article of hope educators guide

An Educators’ Guide to An Article of Hope

Educators’ guide developed by:

Dr. David AckermanDirector, Mandel Center for Jewish Education

Mara BerdeCurriculum Consultant

Filmmakers:

Daniel Cohen Director, Producer

Christopher G. CowenProducer

Mark HerzogExecutive Producer

An Article of Hope Educator’s Guide 1

Dear Friends, An Article of Hope is a film that explores important ideas. It tells the tragic story of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia and focuses on a tiny Torah scroll born out of the Holocaust that was brought on board by Israel’s first astronaut. The larger meaning in the story involves universal themes: courage, leadership, promises, and unwavering hope, and is relevant to people of all backgrounds and faiths.

This Educators’ Guide to An Article of Hope is designed to help you explore the themes presented in the film. It provides some background information to prepare you for viewing the film, and isolates significant moments and ideas in the film for analysis, discussion, and reflection. The guide assumes you are viewing the film with a group, but it can also be used by individuals viewing the film privately. It was designed for a broad range of audiences, ranging from middle-schoolers through college-age students. It is suitable for school settings, youth groups, summer camps, community centers, synagogues, and churches and individual families.

Facilitating a discussion about a film can be very rewarding. Please remember the following:

• Thefilmisabout50minuteslong.Makesureyouhaveenoughtimetobothviewthefilmand discuss it afterward.

• Alwaysscreenthefilmyourselfbeforeyoufacilitateadiscussionwithagroup.

• Decideaheadoftimewhichissuesyouthinkaremostimportanttodiscuss.TheEducators’Guide has more material than you can probably use in one “sitting.”

• Thereismorethanonewaytoguidetheviewingofthisfilm.Youcanwatchthefilminitsentirety andthentalk,oryoucaninterruptthefilmattheappropriatetimestoaskquestions.Youknow your audience best and should choose the technique that you are most comfortable with.

• Thequestionsfordiscussionaremeanttobeguides.Feelfreetoaddyourquestionsandtodevelop tangents of interest to your audience.

• OneofthepurposesoftheEducators’Guideistohelpthepeoplewhowatchthefilmconnect to it on a personal level. There are no right or wrong answers to the discussion questions and you should encourage viewers to respond personally and honestly.

Enjoy the film.

2 An Article of Hope Educator’s Guide

1. IntroductionOnFebruary1,2003,theSpaceShuttleColumbiadescendedtowardsEarthwithsevenastronautsonboard:sixAmericans and Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut. While the Columbia Shuttle broke up and never made it back to earth in one piece, the story and significance of this mission have not vanished.

An Article of Hope tells the story of Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut. More importantly, it tells the story of Ilan’s promise to a friend and colleague, a promise tied to a third story: the story of a special Torah scroll1 from the Holocaust that Ilan took into space.

The Columbia Mission

TheColumbiashuttletookoffonJanuary16,2003fromtheKennedySpaceCenteronCapeCanaveral,Florida.ItdisintegratedandvanishedonFebruary1,2003asitattemptedtoreenterEarth’satmosphere.OnboardtheColumbiashuttleweresevencrewmembers,whoalldied.Overtwothousandpiecesofdebrisfromtheshuttleandits contents were found over East Texas by search teams.

Meet the Columbia Crew:

Rick Husband – Commander; US Air Force colonel – married, 2 children

William McCool – Pilot; US Navy commander – married, 3 children

Michael Anderson – Payload Commander; US Air Force lieutenant colonel

Ilan Ramon – Payload Specialist; Israeli Air Force colonel – married, 4 children

Kalpana Chawla – Mission Specialist; aerospace engineer

David Brown – Mission Specialist; US Navy captain

Laurel Clark – Mission Specialist; US Navy captain – married, 1 child

Additional Characters in the Film:

Rona Ramon – Ilan’s wife

Joachim (Yoya) Joseph – Israeli science team, Holocaust survivor

Rabbi Simon Dasberg – Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam before the Holocaust, who gave the Torah to Yoya in Bergen-Belsen

Amos Yadlin – Major General of the Israeli Air Force

Steve MacLean – Canadian astronaut

Garrett Reisman – American astronaut

Sharon Brown – Forensic scientist, Israeli police

1 Torah is the Hebrew word for “teaching.” A Torah scroll is a handwritten document that contains the first five books of the Jewish Bible (sometimes referred to as the Five Books of Moses.) A Torah scroll is written on parchment and used in synagogues for weekly public reading. It is a sacred object and treated very carefully.


Ilan Ramon

Ilan was born in Israel to immigrant parents. His mother was a survivor of Auschwitz2. His father fought for Israel’s independence. Ilan’s family story parallels the narrative of the Jewish people in the twentieth century.

Ilan grew up in Beer Sheva, a city in Israel’s Negev desert. Drafted intotheIsraeliarmyatage18,IlantrainedasafighterpilotintheIsrael Air Force, became a commander, and served for more than twenty years. When Ilan became an officer, he changed his last name from Wolferman to Ramon. He chose Ramon because of a large crater near Beer Sheva called Makhtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater). Ilan chose a Hebrew name that represented a part of the land that he loved.

AsdescribedinhisobituaryintheUK’sTheIndependent,Ilanwas “an air-force colonel [who was] among the elite of the elite. [He was] a super-achiever, a brave warrior who twice bailed out of stricken warplanes, yet at the same time a family man, remembered for his calmness and easy humor. Israelis cherished him not only because he was their first man in space, but because […] heroes don’t come like that anymore.”3

Optional Pre-Viewing Activity

The following discussion can be done before or after viewing the film. The goal of this discussion is to think back to the Columbia shuttle explosion and to other significant events in our recent history. What memories do we have of historical events, and what emotions come with those memories?

We remember…

Certaineventsaresosignificanttheyimprintthemselvesindeliblyinourmemory.OlderpeoplecanrememberwheretheywerewhentheyheardthatPresidentJohnF.Kennedywasassassinated,orwhenApollo11landedonthemoon.ItisthesamewiththeterroristattackandcollapseoftheTwinTowersonSeptember11,2001.Askingpeopletorecollect where they were when they heard about the Space Shuttle Columbia is a way to create a personal connection to the story in the film. Here are some questions you can use (feel free to add more):

1. DoyourememberhearingabouttheexplosionoftheColumbiashuttle?

2. Ifso,wherewereyouatthetime?Whowereyouwith?Whatdidyoudo?

3. Didyouseeitontelevisionorreadaboutitonline?

4. What emotions overcame you?

5. WereyouinterestedinknowingmoreaboutthecrewoftheColumbiashuttle?

2 Auschwitz was one of the major death camps in Poland operated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. It is estimated that 960,000 Jews and at least 150,000 non-Jews were murdered there.

3 Eric Silver, The Independent, 3 Feb 2003. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/col-ilan-ramon-730004.html


2. Representing Israel and the Jewish PeopleWhen Ilan was selected to become part of the Columbia mission, he was the only Jew on the team and the first Israeli to travel into space. He saw himself not only as an astronaut, but as a representative of the State of Israel and of all Jews around the world. Ilan realized his flight into space would give him an opportunity for exposure that few Jews ever get. He became a spokesman with the opportunity to share a special story with the entire world. He became an example. Ilan’s hard work and dedication to the Israeli Air Force allowed him to become a colonel and be selected to join the Columbia crew. He showed others that leadership comes in many forms. He became a hero, to his friends, family, and anyone who has heard his story.

Your Turn: Being a Representative of a Group

Read the following excerpt from the narration to the film. Use the discussion questions to spark a conversation about representing a group.

“Although Ramon was not religious, he insisted on eating kosher food4 in space and took with him a special kiddush glass for toasting the Sabbath5. He carried a pencil drawing, Moon Landscape, by Peter Ginz, a 14-year-old Jewish boy killed in Auschwitz, as well as a credit-card-sized microfiche of the Old Testament. He was carrying the hopes, he explained, not only of Israel, but of the Jewish people.”6

1. WhydoyouthinkIlanchosetoeatonlykosherfoodinspace?

2. WhydoyouthinkIlanfelthewasrepresentingtheJewishpeople?Whatmadehimfeelthisway?

3. Wouldyouchoosetodothesame?RememberthatthisflightintospacegaveIlan(andwouldgiveyou)an opportunity for exposure that few Jews ever get.

4. What does it mean to represent a group of people?

5. HowwouldyouwanttorepresentyourselfandtheJewishpeople?

6. Afterseeingthisfilm,doyouthinkofIlanRamonasahero?Ishe similar to Jewish heroes that you’ve heard about in the past?

7. In order to be a hero, do you have to be brave and risk your life for something? Ilan was just a normal guy, an “everyday” hero. Are there other everyday heroes that you know? What qualities do they possess?

8. Whatqualitiesdoestheidealheropossess?Howdotheydiffer from superheroes in movies and on TV?

9. Do you think that there is a relationship between being a hero and being a leader? Why or why not?

4. Jewish tradition dictates a discipline for eating designed to heighten sensitivity to the life-force in animal products: certain animals may not be eaten, animals permitted for food must be slaughtered in a particular way, and milk and meat may not be eaten together. These “kosher” principles come from the Bible and have been interpreted by rabbis over the centuries.

5. The Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday night, and is ushered in with a blessing over wine. Kiddush is the Hebrew word for sanctification.

6. Eric Silver, The Independent, 3 Feb 2003. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/col-ilan-ramon-730004.html


3. LeadershipBeing a real leader means different things in different situations. Sometimes it means standing up in front of a group and giving orders, but other times it means following orders or choosing to do what’s best for the group and not for yourself.

IlanbecamealeaderintheIsraeliAirForce.AmosYadlin,MajorGeneralintheIsraeliAirForce,describedIlanthis way:

“He was not the stereotype of a fighter pilot, even though he was a very good fighter pilot. But his aggressiveness was in a way restrained. His ambitions were very hidden. [...] He never fought for promotion, he never fought for becoming a commander or get a position, but it happened to him, because he was an excellent pilot and an excellent character.”

Your Turn: Qualities of Leaders

This activity can be done individually, or by an entire group. If you choose to do it individually, you will need paper and pencils for each participant. If you choose to do it as a group, you will need either a chalkboard/whiteboard, or an easel with chart paper and markers. Here are the instructions for the activity:

1. Nametwopeoplewhoyouconsiderleaders.

2. Onapieceofpaper,drawalinedownthemiddlesothatyouhavetwocolumns. Write the name of one leader in the left column and the name of the other leader in the right column. Below each name, list the qualities of each leader.

3. CirclethequalitiesofleadershipthatyouthinkIlanpossessed.

4. Underline the qualities that you believe are important and that you want to possess.

5. Discusswithapartner:

a. Where do the qualities of the two leaders overlap? In what areas do they not overlap?

b. Where do the qualities that you underlined overlap with the ones you circled?

c. Do you see yourself as a similar kind of leader to Ilan, or are you a different kind of leader? Remember: Everyone has the potential to be a leader.


4. The FirstIlan Ramon was not just a leader and an Israeli astronaut; he was the first Israeli astronaut. This added a level of significance to Ilan’s journey into space. Ilan, like many others throughout history, was the first to do something, and because of that, represented something bigger than just himself.

Take,forexample,SandraDayO’Connor,thefirstfemaleSupremeCourtJustice,orJackieRobinson,thefirstAfrican-American to play major league baseball. In their own ways, they each paved the way for generations to come, and received a lot of media attention along the way. Their accomplishments showed the world not only what they could personally achieve, but also what so many others could (and would) achieve.

Personal Connection: Being First

Beingfirstisspecial,butbeingfirstisn’talwayseasy.Somepeoplelikebeing“thefirst.”Othersdon’t. The following questions will help you explore personal reactions to being first.

1. Canyouthinkofatimewhenyouwerepartofafirst–individuallyorinagroup?

2. MaybeyouwerethefirsttoreadfromtheTorahonyourbar/batmitzvah7? Maybe you were the first in your family to graduate from college? Maybe you were part of a group that became the first to do something?

3. Ifyouhaven’tbeenafirstyet,whatwouldyouliketobethefirsttodo?Howwouldyouwantthemediato portray your success?

4. Have you ever felt like you were representing your family or your group? Maybe you were the only Jew (orCatholic,orBuddhist,orMuslim)onasportsteam,oratyourschool?Or,haveyoumetsomeone who was representing another group of people?

5. Didyou“signup”forthejob,orwasitsimplygiventoyoubyvirtueofwhoyouare?

Ilan didn’t sign up for the job of representative of the Jewish people, but he understood that being selected to be part of the Columbia crew would attract a lot of media attention. This visibility brought with it responsibility. In these cases, the way a person behaves can impact others’ views towards Jews, positively or negatively.

5. “The Ultimate Human Experience”Astronaut Steve MacLean describes space travel as the “ultimate human experience,” even though only a very small percentage of people ever have the opportunity to experience space travel. There are over six billion people in the worldandonly512peoplehaveevertraveledintospace.Itisanexperiencesouniqueandlife-changingthatthereareno words to explain it to one’s friends and family afterwards.

“One of the things about space flight is that we only have photos and video to bring back, and so there’s always some kind of remoteness between everybody else and everything that’s happening up there.”

- Garrett Reisman, astronaut

7. Bar and bat mitzvah are “coming of age” milestones in the Jewish religion. Boys become bar mitzvah at age 13 and girls become bat mitzvah at age 12. Bar (and bat) mitzvah is Hebrew for son of/daughter of the commandments.


“[Y]ou can’t share that [experience] with the people you love. You have great stories to tell when you come back, but you can’t identify exactly how it really feels. And so by taking up small items, you are bridging that huge gap a very tiny bit. It becomes very important.”

- Steve MacLean, Canadian astronaut

As Steve MacLean says in the film, it becomes really important to bring items into space in order to bridge the gap between the astronauts who go to space and their friends and family back at home.

But the question remains, why do artifacts that the astronauts carry become so important? Do they become more significant after they’ve been in space? What is it about space travel that makes the items more significant?

Your Turn: You Decide

1. Ifyoucouldchoosefivearticlestobringintospace,whatwouldtheybe?

2. Whatisthesignificanceofeachthingyouchose?

3. Wouldyouwanttokeeptheitemsaftertakingthemintospaceorwouldyouwanttogivethemtosomeone?

Ilan brought a Torah scroll into space with him. It wasn’t the only thing hebrought,though.Healsobroughtadrawingby14-year-oldPetrGinz,who drew it while in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during the Holocaust. The drawing shows how Petr imagined the surface of the moon, and how the earth looked from space. Petr’s imagination allowed him to escape the terrible reality surrounding him.

“We talked about that photo for a long time, and basically tried to transplant ourselves into the mind of that child, who was living through hell, and how he could see hope through a sketch like that.”

- Steve MacLean, Canadian astronaut

In the film you can see Ilan’s handwritten list of the objects he was bringing, and who would receive them after flight into space. The most significant article – and the reason for creating this film – was the small Holocaust Torah.(YoucanreadmoreaboutthestoryoftheTorahinthenextsection.)

“[Ilan] realized the important part of his Holocaust background, as a son of a survivor. We saw it as a kind of miracle that he was born to a woman that wasn’t supposed to be alive. And he came to work on a mission that symbolized our future, and it was something that he really wanted to emphasize.”

- Rona Ramon, Ilan’s wife

For some astronauts, going into space would be the culmination of a lifetime of hard work. It would be significant to the individual and represent personal achievements. For Ilan, we know that it represented something much bigger than just himself.


6. The Story of the Tiny TorahThe movie tells the story of the Torah that was smuggled into the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the promise thatJoachimJoseph(Yoya)madetoRabbiSimonDasberg,theChiefRabbiofAmsterdamatthetimeofhisbarmitzvah in the camp.

AshegavetheTorahtoYoya,RabbiDasbergsaid:

“Just promise me one thing. I am probably not going to come out of here alive; that is why I want you to have this. You must promise me that you will tell the story, [of] what happened here.”

YoyasurvivedtheHolocaustandmadealiyahtoIsrael8.Yearslater,whenYoyaandIlanmet,theybothrealizedthatthiswasanopportunityforYoyatokeephispromisetoRabbiDasbergandtellthestorytotheworld.IlanreceivedpermissionfromYoyatobringtheTorahintospace with him, and then requested special permission to share the story of the Torah while on the shuttle. In a special broadcast from Columbia, Ilan spoke to Ariel Sharon (then prime minister of Israel) – and to the whole world – and told the story of the Torah.

“And now perhaps I will talk a bit, I will show one artifact, for which I received special permission. We are usually not permitted to show these. I think this artifact is very, very special.

“I am filled with excitement while I am holding it in my hands. And this is the Torah book, small as you can see, that about 60 years ago, a young child in the death camp Bergen-Belsen received it from the rabbi of Amsterdam, who was preparing for his bar mitzvah.

“So it is a string, it is a rope that connects, that is very exciting. And he is here with me in space. Yoya gave it to me and I’m very thankful to Yoya. And I am very touched to hold it here in space with me and I think that this represents more than anything the ability of the Jewish people to survive anything.”

- Ilan Ramon, speaking while aboard the Columbia shuttle

InthosefewshortminutesofexplainingaboutthelittleTorah,IlanhelpedYoyafulfillhispromise to Rabbi Dasberg to tell the story of what happened to the Jewish people during the Holocaust.

“He thought he would show it to the world as a symbol of how a person can go from the depth of hell to the heights of space. I had finally fulfilled my promise to Rabbi Simon Dasberg in a way that I would never have thought possible.”

-Joachim“Yoya”Joseph

You Decide: The Importance of a Promise

1. WhydoyouthinkthatRabbiDasbergmadeYoyapromisetotellthestory?

2. Doyouthinkthatpromisescarrymoreweightwhentheyaremadeinextremecasesorindirecircumstances (like the Holocaust)? Why?

3. WhydidRabbiDasbergaskYoyatopromisetotellthestory?

4. Why is it so important to keep a promise that you make?

5. Doyouthinkit’sokaytosharetheresponsibilityofkeepingapromise?(Forexample,Ilan’sabilitytotakethe TorahintospaceallowedYoyatofulfillthepromisetoafullerextentthanhecouldhavealone.)

8 Aliyah is the Hebrew word for “going up.” Jewish tradition regards moving to Israel as spiritually elevating, and the phrase “to make Aliyah,” means to move up (to Israel).


Keeping Promises

Everyone has made promises in their life. That’s the easy part. But keeping the promise is the hard part. Think to yourself:

1. Whatisthebiggestpromiseyouhaveevermade?

2. Whatweretheconditionsthatallowedyoutomakethatpromise?

3. Werethereconditionsthatforcedyoutomakethatpromise?

4. In what circumstances can promises take on greater meaning?

7. Story Telling & HistoryIn the film, Sharon Brown, an Israeli forensic scientist who examined small pieces of recovered documents from the Columbia shuttle, said:

“[Ilan] wanted to bring in that history, because without knowing your past you have no future. And to have a future you have to know your past.”

- Sharon Brown, Israeli forensic scientist

Ilan took the Torah into space to tell the story of his people, theJewishpeople.Knowingthepastisimportantnotonlyto the Jewish people, but to every people. It is important for African-Americans to know the story of the Middle Passage. It is important for Armenians to know of the genocide of their people during World War I. It is important for Rwandans to know of the genocide in their country. It is important for BosniansandSerbstoknowwhathappenedinKosovo.Anditis important for the whole world to know all of these stories, to ensure they don’t happen again.

Your Turn: Remembering the Past

“Be proud of what you are, know who you are, know where you come from, know that it’s important to know where you come from.”

– Sharon Brown, Israeli forensic scientist

“Those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it.”

– George Santayana

1. Whydoyouthinkit’simportanttoknowyourpast?

2. Whatdoyouknowaboutyourfamilyhistory?Howfarbackcanyougo?Askyourparentsor grandparents to tell you about their lives and about your family’s history.


8. The Role of Hope“ I picture it [the little Torah] in the pocket of a child. Hanging on to it with hope. It goes from the depths of despair to the heights of hope.”

– Steve MacLean, Canadian astronaut

Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean speaks in the film about the power of the little Torah as an object of hope. What do you think that Steve meant when he said “it goes from the depths of despair to the heights of hope”? The story of the tinyTorahmighthavestartedinthe“depthsofdespair”andforYoyaandRabbiDasbergitmighthavebeenasymbolofhope. But why might it have been a symbol of hope for Ilan (who did not experience the Holocaust personally)?

“There is something deeper in who we are. It’s not just that a human being can carry a scroll, but that a scroll can carry a human being.”

– Shimon Peres

ThisquotebyShimonPeresspeaksabouttheTorah’sabilitytogiveRabbiDasberg,Yoya,andIlanthehopeandbeliefthat they needed to get through the circumstances.

Your Turn: The Meaning of Hope

When people are in situations of despair – after Hurricane Katrina, after the earthquake in Haiti, or after losing one’s job due to the financial recession—what do they turn to in order to get through the tough times? What would you turn to?

1. Whatdoeshopemeantoyou?

2. Whatistheroleofhopeinyourlife?

3. Wheredoesitcomefrom?

4. Can it be from a tangible item like the little Torah, or can it be from the inside, from one’s heart?

5. Ormaybeitisacombinationofbothexternalandinternalforces?

6. WhatroledidhopeplayforIlan?


9. Closing Activity: Letter WritingAn Article of Hope is not simply a film about Ilan Ramon the astronaut; it’s about a mission that transcended the disastrous flight into space. It is the story of a tiny Torah, the story of the hope that it gave to people, and the story of a promise that was kept. It is the story of an article of hope.

Each of the characters in this film has so many things to say. IfyoucouldwritealettertoIlan,Yoya,orRabbiDasberg, who would you write to? What would you want to say? What questions would you ask?

Paula L. SidmanChair, JCC Association

Allan FinkelsteinPresident, JCC Association

Virginia A. Maas

Chair, Mandel Center for Jewish Education Committee

Dr. David AckermanDirector, Mandel Center for Jewish Education

520 Eighth Avenue | New York, NY 10018 | www.jcca.org

article of hope educators guide

Documents

article of hopeeducators

story of ilan ramon

tragic story

unwavering hope

story of ilans promise

columbia shuttle

space shuttle columbia

discussion questions