An Israeli astronaut is about to celebrate a Passover Seder in space

And you shall explain to your son on that day, ‘It is because of what Hashem did for me when I went free from Egypt.'

Exodus

13:

8

(the israel bible)

April 11, 2022

2 min read

Israel’s second Jew-in-orbit arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) just in time to celebrate Passover. He came equipped with handmade Matzah and planned to have a lel seder that is literally out of this world. 

Eytan Stibbe, age 64, is a former IAF fighter pilot and businessman. In November 2020, he signed a contract with Axiom Space to fly a ten-day mission to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on Axiom Mission 1, a private crewed orbital spaceflight. Estimates place the price of a ticket at more than $50 million.

Stibbe launched on Friday and boarded the space station on Saturday. 

 

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Speaking at a welcome ceremony aboard the station, Stibbe said a few words in Hebrew.

“Welcome to the International Space Station. It’s the first time that it’s possible to speak in Hebrew here,” he said. “It’s a workgroup that will operate together; we’ll help each other reach our goals. Each of us has come up with a complete plan of work.

“Good luck to everyone, good luck to Rakia,” he said, referencing the name of the Israeli mission.

Before launch, Rabbi Zvi Konikov from Chabad of the Space and Treasure Coasts in Florida delivered Stibbe a Passover food package containing handmade Matzah. 

“It’s very exciting,” said Konikov toChabad.org. “As a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary for 31 years, I’ve given out matzah in every single place and every single scenario now to provide matzah to a Jew who is boarding this space flight and connecting with the International Space Station” is quite different.

“If it’s important that an astronaut, with so much on his mind, just three days before the start of his mission is getting matzah, that sends a powerful message to every Jew wherever they are that they should also make sure they have everything they need for Passover,” the rabbi said.

Jews must also drink four cups of wine at the Passover seder, but wine is forbidden on a space mission, and liquids must be sipped through a straw. Stibbe did take with him four small containers of grape juice for the purposes of the “seder in a space mission.”

It is interesting to note that Stibbe served under the command of Colonel Ilan Ramon, who later became the first Israeli to fly in space. Ramon was killed when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry in 2003. Stibbe will be taking with him several pages of a journal Ramon kept while in space discovered after the crash.

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