MISSION ACCOMPLISHED Today the former flight squadron commander at the Sdeh Dov military base has a new mission_— making a kiddush Hashem (Photos: Shlomi Cohen)

B

ack in 2005 relations betweenIsraelandTurkeywere on the upswing and Ofer Langer a top pilot in the Israeli Air Force was inAnkarafor a visit.

He had just piloted a plane for his boss Gen. (res.) Eliezer Shkedi so that the general could have a sit-down with his Turkish counterparts.

The two men knew each other well. Shkedi had been Langer’s first teacher at flight school and the general was happy that his pupil was in the cockpit atSdehDovAirport.

“Langer” the general said with a smile and a friendly slap on the shoulder “with you in the cockpit I can be calm.”

When the plane landed the Turks rolled out the red carpet and greeted the Israeli delegation warmly. Langer guided his plane to a VIP holding area where it would remain for the three-day visit.

Then he struck up a conversation with the Turkish security guard watching the plane.

“We spoke about Israel and Turkey and I quickly discovered that he knew a lot about Judaism” Langer recalls in an interview with Mishpacha. “He told me that he had studied Sefer Kuzari and that he knew a lot of history about Am Yisrael.”

The two had a long discussion and when it was time to part Langer complimented the man on the extent of his Jewish knowledge. And then the man showed Langer that he knew even more than he had imagined perhaps more than Langer himself.

“You’re a Jew right?” the man asked. “If so why aren’t you wearing a kippah? As far as I know a Jew is supposed to wear a kippah all the time. Why don’t you?”

“At first I was in shock” Langer recalls. “I thought where did he get that question from? I was already quite deep into the teshuvah process but the kippah was a step I could not yet bring myself to take.”

Langer stammered as he attempted to explain why he was kippah-less. He told the man that a kippah was only a custom and that not everyone wore one but the Turk was having none of it.

“The truth is” Langer says “I was more concerned that I myself didn’t quite accept the answer I was offering him.”

NO HALO While others view pilots as national heroes for Langer it was just something he did well

There in an airplane hangar in Turkey wearing his Israeli military uniform something shifted. Langer raised his eyes to the Heavens and felt the spark that had grown inside of him kindle into a flame. He understood that the conversation with the Turkish soldier was a sign from Above. And he couldn’t ignore it.

“I don’t think that because of this I decided to put on a kippah. Not at all. But it was definitely a significant moment in which I looked into the eyes of a non-Jew and for the first time in my life I was ashamed that my head was bare.”