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Legend has it that when George Mallory was asked why he had decided to climb Mount Everest, the British Mountaineer replied, "Because it is there."
Mallory has never been hailed as the first person to reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world. He disappeared in 1924 and his frozen body was discovered only 75 years later, about 250 meters from the summit.
The Beresheet spacecraft (Photo: SpaceIL / IAI) (Photo: SpaceIL / IAI)
Historians have to debate whether he has succeeded or not, but this has prompted New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay to claim the title of first men to climb Everest and return to life alive. 1953.
A few years later, on May 25, 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
"We chose to go to the moon.We chose to go to the moon during this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because They are difficult, "said the president in his historic speech. Kennedy was murdered, but his vision became reality in 1969.
When the Israeli space shuttle Beresheet began its journey on the moon, there was a lot of criticism: why spend so much money to send a probe to the moon instead of investing in health, the l? education and well-being?
Similar criticisms were heard when manned flights to the moon began 50 years ago. The Apollo project was dozens of times more expensive than Israel's modest spacecraft and was fully funded by the government.
The last image of Beresheet on the moon before its crash in the lunar surface
When Beresheet fell on the moon last week, the Internet was inundated with jokes about Israeli drivers, the victory of Benjamin Netanyahu and even the faux pas of politicians Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked who defeated them in the Knesset.
But despite criticism and mockery, it's safe to assume that if Beresheet had fulfilled his mission, by raising Israel's flag on the moon and making us the fourth country to have ever landed a spaceship, he would have filled us with immense pride, crossing political and sectoral boundaries.
Admittedly, Likud voters would say that this exploit was due to Benjamin Netanyahu; The voters of Meretz and the Blues and Whites claim that he and Sara simply introduced themselves into Yehud's control room, since it was a purely private enterprise; and the electors of Shas and United Torah Judaism would say that the hand of God was behind the success.
Yet for a few hours or even days, we would have all felt proud. Each of us would have the feeling of having played a part in the success, even though most of us have no idea of how to update the software on the computer. , let alone send a spaceship to the moon.
For a few hours, maybe even a few days, we would all have been Israeli together. No right or left; not "Just Bibi" or "Just not Bibi" – just Israelis. And in these difficult times, it's not an easy task.
Morris Kahn, left, with the Beresheet team (Photo: Yariv Katz)
Last weekend, the billionaire who sponsored the project, Morris Kahn, announced the launch of Beresheet 2 and promised that the Israeli flag would still be on the moon. Netanyahu also promised that the state would participate in the project this time around. Hoping that he will keep his word.
Certainly, a landing on the moon will not add a single bed to a hospital ward and will not help a disabled person living with a meager allowance, but will inspire hundreds of thousands of young people and prove them, as well as to everyone the sky is really the limit.
It's as inspiring as the Israeli scientists who conquered their own personal Everest this week when they created a living heart with the help of a 3D printer.
If you want to save the dying health system and the collapsing welfare system, I can offer you various sources of funding. But that's a subject for another time.
Of course, there is another reason why Israel should go to the moon. Because it's there.
Excelsior.
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