Ilan as the first Israeli in space held a special place in the hearts of many Jews. We learned first hand how friendly and modest he was when we interviewed him for the Rosh Hashana 2001 issue of Being Jewish. You can read that interview online at www.beingjewish.org/magazine/fall2001/ article3.html. 

Below, we offer a few pieces in his honor. May the memory of him and his six colleagues be a blessing.  

Ilan’s email from space to Moshe Katzav, President of Israel: 
Dear Mr. President, 

It’s an honor and a great privilege for me to write you this letter from space.As you probably know, I blasted off to space about ten days ago on board Space Shuttle Columbia,and by that got lucky to be the first Israeli in space. 

During the last four and a half years I have been in training for this mission, and after a few delays we finally made it. 

As a lot of my fellow astronauts at NASA told me, it was worth the wait. The experience of being in space is something that no words can really describe and although we work 18 hours a day, we have a lot of fun and extraordinary and exciting time. 

This morning — Saturday, January 26 — we flew over Israel, and although it wasn’t the first pass, it was the best. 

From space I could easily spot Jerusalem and while looking at Jerusalem our capital I prayed just one short prayer — "Shema Israel Adonai Elohenou Adonai Echad" (Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One). 

I believe, as I said a few times earlier, that we have in Israel the best people with phenomenal abilities, and it takes only the right leadership to lead the people of Israel to reach the sky! 

Mr. President, if you would find it appropriate, please convey my deep appreciation to all Israel’s citizens, and let them know that I am honored to be their first representative ever in space. In our mission we have a variety of international scientific experiments and scientists, including scientists from Arab states. We are all working this mission for the benefit of all mankind, and from space our world looks as one unity with no borders. So let me call from up here in space — let’s work our way for peace and better life for everyone on Earth. 

With that I thank you, Mr. President, and send you my best blessing for a long and healthy life — to you and all your family. Ilan Ramon, Space Shuttle Columbia, day 12 in space.

An open letter from author Naomi Ragen: 

Dear Mrs. Ramon and family: 

It has taken me several days to understand what I want to say about Ilan Ramon. 

Beyond the traditional role of Western hero — the adventuring astronaut who embodies the Western world’s idea of courage, someone who dares to pioneer the limits of human understanding and human capability — there was something more. It is that "more" that has been so hard to define. 

But finally, I think I do understand. The Jewish people sent Ilan Ramon as their representative, to join hands with the world in exploring a new frontier for the betterment and enlightenment of mankind. Despite the Holocaust, in which the Jewish people were separated out, vilified, brutalized, and condemned, with Ilan, we Jews reached out to the world, to our fellow men, wanting so much to be part of the striving towards common good. 

Whatever the distances between ourselves in Israel and our Jewish brethren abroad, every Jew knew Ilan Ramon represented him, or her. And he made us all so very proud. 

He wasn’t religious, but he asked for kosher food. He asked a Rabbi what time the Sabbath would come in and go out in space. He brought a Torah scroll, and the picture of a young Holocaust victim, who could only stare behind electrified fences at the stars. He went into space as a Jew and as an Israeli, someone who fought to protect the Jewish homeland; a pilot who was part of the Jewish air force that destroyed Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor, before it could destroy us, and the rest of the world. And in so doing, he united every Jew, reminding us all of our shared culture, our history, those things which connect us. And in so doing, he reached out the hand of our people towards mankind for the good. 

The Jews of Israel have suffered indescribable losses. After two years of Intifada, that have brought the Jewish people once again face to face with what is worst in the human race — the instinct to kill and be killed, the sickening lies of hate-filled propaganda — Ilan Ramon managed to lift up our minds and hearts and to carry them with him as he flew toward heaven.  May God grant him a heavenly reward for sanctifying the Jewish people, and the name of God. 

Naomi Ragen 

This letter is copyrighted 2003 by Naomi Ragen and is reprinted with her permisssion. Naomi lives in Israel and invites you to visit her website, www.NaomiRagen.com, and to subscribe to her mailing list by sending an empty email to naomiragen-on@mail-list.com.

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