The Ten Commandments & the Shuttle Endeavours Mission

This week Commander Mark Kelly, together with the space Shuttle Endeavour and five crew members, returned from a space mission.  Their job, a series of space walks where the team installed a new station, redesigned and repaired space instruments, all this while in orbit.  They spent over 11 days and many hours space walking and working.  The plan is to have the Apace Station work for another decade.

What makes the space mission interesting is that Mark Kelly is married to Gabrielle Giffords Arizona’s first Jewish congresswoman. In the past Mike Massimino took along a mezuzah in memory of a previous mission that was not successful.  It was the Shuttle Columbus that blew up killing all the astronauts that included a Jewish one, Ilan Ramon.

Another Jewish astronaut, Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, was the first astronaut to log over 1000 hours in space and has space traveled over five times, plus was on a mission to fix the Hubble. Garret Reisman was an occupant of the International Space Station.  He was the first Jewish resident living in the Space Station.  All in all, there have been many Jews living in space or just traveling in space taking Jewish objects that go along.

When I think how remarkable this is I think of the first real astronaut.  It was none other than our first and most important prophet, Moses – Moses the first Jewish Prophet.

The Bible – Torah tells us that Moses went to heaven for 40 days and 40 nights.  His souvenir was the Ten Commandments.  Strange as it sounds he traveled without a shuttle and made the trip safely. 

On Wednesday, June7^th, Jews world over will celebrate the time honored holiday of Shavuot; marking the time that Moshe went up Mount Sinai to heaven and received the Torah.  He spent 40 days and 40 nights.  Now that was a miracle.

The highlight of this holiday is the gathering of many families at places of worship. They are told the story of G‑d giving the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, to the Jewish people. It is read in Hebrew from a hand–written scroll.

The Shavuot holiday is the birthday of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition it was some 3323 years ago that the Jewish nation received the Torah. This Torah is now called the Hebrew Bible and is considered by all religions as the most influential book in human history.

As we celebrate the holiday of receiving the Torah it will do us good to bring heaven down to earth and combine the physical with the spiritual.