I have always been interested in science, education and Judaism, so I was intrigued to hear Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, the first Jewish American male astronaut, bringing these three areas together in a symposium last January for Rabbinical students at Hebrew College.
He was speaking about and showing video of his experience of being the first person to read from the Torah in space! His presentation was moving and fascinating, and the footage was spectacular…but I found out from Dr. Hoffman that twenty years later, this remarkable event has only been experienced by a relatively small number of people.
As an educator, I was struck by this missed opportunity to: give a fresh perspective about relevance of Torah; help everyone think about the connections between our most ancient traditions and scientific exploration. I saw a chance to put all of this into a film that would share this experience far and wide. Dr. Hoffman endorsed the idea and has enthusiastically agreed to participate in its production.
By May, I had assembled an accomplished and talented Production Team. They’ve since produced a trailer and started researching the shooting locations and interviews that will bring this story to life. With timely funding, it would be possible to start production the fall and have it completed within a year.
I hope you will join me in appreciating the importance of making this film — particularly at this time, and of being able to explore the full depth and breadth of the story, with the highest level of production values. To do this, we project a production budget of $100,000. We encourage you to spread the word about the project by passing along this link, and to thoughtfully consider becoming one of our sponsors.
If there’s anything more you’d like to know about the Space Torah Project, please contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Rachel Raz
Executive Producer