Sanctifying the Name of Heaven in Space
Seven years after the Columbia shuttle disaster, the full story of the tiny Torah scroll that Ilan Ramon carried with him on his ill-fated journey is revealed. From Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to the State of Israel - and then to space.
- דודו כהן
- פורסם י"א חשון התשע"ד
#VALUE!
In a recent documentary produced by Jewish director Daniel Cohen, 'Scrolls of Hope', the fascinating story of the tiny Torah scroll, a Holocaust relic, that Ilan Ramon carried on the space shuttle Columbia is told.
It all began when Ramon visited the home of Prof. Joachim Joseph, one of the world's leading climate researchers, who initiated the Israeli experiment that led NASA to send Ramon to space. He also supervised the team of scientists conducting the experiment with Ramon. However, even before that, during one of their meetings, a wooden box on the professor's shelf caught Ramon's attention. The questions and curiosities he raised led Prof. Joseph to share with him his fascinating and emotional story.With the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, young Joachim was separated from his parents and taken by train to Bergen-Belsen, where he met the Chief Rabbi of Holland, Rabbi Simon Dasberg, who was unafraid of the Nazis and was once even caught praying at the crematoria for the souls of Jews who had been executed shortly before. They got to know each other, and when the rabbi discovered that young Joachim was about to turn 13, he took it upon himself to celebrate his bar mitzvah inside the concentration camp. He would wake the boy every day at four in the morning, and they prepared together for the improvised ceremony that would mark the child's coming of age.
Eventually, the hour arrived. The prisoners covered the windows with blankets, tension was at its peak, and just as Joachim Joseph, the excited bar mitzvah boy, was about to read the Torah - there was a knock at the door. The souls of those present almost escaped, but when they saw who had arrived - Joachim's mother, who had been smuggled from a nearby death camp - the excitement reached its height. With her presence, the bar mitzvah read the haftarah, delivered a unique sermon, and although no candies flew around, one of those present gave him a small chocolate cube. But this was only a prelude to the big gift. "I want to give you the Torah scroll", said Rabbi Dasberg. "I don't seem to be getting out of here alive, so I want the scroll to be in your possession. Guard it with all your might, and tell what happened here", he requested.
Prof. Joseph recalls that he looked into the eyes of the righteous rabbi and said only two words: "I promise". The rabbi himself was murdered in the extermination camp in February 1945, two days after his wife was killed by the Nazis.
Over the years, the tiny Torah scroll accompanied Prof. Joachim Joseph throughout his life, but after his story moved Ilan Ramon, who visited his home, he decided to give the Torah scroll for Ramon's journey into space. During the journey, Ramon talked about the Torah scroll he took with him, presented the Torah scroll as the foundation of the Jewish people, and even shared this with his fellow astronauts. Additionally, Ramon revealed the Torah scroll at a press conference he held while in space, during which he spoke with then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Thus, Prof. Joseph closed the circle of promise to Rabbi Dasberg, ensuring the special story was indeed told. Just as promised back then, at this time.
