Ilan Ramon's subtle call to Jewish earthlings

By Shlomo Gestetner
January 15, 2003

A new Jewish hero is being launched Thursday literally. 
Col. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, is scheduled to be 
hundreds of kilometers above our planet in his capacity as 
payload specialist aboard NASA's space shuttle Columbia. 

But Ramon's journey is more than just another feel-good 
story for a country desperate for some good news. Rather it's 
an inspiring example of one man who senses the importance of 
Jewish identity.

Despite not being Orthodox or observant, Ramon made headlines
around the world as a result of his insistence on marking 
Shabbat in space and his procurement of kosher food from NASA. 

Says Ramon: "My mother is a Holocaust survivor who was in
Auschwitz, and my father fought for the independence of Israel 
not so long ago. I was born in Israel and I'm kind of the proof 
for my parents and their generation that whatever we've been 
fighting for in the last century is coming true. 

"I feel I'm representing the whole Jewish people."

No wonder, then, that one of our students recently came back 
from a trip to Universal Studios with a poster not of Eminem, 
but of this 48-year-old veteran of the Israel Air Force. 

Unlike so many Jewish celebrities Ramon isn't blurring his 
Jewish roots. He's not a "Jew at home and a man on the street," 
as the Hebrew poet Y.L. Gordon idealized. In fact, he's reversed 
that sentiment and by being proud to display his heritage Ramon 
is making a massive contribution to Jewish continuity. 

The Very fact that we talk so much about "Jewish continuity" is
ominous. It implies that intermarriage, assimilation and apathy 
continue to rise. 

Addressing the reason so many young people have become alienated
from Judaism, Jewish educators Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin 
said in 1975, "The essential problem underlying Jewish identity 
can be summarized in a single sentence: For the great majority 
of young Jews who abandon Jewish identity, it is not Judaism 
but a caricature thereof that they are rejecting." There are 
programs out there, such as birthright israel, Hillel, Chabad, 
and day schools, that can combat this caricature of Judaism. 
But in order to be effective they must operate in an environment
where Jewish identity is a priority. 

This is Ramon's subtle call to celebrities, movie producers,
philanthropists, CEOs and all Jews in the public eye. It is a 
call for tangible acts of Jewishness to raise Jewish consciousness. 

In his New York Times best-seller, The Tipping Point, Malcolm
Gladwell identifies this "tipping point" as the magic moment 
when ideas, trends, and social behaviors cross a threshold, tip, 
and spread like wildfire. 

In Jewish terms, this means a few key individuals in the right
social context can cause rapid social change and ensure a 
revolution in Jewish and Zionist identity. 

Arguably, this is what Sandy Koufax did in 1965 when he refused 
to pitch in the World Series on Yom Kippur. 

Koufax was a symbol of success at the highest levels of sport.
Ilan Ramon represents success in the modern scientific community. 
Koufax wasn't an observant Jew; nor is Ramon. But their tangible 
demonstrations of Jewish identity have brought great dividends 
to the Jewish people; they may very well contribute to a new 
dynamism which will take root, transforming the consciousness 
of our generation. 

So to Ramon I say, "Ilan, may you go from strength to strength!
Your scientific work in outer space is important but your 
personal example is of immeasurable importance to us Jewish 
earthlings down here." 

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The writer is dean of the Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies 
in Jerusalem and director of Mayanot's birthright Israel program