From THE JERUSALEM POST, Sep. 14, 2009, by Amir Mizroch:
The day after space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on reentry under a blue Texas sky in 2003, editorial cartoonist Mike Keefe from The Denver Post drew six stars and one Star of David on a black canvas, representing the seven astronauts lost in the disaster.
Today we add an eighth star, another Star of David, to that cartoon, in honor of Assaf Ramon.
In our national narrative, Assaf was always going to be our second astronaut. And so we don't just mourn the death of a young, promising pilot cadet, we mourn the sudden death of a national dream rekindled, of a promise unfulfilled.
Assaf was the eldest son of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut. Ilan, and Assaf after him, represented our finest, our "best of the best."
Today we add an eighth star, another Star of David, to that cartoon, in honor of Assaf Ramon.
In our national narrative, Assaf was always going to be our second astronaut. And so we don't just mourn the death of a young, promising pilot cadet, we mourn the sudden death of a national dream rekindled, of a promise unfulfilled.
Assaf was the eldest son of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut. Ilan, and Assaf after him, represented our finest, our "best of the best."
This file photo shows Assaf Ramon, z"l, in 2003.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
As the youngest member of the squadron that carried out the daring bombing raid on Saddam's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, Ilan Ramon was more than just an ace pilot. He was what many young men, then and now, aspire to be. To many, inside and outside the country, he was the manifestation of the new Jewish warrior, determined never to let evil men attain weapons that could annihilate us.
When Ramon, son of a Holocaust survivor, took an artifact from the Theresienstadt ghetto with him into space, Jewish hearts all over the world filled with pride.
"I was born in Israel and I'm kind of the proof for them, and for the whole Israeli people, that whatever we fought for and we've been going through in the last century (or maybe in the last two thousand years), is becoming true," he said.
Ilan Ramon was "our astronaut," our national pride. When he was chosen by NASA, we walked a little taller. We had our very own astronaut - very few countries in the world could boast of that.
...When we gathered around the TVs to watch his imminent landing, our hearts pounded with excitement. When contact with Columbia was lost, we bit our nails, in denial, tortured in disbelief. Our anxiety slowly turned into angst, our hopes dashed, our hero fallen.
In real time, we all watched our dream shatter into tiny pieces across the Texan sky...
When Ramon, son of a Holocaust survivor, took an artifact from the Theresienstadt ghetto with him into space, Jewish hearts all over the world filled with pride.
"I was born in Israel and I'm kind of the proof for them, and for the whole Israeli people, that whatever we fought for and we've been going through in the last century (or maybe in the last two thousand years), is becoming true," he said.
Ilan Ramon was "our astronaut," our national pride. When he was chosen by NASA, we walked a little taller. We had our very own astronaut - very few countries in the world could boast of that.
...When we gathered around the TVs to watch his imminent landing, our hearts pounded with excitement. When contact with Columbia was lost, we bit our nails, in denial, tortured in disbelief. Our anxiety slowly turned into angst, our hopes dashed, our hero fallen.
In real time, we all watched our dream shatter into tiny pieces across the Texan sky...
...And then came Assaf. Smart, strong, confident, just like his father. As a teenager in a Texas high school, it was clear Assaf was Ilan's son through and through. His grades in mathematics, geography and physics were near perfect.
In 2006, we saw Assaf enter the IAF pilot's course. He was following in his father's footsteps, and we dared to dream again. A little glimmer of that light that went out with Ilan sparked within our hearts.
When we heard news that Assaf had skillfully maneuvered his training jet out of a dangerous, spiraling descent, barely saving his skin but managing to control the massive machine, the glimmer of light grew brighter and warmer. He was destined for greatness; he was a hero in the making. He was a Top Gun.
And on that sunny day just three months ago, when Assaf graduated as the most outstanding cadet in his pilot's class, we collectively burst again with pride.
See, we said to each other, the dream is still alive. The son is taking his father's place. He could take us all the way to the top again, and who knows, maybe he'll go into space, and the whole world will hear our music again. Assaf fit so naturally into the narrative we had written for him.
So when rumors started spreading that the pilot killed in a training crash on Sunday morning was Assaf Ramon, our first reaction was one of adamant disbelief. Surely not...
In 2006, we saw Assaf enter the IAF pilot's course. He was following in his father's footsteps, and we dared to dream again. A little glimmer of that light that went out with Ilan sparked within our hearts.
When we heard news that Assaf had skillfully maneuvered his training jet out of a dangerous, spiraling descent, barely saving his skin but managing to control the massive machine, the glimmer of light grew brighter and warmer. He was destined for greatness; he was a hero in the making. He was a Top Gun.
And on that sunny day just three months ago, when Assaf graduated as the most outstanding cadet in his pilot's class, we collectively burst again with pride.
See, we said to each other, the dream is still alive. The son is taking his father's place. He could take us all the way to the top again, and who knows, maybe he'll go into space, and the whole world will hear our music again. Assaf fit so naturally into the narrative we had written for him.
So when rumors started spreading that the pilot killed in a training crash on Sunday morning was Assaf Ramon, our first reaction was one of adamant disbelief. Surely not...
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