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| Pâ•qidꞋ Yi•rᵊmᵊyâhꞋu |
2003.02.01 – I remain reeling in shock at the Columbia disaster and the loss of Israel Air Force Col., & F-16 pilot, Ilan Ramon, z"l.
Their families lost husbands, wives, fathers or mothers. Israel is devastated at the loss of one astronaut, America at the loss of six astronauts... but Israeli-Americans at the loss of seven astronauts.
The world owes Col. Ramon an immense debt for keeping nuclear weapons out of Saddam Hussein’s hands. It was Col. Ramon and several fellow Israel AF flyers who bombed Saddam’s nuclear reactor back in 1981. If not for that raid, America and the world would now be confronted with Saddam as a nuclear power.
To the Ramon family, may I extend úĚŔđËçÇîĺĚ îÄď äÇůŃĚČîÇéÄí
My heart also goes out to the families of the fallen American crewman. May some good come of this horrific tragedy.
Update 2003.02.05 – From the news coverage I discovered that I’ve probably met and talked with Ilan Ramon's father who, if I understand correctly, is a long-time resident of ŌꞋmër. I served 30 days reserve duty with the IDF guarding the village of ŌꞋmër back in the late ‘80s, when ŌꞋmër consisted of something like 15-20 trailers on a hilltop. It’s pretty certain that I talked at one time or another with virtually everyone living there. But I don’t really remember him and back then wouldn’t have known who Ilan Ramon was if he’d mentioned it. I’ve met other IAF F-16 pilots so that wouldn't register as unusual.
In any case, looking for some kheit in Ilan for the cause of the tragedy (though many rabbis – especially ultra-Orthodox rabbis – routinely do so) is simplistic, wrong-headed, inherently cruel and will prove fruitless.
There are two lines of reasoning that must be grasped. The first is simple. There is a natural and physical cause that must be investigated and fixed. Perhaps, for example, one may speculate on the possibility that the insulation on the main fuel tank was a design fault that was long known, should have been fixed a long time ago and some people should be fired and the design corrected before the next flight.
There is also a more subtle, spiritual, side that must be reasoned; and this is what I've been grappling with, trying to grasp. The way the world works is so complex that we can understand only a small number of the very simplest examples. The example I like to give is of a woman who becomes involved in drugs and prostitution, contracts HIV, gets pregnant and has a baby born with HIV and drug-addicted. Of what kheit is the baby guilty? None. The pëshꞋa was committed by the mother and natural causes, physical laws, then fully explain the condition of the baby.
On a deeper plane, though, all of this was thought out beforehand by é‑‑ä, and His plan for the world simulated and successfully accomplished in His Mind – all while never interfering in anyone's free will and without ever having to contradict Himself (His laws) – before creation.
This raises the question of why the Columbia tragedy and the death of Ilan Ramon is essential to this plan, and how.
The centerpiece of His plan is the family that, in their free will, committed to serve Him: Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ. Thus, individuals, while each will obtain equity in ha-O•lamꞋ ha•baꞋ, are not the focus of His plan for the world as Christianity simplistically perceives it. Like the baby born with HIV and drug-addicted, any given individual may suffer inequity, even horrific inequity, in this life as he or she works out his or her role in His bigger Plan for the world.
So the real challenge relative to the Columbia tragedy is understanding the place this tragedy has in His bigger Plan for the world. Ilan Ramon's role then follows as a simple deduction.
His bigger Plan crystallized in my mind as I watched the memorial service for the Columbia crew. I could scarcely believe my ears as, despite the Navy Chaplain rabbi's slight American accent and some errors, I immediately recognized the words of Tᵊhil•imꞋ 23) that we, like the Tei•mân•imꞋ, recite (my daughter from memory, I still have to look occasionally) every ËrꞋëv Shab•âtꞋ and every Ha•vᵊdâl•âhꞋ. It wasn't that I was hearing it. The entire world was hearing it, and (hopefully) realizing that the English words familiar to them were, in fact, merely a translation of the I•vᵊr•itꞋ. Never on such a grand scale (nor on any scale that I can remember) has a religious service that included Christians been non-offensive to Yᵊhud•imꞋ, a worthy Tᵊhil•âhꞋ to é‑‑ä. Some people are killed in traffic accidents or work accidents that never make such an impact on the world. But in the Columbia tragedy, for the first time ever, worthy Tᵊhil•âhꞋ was offered up to é‑‑ä before the entire world. (Rabin's funeral, by contrast, was barely Jewish.) Instead of near-naked dancers and other worldly hedonism routinely broadcast via satellite to the middle east by IBA – justly criticized by Muslims – the entire world has seen a glimpse of the world described in the •leiꞋnu.
Ilan Ramon's achievement is an eternal one, earning him a place among the eternal greats of Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ, far surpassing the space pioneering accomplishments (and innumerable rabbis, for that matter) that the world sees.
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