Space Torah

The Space Torah project was founded in 2016 by Rachel Raz to preserve and share the journey of NASA astronaut Dr. Jeff Hoffman with communities around the globe. For more information about the Space Torah project, please visit their website.

This film is the story of: how Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman realized a childhood dream by becoming an astronaut; how he was a key member of the spacewalking team that made critical repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope; how his own faith journey evolved as he took various Jewish objects on his five Space Shuttle missions; how his community came together to make it possible for that small Torah to be with him on his final flight, when we read from the book of Genesis while soaring through space “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

In 1996, NASA astronaut Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman brought a small Torah scroll on board Space Shuttle Colombia. On Shabbat, he read from the book of Genesis, while soaring through the firmament “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

”בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמיים ואת הארץ“

Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman was the first male Jewish American astronaut to go into space. He became a NASA Astronaut in 1978; participated in five Space Shuttle mission; and was the first astronaut to log 1,000 hours aboard the Space Shuttle. He has performed four spacewalks, including the first unplanned, contingency spacewalk in NASA history (STS 51D – April, 1985) and the initial rescue mission for the Hubble Space Telescope (STS 61 – December, 1993).

During his five missions on the Shuttle, he chose to bring various sacred Jewish objects including mezuzot that he posted on the entrance to his sleep compartment; dreidels that he spun during Hanukkah; and atarot from his sons’ tallitot that they used for their Bar-Mitzvahs…and years later, as chuppah covers at their weddings.

The highlight was the Torah he took with him on his fifth and final mission (STS 75 – February 1996). This fulfilled the vision of Jeff’s Rabbi in Houston, Shaul Osadchey, who, after years of searching, was able to locate a small Torah scroll that, while being complete and Kosher, would also be small enough to fit into the limited space that astronauts were given for personal items.

When the Torah was returned to their Synagogue, Dr. Hoffman and Rabbi Osadchey held presentations for young people to help them appreciate the majesty of Torah and its ongoing significance in our lives. The Space Torah still used today for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and for various other services, always making those services more special. As Dr. Hoffman likes to say, “It wasn’t so much that going into Space made the Torah special as it was that the Torah made Space more special by going there.”

The film has touched people from around the world — Jews and non-Jews alike — who have found wonder in the enduring holiness and power of bringing our most sacred human traditions with us, even as we go places where mankind has never been before.