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Marilyn Samuel		February 1, 2003

Was not sure you would see this so am sharing. Ode to Ramon By: Tzvi Freeman ---------------- Ilan Ramon was not the first Jew to travel outside the earth's atmosphere, but his voyage was certainly the most special for us. He was the first to go not as an individual, but as the representative of the entire Jewish people. That is why, although he did not identify as an observant Jew, he insisted that NASA provide him only kosher food. He hung a mezuzah on one of the portals of his capsule. In his bag was a book of Psalms and a dollar bill from the Lubavitcher Rebbe. As he passed over Jerusalem, he said the Shma Yisrael. And the whole world watched as he lifted a small Torah scroll that had miraculously survived Auschwitz. Why the Almighty took him and the other six astronauts from us as He did, I will not even venture to know. But I must admit that in so many ways I envy him. Sure, I envy all those who get to travel to outer space -- but nobody ever carried anything like his kind of baggage. You could say that he took an entire nation -- 3400 years of history included -- to the heavens. Proving that none of us, no matter how far we may journey, ever goes alone.
Editor-> Thank you for sharing this beautiful tribute with the entire Megillah family.
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