Mezuzas Blast Off to Outer Space
Mezuzas created by Judaica designer Laura Cowan will soon be, literally, out of this world.
Cowan has been making space-travel themed ritual objects since she moved to Israel from London several years ago. But that didn’t prepare her for the e-mail she received in January, from American Jewish astronaut Greg Chamitoff, about her rocket-inspired mezuzas.
“He said that two of his friends had bought them and asked him to take them into space,” Cowan said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
In May, Chamitoff will set off for the International Space Station, a research facility that orbits the earth, with two of Cowan’s mezuzas — one named for the Apollo, NASA’s 1960s moon-landing mission, and one inspired by the design of a space shuttle —among the small number of personal belongings he is allowed to bring. He will live on board the space station for six months.
Cowan, who primarily works with such metals as aluminum and stainless steel, told The Shmooze that she sees her art as a marriage between “something very futuristic and something very ancient.”
Asked whether she plans to stay in contact with Chamitoff, she demurred.
“I’ll send him an e-mail,” she said, “but he’s a busy astronaut, so I don’t want to bother him too much.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
