Skip to main content

Note: We deliver all images in WebP format. Since September 2022, all modern browsers are supporting this format. It seems you are using an older browser that cannot display images in WebP format. Please update your browser.

How Purim Relates to Aerospace History

Object in Showcase

This space-suit costume was supposed to be sold for Purim 2003. The very first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who launched into space as part of a research mission on 16 January 2003, was destined to be a national hero.

Religious Observance in Orbit

He was accompanying six American colleagues on the Space Shuttle Columbia research mission. Ramon consulted with a rabbi before going into orbit on questions of Jewish observance in space. If there is a sunset every 90 minutes, should Shabbat be observed every ten and a half hours? And the New Year comes around every 20 days…

Purim Costumes and a Tragic Accident

Back on earth, the Jewish festival of Purim, commemorating the rescue of Persian Jews, fell on 17 March in 2013. As part of the holiday festivities, children wear costumes and often dress up as their heroes. That year, Israeli costume manufacturers prepared themselves for a rush on astronaut costumes. The products ranged from a close replica of Ramon's suit with an Israeli flag on the left shoulder and a NASA logo on the chest to simple boiler suits made of orange polyesters. The costumes were already on the market when the Columbia Shuttle exploded and the entire crew was tragically killed, shortly before the scheduled landing on the 1st of February.

A Costume Spurned

The vast stock of astronaut Purim costumes became a matter of hot debate. Many stores immediately withdrew the costumes from their shelves. Angry parents were frustrated that they were unable to buy the costume as a tribute to Ilan Ramon and their children muttered that they would rather be Batman. The costume shown here was acquired on a back street of Tel Aviv from a pile of costumes that had been withdrawn from distribution and is now part of the Jewish Museum Berlin's collection as one of several Purim costumes.

Orange astronaut costume with embroidered symbols.

Astronaut Purim costume; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe

Title Astronaut Purim costume
Collection Judaica
Location and year of origin Israel, 2003
Medium Synthetic fiber
Dimensions 104 x 35 cm

Selected Objects: Collection Jewish Object: Judaica (9)

  • Collection Jewish Object: Judaica

    Our collection of ceremonial objects ranges widely from a valuable eighteenth-century Torah curtain donated by Fromet and Moses Mendelssohn to contemporary ritual items to small kitchen supplies for following Jewish dietary laws.

  • Brass candlestick with straight edges and triangle shapes, for eight candles side by side and a smaller one in the middle

    Hanukkah Menorah made by Ludwig Wolpert

    Simple, elegant forms and functionality – this menorah, created in 1924, is one of the the first pieces of modern Judaica.

  • Painting of an orange on a blue background.

    Seder Plate by Harriete Estel Berman

    What is unusual about this contemporary seder plate is its additional recess for an orange, marking a new custom which has found growing popularity among feminists in recent decades.

  • Toy figures sit at a laid table.

    Hanukkah Toys

    Traditionally, the Jewish festival of lights doesn’t involve presents. But like Christmas, Hanukkah too is increasingly commercialized, and there is already color-coded gift wrap in the US.

  • An orange suit with an Israeli flag and NASA patches.

    Purim Costume

    This costume of the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, should have been a top seller for Purim. But then a tragic accident occurred.

  • Three color-coded scrubbing brushes in their packaging.

    Scouring Pads

    “No more kitchen confusion!” Three color-coded scrub brushes from the US make it easier to keep track of Jewish dietary rules.

  • Tora tops.

    Torah Ornaments by Kurt Matzdorf

    The artist Kurt J. Matzdorf is known for his modern interpretations. Alongside the classic materials of silver and gold, he used colored acrylic for his Judaica.

  • Embroidered gate curtain with lions and inscription.

    Torah Curtain Donated by the Mendelssohns

    Moses and Fromet Mendelssohn commissioned a Torah curtain, probably using the fabric from Fromet's wedding dress, and donated it to a synagogue in Berlin in 1774–75.

  • Silver and partially gold plated Torah shield with crown, lion and two-headed eagel

    Testimonial to a Family

    Torah shield (Tas) and box, Kitzingen, 1711/12, purchased in 2014

    Online Feature
    2021

  • Five silver and gold spice boxes imitating wild flowers

    Havdalah Besamim Set by Paula Newman Pollachek

    In our interview, the artist talks about how to create community with spice boxes.

Links to topics that may be of interest to you

Share, Newsletter, Feedback