Learning Hebrew Online - Colonel Ilan Ramon

Colonel Ilan Ramon

By E-TEACHER

FEBRUARY 9, 2010 16:08

Shalom friends,

File:Ilan Ramon, NASA photo portrait in orange suit.jpg

OnJanuary 16, 2003 the first Israeli astronaut, Colonel Ilan Ramon(אִילָן רָמוֹן) , beganan unforgettable journey into space. His mission carried a symbolicsignificance for and the Jewish people worldwide, as Ramon himself stated in an interview:

“My mother is a Holocaust survivor. She was in Auschwitz. My fatherfought for the independence of Israel not so long ago. I was born in Israel andI'm kind of the proof for them, and for the whole Israeli people, that whateverwe fought for and we've been going through in the last century -- or maybe inthe last two thousand years -- is becoming true… it's very exciting for me tobe able to fulfill their dream that they wouldn't dare to dream.”

Moon Landscape drawing by Petr Ginz, who perished in Auschwitz

Ilan Ramon was a fighter pilot in the IsraeliAir Force who participated in the bombing of 's unfinished Osiraq nuclearreactor in 1997, at the age of 38, he was chosen by the Israeli Air Force and the IsraeliSpace Agency to be the first Israeli Astronaut. After a long training period withNASA, he flew aboard the STS-107 mission of the Columbia Space Shuttle.

IlanRamon carried to space a few objectsrepresenting the Israeli and Jewish society. To commemorate the memory of hisfamily and the 6 million Jews who perished in Nazi death camps, Ramon carried acopy of a drawing by a 14 year-old victim Petr Ginz that depicts a view of earth from the moon. The picture wasdrawn by Ginz during his incarceration in the Theresienstadt ghetto. "MoonLandscape" connects the dream of one Jewish boy, who is a symbol of thetalent lost in the Holocaust, to the journey of one Jewish astronaut, who is asymbol of our revival.

Folded Corner: Ilan Ramon holding the Torah scroll from Bergen-Belsen

Ilan Ramon holds miniature Torah scroll during conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

Ramon was also carrying with him a tiny Torah scroll.This Torah was given to a little boy in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp bythe rabbi of ,who taught him from it for his Bar Mitzva. That boy, Yehoyahin Yosef, survivedthe Holocaust, arrived in ,fought in the country's wars and became a distinguished professor of planetaryphysics. This professor oversaw theIsraeli experiment on the space shuttle on how dust and pollution affect the Earth's climate. In an interviewfrom space with then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, holding the tiny Torahscroll, Ilan Ramon explained that it symbolizes "more than anything theability of the Jewish people to survive everything, including horrible periods,and go from the darkest days to days of hope and faith in the future."

From space,Ramon commented about and the world:

"Iwant to say that from here, in space, looks like it appears on themap, small, but beautiful… I think that the people of , and theJewish people as a whole, are a wonderful people… I think it is very, veryimportant to preserve our historical tradition, and I mean historical andreligious traditions."

AlthoughRamon was not an observant Jew, he decided to eat only kosher food while inorbit, as he perceived himself representing in space all kinds of Jews,including religious ones.

IlanRamon and the STS-107 Columbia crew stayed in space 15 days, 22 hours and 20minutes, conducting approximately 80 scientific experiments. On February 1^st,2003, 16 minutes before the scheduled landing, during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, Space ShuttleColumbia was destroyed and its crew perished over East Texas in the .

The world mourned the astronaut heroes and still mourns Ilan Ramon, who lit up the skies with his bravery, smile and loveof ,the Jewish people, and the world.

Folded Corner: Asaf Ramon next to his father’s picture

Butthis is not the end. Ilan Ramon was not only a pilot and an astronaut; he wasalso a family man, who raised four children with his wife Rona. The nation criedwith his wife and children and continued following and hugging the family asthey returned back home to .His eldest son, Asaf(אָסָף) , followed in hisfather's footsteps and became a pilot. He graduated from the with the Sword of Honor as the top cadet inhis graduating class. Three months later, on September 13, 2009, at the age of21 Captain Asaf Ramon perished during a routine training flight, while pilotinghis F-16A.

Today, seven years after the disaster and theloss of Ilan Ramon, and five month after his son, Asaf, lost his life on duty,we all remember their optimistic view, their modest manners, and the love theyspread. We appreciate the ties they weaved between generations, between earthand space, between past, present and future. Let us all fulfill the dreams wewouldn’t dare to dream!

הֱיוּ שָׁלוֹם!

HeyuShalom!

Farewell!

שִׁירָהכֹּהֵן-רֶגֶב

Shira Cohen-Regev

The HebrewOnline Team

Space Hebrew Words

מַעְבֹּרֶת חֲלַל

Transliteration:Ma’aboretXalal

Translation: space shuttle

Part of Speech: Noun, feminine

חֲלָלִית

Transliteration: xalalit

Translation: spaceship, spacecraft

Part of Speech: Noun, feminine

חֲלַל

Transliteration: xalal

Translation: space

Part of Speech: Noun, masculine

טַיַּס / טַיֶּסֶת

Transliteration:tayas (m)/ tayeset (f)

Translation: pilot

כַּדּוּר הָאָרֶץ

Transliteration:kadurha’arets

Translation: the planet Earth

Partof Speech:Noun, feminine

A Song for Ilan

The NASA program holds a tradition of wake-upcalls for the crew. Each day during the mission, flight controllers in the greet the crew with an appropriate musical interlude. On the fourth day of themission, Rona, Ilan Ramon’s wife sent him the following song. This well-knownlove song got a whole new meaning after the disaster.

A Sad Song (El Artsi) זֶמֶר נוּגֶה

Words: Rachel מילים: רחל

לחן: שמוליקקראוס Melody: Shmulik Kraus

Tolisten to the song, sang by The High Windows (הַחַלּוֹנוֹת הַגְּבוֹהִים, Haxalonot HaGvohim - an Israeli pop group from the 1960s founded byArik Einstein, Shmulik Kraus and Josie Katz.), click here.

Weekly Hebrew WordSearch (תִּפְזֹרֶת)

Seeif you can find all of the words in the puzzle below:

אִילָן רָמוֹן,אָסָף, חֲלָלִית, טַיַּס, טַיֶּסֶת, כַּדּוּר הָאָרֶץ, מַעְבֹּרֶת, רוֹנָּה