Cover Story
"They enjoyed each other so much. They were a
A Loss In The Family
Detroit Jews join Israelis and Americans in mourning their heroes.
T
heir mission was almost
complete and we lost them
so close to home," said
President George W. Bush at
a memorial service at the Johnson
Space Center in Houston on Feb 4.
"Today we remember not only one
moment of tragedy, but seven lives of
great purpose and achievement."
Commander Rick Husband, pilot
William McCool, payload commander
Michael Anderson, mission specialists
Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and
Laurel Cook and payload specialist
Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut,
died Saturday, Feb. 1, when the space
shuttle Columbia broke up over Texas
and Louisiana 16 minutes before it
was supposed to touch down in
Florida.
The JCC in West Bloomfield saluted the astronauts.
"Ilan Ramon ... flew above his
home, the land of Israel," said Bush.
"He said, 'The quiet that envelops
Torah study class.
space makes the beauty even more powerful. And I
"On the other hand, I believe the congregation
only hope that the quiet can one day spread to my
country."'
felt the loss of the Columbia as Americans. This
was a national and a world tragedy. The space pro-
As the president remembered the astronauts, so
gram expresses the best that humanity can hope to
did Americans around the country. The American
achieve. We mourn the loss as Americans first,
Jewish community seemed especially touched by the
tragedy because of the Israeli astronaut.
made only more tragic because we felt a personal
Rabbi David Castiglione of
connection to the colonel as a member of our peo-
Temple Beth El said Jews took
ple."
great pride that Ramon was the
Henry and Henia Lewin of Oak
A TEAM WORKED TO GATHER
first Israeli astronaut in space.
Park,
both Holocaust survivors,
local reaction to the shuttle
"We took interest that he was the
closely
followed the launch because
tragedy. Staff Writer Harry
of
Col.
Ramon.
son of a Holocaust survivor, that he
Kirsbaum pieced together
had brought a microfiche of a
"It
means
an awful lot to me that
information from Story
Torah scroll that had survived the
he
was
the
son
of survivors, went to
Development Editor Keri
camps — a tremendous proclama-
Israel
and
became
a hero like that
Guten Cohen and freelance
tion of the strength, the beauty, the
and
paid
the
price
for
his country,"
writers Ronelle Grier,
vitality, the rightness of the Jewish
Henia said. The couple was attend-
Susan Tawil, Karen
people," said Rabbi Castiglione,
ing Shabbat services at Congrega-
Schwartz and Don Cohen.
who learned of the tragedy during
tion Shaarey Zedek when Rabbi
•
2/ 7
2003
14
ET Joseph Krakoff made the announce-
ment. "I cried the whole day," she
said.
- Rabbinical Response
Rabbi Krakoff was told of the tragedy
by congregants as the morning service
started.
He talked with Rabbi Jonathan
Berkun on the bimah and said he
felt strongly enough to throw out his
sermon about war in Iraq because it
didn't feel appropriate under the cir-
cumstances.
"We broke the news to those in the
congregation who hadn't heard yet
and put together a mini-memorial
service of 15 minutes. You could hear
the stunned reactions," Rabbi Krakoff
said. "It felt like a lesser version of 9-
11. Here again were Americans and
Israelis holding hands, and we had
experienced tragedy together."
At Beth El's services, instead of a sermon Rabbi
Castiglione gave a news update and held about 20
minutes of discussion. When the astronauts' deaths
were confirmed, "we held a moment of silence, recit-
ed a prayer from the prayer book followed by an
extemporaneous prayer I offered for the crew, their
families and the nation, and that led into a Kaddish
[memorial prayer]."
At Congregation B'nai Moshe, where students
attend class on Shabbat, Rabbi Elliot Pachter told
the children about the Columbia disaster during a
special assembly. After answering their many ques-
tions — big and small — he led them in special
prayers for the astronauts.
Word did not spread as quickly in the Orthodox
community because of the Sabbath.
"You try to be happy on Shabbos," so you don't
really talk about tragic news that will ruin the joy of
Loss on page 16