A moving cornerstone laying ceremony took place on September 4, 2018 for the Asaf Ramon Pre-Military Academy. The academy will be built in Mitzpe Ilan, the northern Israeli village named for Asaf’s father, Ilan Ramon, who was Israel’s first astronaut. The pre-military academy will serve high school graduates from Israel’s social and geographical periphery who are strongly motivated to serve the country and advance in Israeli society.
Participants at the ceremony included Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Ilan’s widow and Assaf’s mother Rona Ramon, KKL-JNF World Chairman Daniel Atar, Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Galant, Menashe Regional Council Head Ilan Sadeh, Astronauts Garrett Reisman, Mike Massimino and Leland Melvin, and other distinguished guests from Israel and abroad.
At the site of the future Beit Asaf Ramon Pre-military Academy in Mitzpe Ilan.
Photo: Guy Assayag, KKL-JNF Photo Archive
Rona Ramon, who is the president of the Ramon Foundation, has been leading the project since its inception and helped coordinate between all the various donors and stakeholders. After the Ilan and Asaf Ramon Foundation raised 2 million shekels for the building of the structure, the KKL France leadership decided to join the effort and to adopt the Beit Asaf pre-military academy. This decision received the full support of KKL-JNF World Chairman Daniel Atar. KKL-JNF added another 2.5 million shekels for construction of the academy, a sum that will enable it to move to its permanent home during the current year of activities.
The pre-military academy, which is expected to open in 2019, will be named for Asaf Ramon, of blessed memory, who was killed in the line of duty as an Israeli Air Force Pilot when his F-16 plane crashed in the southern Hebron mountain range nine years ago.
President Reuven Rivlin told the audience about a meeting he had with Rona Ramon a few months ago, at the bible study group at his residence in Jerusalem.
“The group spoke about the meaning of the book of Job, and she said three things that I will never forget. The first was – and I quote – ‘our basic task as parents and as human beings is to develop and to believe in the next generation.’ The second thing that Rona said was that what brought her back to life, and what motivated her to become active after the terrible loss of Asaf, was a very sensitive, wise and wonderful sentence that her precious son wrote.
“Asaf wrote that he and his brothers were privileged to realize their dreams based on the belief that everyone needs to find their purpose in life within themselves. And the third thing that she said was a magnificent insight about Job, and once again I quote: ‘We are not opening a new page, we bring the whole book with us and begin anew from there, because nothing can express or give solace for who was lost.’”
The President added: “the Beit Asaf Pre-Military Academy, whose permanent home we are dedicating together today, is a concrete realization of your first insight, your commitment to develop and believe in the next generation. A year at the academy is an expression of our uncompromising belief in each and every student, these amazing young people who will go very far one day. Your second insight, the sentence that Asaf wrote, that everyone needs to find their purpose in life within themselves – that is our greatest wish, and it is directed towards you, the students of the academy.
“It is our hope that you – the children, the teenagers, all the young people around us - should have the highest of aspirations, and should find your goal in life within yourselves, the place where your heart directs you. And that we shouldn’t get in your way, and that we even help you to reach it. This is our task, to make the ‘Israeli dream’ accessible to every single young person in Israel. And yes, we still have a lot of work to do in order to make that wish come true. Your year at the pre-military academy, which you have just begun, is a giant step in that direction. This is a step that you chose to take, out of the knowledge that it will help you to realize your dreams, to enlist in the army, to open doors for yourselves and to integrate into society later on.
“Your third insight, Rona, which is relevant for everyone here, is the knowledge that each and every one of us brings their ‘book’ with them. You don’t open a new page, you bring yourself with you. The pain, the failures, the successes. And it is this, this very unique combination, which is your greatest strength. This is what can help you to start anew. You have made a courageous first step, and now you need to succeed. And there are many people who believe in you and want you to succeed. I repeat your words once again, Rona, because I am certain that these words are the very heartbeat of this building and of the process that the students will experience.”
Asaf’s brother Yiftach read aloud a message written by their mother Rona regarding the establishment of Beit Asaf:
“‘My brothers and I were taught to aspire to realizing our dreams on the basis of the belief that everyone should find their goal in life within themselves’. This is something my son Asaf would say, and it is what led me to commemorate my loved ones through a legacy of life, the establishment of the Ramon Foundation and Beit Asaf. The name ‘Beit Asaf’ (Assaf House) was born during the difficult days when we sat shiva after Asaf was killed. Beit Asaf is an idea that was born out of great pain and suffering.’
Yiftach Ramon. Photo: Guy Assayag, KKL-JNF Photo Archive
“Today, the 24th of Elul, which is the Hebrew date of when Asaf fell in the course of duty, we are making our vision into reality together with our partners: the community of Mitzpe Ilan and the Echad Mishelanu Pre-military Academy. Today we begin the construction of Beit Asaf, a warm home for young people at the beginning of their independent journeys. Friends and partners contributed and offered their support on the way to realizing this vision, including KKL-JNF - which joined us at the highpoint of our efforts, and without which this dream would never have been realized – philanthropic foundations and business, and thousands of donors – friends of Ilan and Asaf from the Israeli Air Force family, from Dan to Eilat and from the United States. This was a very moving process that included so many people who dedicated themselves to the cause.”
KKL-JNF World Chairman Daniel Atar noted that this site would become a home for future soldiers, future officers, and leaders in the educational and social fields.
“The critical junction between youth and adult life will be experienced here and the torch will be passed on to the coming generations. Thanks to what these young people can accomplish with their own ten fingers, together with the tools and the belief in themselves that they will acquire in the academy, the sky is the limit. Or, as the Ramon family believes and has taught us all, even the sky isn’t the limit.”
Yossi Shishman, a graduate of the ‘Ehad Mishelanu’ Pre-Military Academy, emotionally described his journey in the academy: “After I completed two and a half years in rehabilitation, I went to the ‘Ehad Mishelanu’ Pre-Military Academy, in order to save my life, to earn another year, to earn whatever I could, in order to stand here now and represent my year, my academy, my brigade, and of course my team. I worked hard, and I gave up everything I once was attached to in order to reach a better place. Of course it’s more difficult and challenging, but it’s worth it for me a thousand times over!”
About the Beit Asaf Pre-Military Academy
The Beit Asaf Pre-Military Academy is part of the Ehad Mishelanu Pre-Military Academy, which was opened in 2011 for young people from Israel’s social periphery. The branch named for Captain Asaf Ramon is geared for twelfth-grade graduates, both secular and religious, who come from Israel’s social periphery -including youth villages, dormitories, rehabilitation centers and other placement centers - all of whom are highly motivated to serve their county in the Israeli army and integrate well into Israeli society.
A certain percentage of the students were not able to enlist in the army due to crimes they committed or due to their complicated past. At the end of a year in the pre-military academy, where the students undergo a meaningful and profound experience, these same young people are drafted for significant military service. Out of 264 Ehad Mishelanu students, 257 have been accepted in the Israeli army, out of which 217 are doing combat duty and 50 have joined elite units.
The pre-military academy’s Beit Asaf extension began operating in 2016 in a temporary structure which became no longer suitable. As part of KKL-JNF’s strategic cooperation with the Pre-Military Academies Council, and in accordance with the organization’s values and goals, the KKL-JNF leadership approved the budget for building Beit Asaf through the Ramon Foundation, thereby enabling the academy’s move to its permanent home in Mitzpe Ilan, which is located near the new city of Harish.