Dawn Bonker
A documentary telling the extraordinary story of Israel’s first astronaut and a tiny Nazi-era Torah he carried to the heights of space on the ill-fated 2003
Columbia space shuttle
will be screened at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, in Memorial Hall.
Following the screening of
“An Article of Hope”
will be a discussion with producers Christopher and Dan Cohen, who also directed the film. Christopher Cohen also discusses the film in
Lofty Ambitions
, a blog created by Anna Leahy, Ph.D., associate professor of English at Chapman, and Douglas Dechow, a librarian at Leatherby Libraries.
The documentary tells the Torah’s journey, from its hidden life in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the darkest hours of World War II to the day it was celebrated in weightless wonder aboard the Columbia.
“Centering upon the tiny torah and interweaving the stories of the rabbi who protected it; the boy who honored it, and the astronaut who carried it to the heights, reminds us that the most fragile of objects can convey an indestructible message of humanity and hope,” says Marilyn Harran, Ph.D., professor, Stern Chair in Holocaust Education and the founding Director of the Rodgers Center.
Col. Ilan Ramon was among the crew of seven aboard the Columbia shuttle. The son of an Auschwitz survivor, Ilan felt a deep sense of obligation to Holocaust memory and witness. Among the few objects he chose to take with him into space was a barbed wire mezzuzah given to him by
The “1939” Club
, an organization of Holocaust survivors and their descendents, partners in Holocaust education with
Chapman University’s Rodgers Center.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Rodgers center at 714-628-7377 or visit the
Holocaust education website
.
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