Colonel Ilan Ramon --- Israeli Hero
It is often said that heroes come in many forms. Some battle with the forces of good and evil. Others personify the spirit of everything we believe in as a people, a nation or as individuals. Some are political leaders, community leaders, teachers or rabbis. All heroes have one quality, which sets them apart from the rest of us: they are respected and admired for their achievements. Colonel Ilan Ramon was one such Israeli hero and he will be remembered for his heroism not only as the first Israeli astronaut in space but also for his patriotism, his IAF career and his Jewish pride. Col. Ramon brought with him into space: a Kiddush cup, a mezuzah, Book of Psalms, Chumash, a picture drawn by 14 year old Peter Ginz who was murdered in Auschwitz Death camp in 1944. He also ordered Kosher food. He told the Israeli public and the Jewish world it was "to emphasizeunity of the Jewish people and Jewish communities abroad."
Glossary
English / Hebrew / English / Hebrewpersonify / להאניש / Chumash / חומש (תורה)
sets them apart / מבדיל, מבחין / emphasize / להדגיש
, Book of Psalms / ספר תהילים / unity / אחדות
A Quote
"I know my flight is very symbolic for the people of Israel, especially the survivors, the Holocaust survivors," Mr. Ramon said. "Because I was born in Israel, many people will see this as a dream that is come true." "There is no better place to emphasize the unity of people in the world than flying in space. We are all the same people, we are all human beings, and I believe that most of us, almost all of us, are good people," he said.
emphasize – להדגיש unity - אחדות
Timeline of the life of Col. Ilan Ramon.
- 1954 Born on June 24,1954 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
- 1972 Graduates from high school.
- 1973 Serves in Yom Kippur war in combat unit.
- 1978 Marries Rona
- 1979 Graduates from Israeli Air Force basic training in A4 training and operations.
- 1980 IAF F16 Squadron
- 1981 One of 8 F16 fighter pilots who attack the nuclear plant in Iraq
- 1983 Deputy Squadron Commander B. F16 Division
- 1988 B.Sc. in electronics and computer engineering from Tel Aviv University
- 1988 -90 Deputy Squadron Commander A F4 Platoon Division.
- 1990 Completes commander's course with IAF
- 1991 Is appointed commander of IAF F16 Squadron.
- 1994 Is promoted to Colonel in IAF
- 1997 Asks to join the United States Astronaut program in NASA.
- 1998 Begins basic training to become the first Israeli astronaut in space.
- 2003 U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia blasts off into space with Col. Ilan Ramon aboard along with six other astronauts.
- 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia crashes and blows up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere everyone is killed including Ramon. He was 48 years old.
Interesting Facts:
- First Israeli astronaut in space.
- Hours logged in flight: 2000 flight hours in F16; over 3000 flight hours in A4 Mirage fighter planes.
- Leaves behind his parents, wife and four children: Assaf, 15; David, 10; Noa, 5 and Tal 3.
Israeli astronaut to carry Holocaust art into space
ABC News Online January 13, 2003
When Israel's first astronaut, Colonel Ilan Ramon, lifts off for space aboard the US space shuttle Columbia on Thursday, he will carry a pencil sketch of earth, as seen from the moon, drawn by a 14-year-old boy who died in the Holocaust.
Mr Ramon, whose mother survived Auschwitz, the same Nazi concentration camp where the young artist, Peter Ginz of Prague, was killed in 1944, sees his flight as the fulfillment of many people's dreams.
"I know my flight is very symbolic for the people of Israel, especially the survivors, the Holocaust survivors," Mr Ramon said.
"Because I was born in Israel, many people will see this as a dream that is come true."
Mr Ramon and six US astronauts will be under heavy guard until liftoff. The launch time will not be announced until Wednesday as an additional security measure.
Mr Ramon began training for this 16-day science flight almost three years ago, when prospects of Middle East peace seemed much brighter.
Despite the collapse of peace talks and the escalation of violence, 48-year-old Mr Ramon, an Air Force colonel, is still optimistic about the meaning of his flight.
"There is no better place to emphasize the unity of people in the world than flying in space. We are all the same people, we are all human beings, and I believe that most of us, almost all of us, are good people," he said.
Ramon is the first Israeli astronaut but will not be the first Jew in space. That was Judith Resnick, who later died aboard the Challenger, but made her first flight in 1984. Other American Jews have flown since them, some making small commemorations of their heritage while in orbit.
Mr Ramon is garnering far more attention as an Israeli and the son of a Holocaust survivor. Although he is not religious, he asked to take the first Kosher food into space - NASA found an Illinois company that vacuum packs Kosher products for hikers and campers - and he will also observe the Jewish Sabbath with ritual prayer, if time permits.
A debate has arisen among some rabbis over just how to mark the Sabbath in space, since astronauts, speeding around the planet at over 8 kilometers per second, see the sun set every 90 minutes, marking the start of another day, according to Jewish traditions. By that reckoning there would be at least two Sabbaths in every 24-hour period. Ramon is expected to rely on Mission Control's clock.
Security is the real concern for Mr Ramon's flight, however. Since the September 11 attacks on America, Cape Canaveral has bristled with warships, fighter jets, missile launchers and commandos for every shuttle launch. Small aircraft that wander into a vast no-fly zone around the launch pad are quickly intercepted by F-15s. Though no specific threat has emerged against Mr Ramon or the shuttle mission, NASA acknowledges that an Israeli astronaut sitting on a US shuttle loaded with 2.273 million litres of rocket fuel could make a target. "I think that NASA security is doing everything needed. I feel great, I think everyone feels safe," said Mr Ramon.
symbolismn.
- Representing things by means of symbols or of giving symbolic meanings or importance to objects, events, or relationships.
- A system of symbols or representations.
- A symbolic meaning or representation.
A tribute to Ilan Ramon's legacy
Caroline Glick
February 2, 2003 Jerusalem Post
In 1981, IAF Col. Ilan Ramon flew one of the F-16 jets that blew up the Iraqi nuclear reactor in Osirak. In so doing he saved the country and perhaps the entire world from a nuclear holocaust.
For the past 16 days, as Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon again saved us.
This time he was not armed with a payload of bombs. This time Ramon set off for outer space on the Columbia space shuttle, armed with a picture of the Earth as seen from the moon drawn by a Jewish boy in Theresienstadt concentration camp, a Torah scroll from Bergen Belsen, a microfiche copy of the Bible, the national flag, a kiddush cup, and the dreams and hopes of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
Ramon saved us this time not by clearing our skies of the threat of nuclear attack, but by reminding us of who we are and of what we can accomplish if we only have faith in ourselves.
Ramon made clear at every opportunity that he went to space, not simply as a citizen of the State of Israel, but as a Jew. As the representative of the Jewish people he recited kiddush on Friday night. As a Jew he said Shema Yisrael as the space shuttle orbited over Jerusalem. As a Jew he insisted on eating only kosher food in outer space. And as a Jew he told the prime minister from his orbit in space, "I think it is very, very important to preserve our historical tradition, and I mean historical and religious traditions."
In so doing he showed that there is no limit to what a person can accomplish as a Jew. He said to all Jews, here in Israel and throughout the world, even as anti-Semitism again threatens us, even as Jews in Israel are being murdered just for being Jews, our enemies will never define us or tell us there are limits to what we can do.
But Ilan Ramon was not simply a Jew. He was an Israeli Jew. And, as a scientist and fighter pilot his was the face of Israeli exceptionalism. Ramon excelled in all he did. He was first in his class in high school. He was first in his class in flight school. He was first in his class in astronaut training. On a break from the air force in the 1980s, after completing his studies in electrical engineering and computer science at Tel Aviv University, Ramon joined the team at Israel Aircraft Industries that developed the Lavi fighter jet. On the Columbia, Ramon conducted environmental research on desertification.
Today, when mediocrity seems to be the unifying characteristic of so many of the personalities that make up our national landscape, Ramon reminded us of what we can and should aspire to. Speaking of Ramon a few months before the shuttle launch, his fellow astronauts praised his professionalism above all.
As we have been consumed for more than two years with our daily reality of terrorism and pain, Ramon reminded us that there are other sides to our lives in Israel. Our mastery of science has placed our tiny state at the cutting edge of space research. Like our friends, the Americans, we will not be limited by gravity in our quest for answers to the riddles of the universe.
Finally, Ramon was a husband to Rona and father to Assaf, David, Tal, and Noa.
Our hearts go out to his family members. But we can only pray that they will take comfort in the fact that in his life, their Ilan saved both the life and the spirit of his country.
English / Hebrew / English / Hebrewmicrofiche / שיטה של הקטנת ואחסון מידע / to preserve /
לשמר
threat /איום
/ define / להגדירcan accomplish /
יכולים להשיג
/ exceptional / יוצא-דופןfaith /