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I think that this story should be told because it's a special story, a special moment in the lives of three people. It demonstrates many, many things for both Jew and non-Jew, it also reminds [us] of what people can descend to, on one hand, and what other persons can ascend to.
      -Joachim Joseph, PhD

Introduction
Dawn is breaking on the morning of February 1, 2003 above West Texas. Suddenly the peace of the early morning is shattered by two loud bangs. The Space Shuttle Columbia is announcing its return home, causing sonic booms as it streaks across the sky at three times the speed of sound. The shuttle is speeding toward a Florida homecoming. But in an instant, onlookers below and controllers in Houston are stunned at what they see. Something has gone horribly wrong. The shuttle has broken up, vanished! Gone is its precious cargo of seven astronauts from around the world. Among them, Col. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first Astronaut.

Also gone, an artifact that embodied the glory of the Shuttle's mission and the despair of its demise: a tiny Torah scroll - smuggled into a concentration camp during the Holocaust; safeguarded by Joachim Joseph, a Holocaust survivor; and carried into space by Col. Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut. It is a unique story that interweaves the heights of scientific achievement, the depths of a nation's cruelty, the private grief of a boy who came of age during the Holocaust, and the public mourning of many nations in the aftermath of the Columbia Shuttle disaster. To fulfill the promise that a boy in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp made during the Holocaust - to use the Torah scroll to tell the world what happened in the camp - West Street Productions, LLC will produce AN ARTICLE OF FAITH, an hour-long film exploring the journey of the Torah from pre-World War II Europe, to Israel, to the United States, and to space. Combining historical and ethical inquiry, the film will appeal to audiences of a variety of faiths and nationalities, making the story of the Holocaust and the Shuttle disaster relevant to multiple audiences.

The Story
In the spring of 1944, Joachim Joseph - "Yoya" - as his friends call him - was nearing his 13th birthday as an inmate of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Among his fellow inmates was the former Chief Rabbi of Holland, who prepared Joseph for his coming-of-age ceremony, his Bar Mitzvah. Each morning they rose at 4:00 a.m. to secretly study the Torah, on a tiny scroll that the Rabbi had smuggled into the camp. On the morning of Joseph's Bar Mitzvah, each of the inmates in the barracks gathered before dawn to celebrate, secretly and with whatever meager means they had, his being called to the Torah. In the evening the Rabbi told Joseph that he was sure he would not come out of the camp alive, and he was giving the Torah to Joseph on the condition that Joseph tell the world the story of what happened in the camp.

Joachim Joseph and some members of his family survived the Holocaust and eventually settled in Israel. Joseph finished his schooling in the United States, started a family, and became a scientist. His work studying atmospheric physics, where he pioneered experiments examining the ways in which dust particles in the atmosphere affect the climate, brought him together with Col. Ilan Ramon, the talented Israeli pilot who became the first Israeli astronaut. Ramon was slated to conduct experiments aboard Columbia for an Israeli team on the ground headed by Joseph.

But science was just part of the "mission" aboard Columbia for Col. Ramon. As Israel's first astronaut, Ramon knew he shouldered more responsibilities, and he knew in some way he had to make his statement, to make his presence known, not only for his country, but as a Jew.

Joseph and Ramon became more than just colleagues. They developed a warm friendship that deepened upon learning of their common bond. When Ramon visited Joseph in his home, he saw a tiny Torah scroll and asked him about its origins. When Joseph told Ramon that the Torah had traveled with him from Bergen-Belsen, Joseph recalls that:

He heard that and he fell silent. I remember he got up and paced back and forth. He said... "I've got to think about this." And then he told me one other sentence, "You know, my mother and my grandmother are graduates of Auschwitz." And then we didn't talk about it anymore, and a few months later he called me on the phone from Houston and he said…"Can I take your Torah to space?" He asked me if he could take the Torah scroll to space because he thought he would show it to the world as a symbol of how a person can…"Go from the depths of hell to the heights of space."

In bringing the Torah scroll with him on the Space Shuttle Columbia, Ramon helped Joseph fulfill the promise that he had made to the Rabbi nearly sixty years ago. At the same time, Ramon embodied the pride and hopes of Israel as the nation made its first foray into space. Although the Space Shuttle Columbia tragically was lost on February 1, 2003, the opportunity to continue to tell this story lives on through the legacy of Col. Ramon.

The Project
West Street Productions has conducted preliminary interviews with Joachim Joseph and plans to travel to Israel to film members of the family of the Columbia crew Astronauts, while on a V.I.P. visit. We also plan to film other parts of the Torah story while there. This filming, in addition to historical research, will form the basis of a "film treatment" to be shared with PBS, which has expressed an interest in supporting the project, along with other broadcast networks.

Once the treatment is created and additional funding is secured, filming will take place in the United States, Europe, and Israel, in order to create a one-hour documentary to be produced in High Definition Television for widespread public distribution.

West Street Productions is led by Dan Cohen, a Six-Time regional Emmy Award® winning producer whose credits include nearly thirty years as a Television Journalist and Producer. His assignments have taken him from the launching of America's first Space Shuttle to the war coverage in the Middle East. Dan Cohen has spent nearly three decades producing live television news broadcast, instant specials, and investigative reports.

The Impact
AN ARTICLE OF FAITH will explore topics such as:

• The responsibility of remembrance - Why must we remember the past? Does our remembrance create change?
• The Holocaust - What happened in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp? Why would a small group of oppressed, starving inmates risk their lives to carry out a centuries-old religious tradition? Is the Holocaust the Jews' history or everyone's history?
• The Columbia Space Shuttle disaster - Should a scientific endeavor of such tremendous costs and risks continue to be undertaken?
• Col. Ramon's mission and his message - in what ways did Col. Ramon create an international platform for examining the ethical issues of the Holocaust?
• The Columbia Shuttle crew - How did this multi-national crew form a strong, cohesive team? What was their reaction to Col. Ramon's personal mission with the Torah?
• Heroism - Who is the hero of this story: Col. Ramon, Joachim Joseph, or the Rabbi who perished in the concentration camp? How do we define heroism?

The documentary will be appropriate for a variety of educational venues, and an ancillary educational curriculum may be created.

THE JOURNEY OF THE TINY TORAH will continue the legacy of a promise made during the Holocaust, in a place of anguish, and carried out in space, in a place of friendship and hope. The film will ensure that the generations of today and tomorrow will learn about the mission behind the mission, the special journey that a tiny Torah took from the lowest depths of the Holocaust to the vast expanse of the universe.