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Rona Ramon and her daughter Noa, 5, wife and daughter of Israel's first astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramon, shown prior to the launch of space shuttle Columbia. (AP)
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| By Ellis Shuman February 3, 2003 |
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A senior IDF Rabbinate official was sent by the army to Texas to ensure that in the event the remains of Col. Ilan Ramon are found, they will be brought back to Israel for burial. Ramon, a member of the Israeli Air Force who was a member of the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle crew, would be buried in a full military ceremony.
According to Jewish law, Ramon's family cannot follow the routine mourning process unless direct evidence is found to confirm his death. But yesterday Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau ruled that considering the circumstances, there is enough information to declare that Ilan Ramon has perished. Once an official declaration is made that there is no chance of finding or identifying Ilan Ramon's remains, the family will begin to observe Jewish mourning practices, an official statement said. In those circumstances, Ramon's widow would also be free to remarry according to Jewish law.
The IDF's attache in the United States, Maj.-Gen. Moshe Ivri-Sukenik, told NASA officials that Israel wished to play an active role in the search and identification operation. The army has been in constant contact with the Ramon family and has updated them on the investigation, media sources reported.
If Ramon's body is not found, the IDF would declare him a fallen soldier whose place of burial is unknown. IDF Chief Rabbi Maj.-Gen. Yisrael Weiss is authorized to make such a decision. In such a case, there will be no funeral, but an official ceremony of sorts would likely take place.
Minister Danny Naveh, head of the government's ministerial committee on ceremonies, said that decisions how to memorialize Ramon "would be made in full cooperation with the family." Naveh said his committee has received a number of varied proposals, including naming Israeli satellites or a planetarium in Ramon's memory, Yediot Aharonot reported.
The ORT technical high school in Kiryat Motzkin, whose students prepared an experiment examining the affects of zero gravity on the growth of crystals that was one of those selected for the shuttle mission, will rename its senior grades in Ramon's memory. A proposal has also been made to rename the IAF's technical school in Haifa after Ramon.
Yesterday, Rona Ramon spoke to members of the Israeli media for the first time. "He wasn't afraid," she said of her husband. "He left us with a feeling of confidence... everyone who knows him, knows that it's impossible to remember him without a smile on his face, and we will continue forward with that same smile."
Rona related that during the launch, her daughter Noa, 5, cried out, "'I lost my daddy.' It turns out that she knew."
The Israel Defense Forces created a special e-mail address where the public may express its condolences to the Ramon family and to the people of the State of Israel on the loss of Col. Ilan Ramon in the Columbia space shuttle tragedy.
The e-mail address is ilanfamily@mail.idf.il.
All letters received by the IDF will be presented to the Ramon family.
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