and those living in the Diaspora.
His love for the Land of Israel and the people of Israel is exemplified by one of his last requests. In a televised conversation from space during the Columbia mission, Ramon told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, "I call upon every Jew in the world to plant a tree in the Land of Israel during the coming year. I would like to see at least thirteen or fourteen million new trees planted in Israel exactly one year from now, on the anniversary of the launching."
It is significant that Ilan Ramon wanted every Jew in the world to plant a tree in the Land of Israel during the coming year. He did not call upon us to exclude the Biblical heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria.
This is where Ramon differs from those Israeli politicians who are willing to abandon Judea and Samaria, the Temple Mount, and Hebron of the Patriarchs to the enemy in order to give them a Palestinian state. "Territory for peace" means negating Judaism, Zionism and the Land of Israel. This is what Oslo is all about. This is what the Road Map to a Two-State Solution is all about. This is the agenda which, G-d forbid, would lead to the demise of the Jewish State.
Ramon's space luggage included a tiny, wallet-sized Torah Scroll that a boy in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp received from the Rabbi of Amsterdam on the day of his Bar Mitzvah, sixty years ago. That Torah Scroll exploded with Ramon and his fellow astronauts at an altitude of two hundred thousand feet over a Texas town called Palestine.
To Ramon, this Torah Scroll symbolized his dream of a unified people under G-d, with an invincible spirit. "The meaning of this Scroll," he said, "is the ability of the Jewish people to survive everything, including horrible periods, and to go from the darkest days to days of hope and faith in the future."
May G-d give us strength to continue the fight for the realization of Ilan Ramon's dreams. Unfortunately, it is in grief that we have fulfilled Ilan's dream of unity.
Our hearts and prayers are with Ilan Ramon's parents and his wife, Rona, and their four children. May the G-d of Israel comfort them and their children, along with the rest of the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Ilan Ramon will definitely go down in history as an Israeli Jewish hero.
--------------------------------------------------------
Ruth Matar is co-chairwoman of the grass-roots activist organization Women for Israel?s Tomorrow (Women in Green). This article was adapted from the Women in Green radio program on Arutz Sheva - Israel National Radio, which can be heard on demand at IsraelNationalNews.com.