MONTREAL — Could there be better free publicity on – or off – the planet than to have it revealed that the renowned Montreal bagel has been eaten among the stars?
Or can bagels be so good as to be literally out of this world?
That was the case recently after media across Canada reported that Montreal-born astronaut Greg Chamitoff, aboard the Discovery space shuttle on his way to a six-month stay at the International Space Station, lifted off on May 31 carrying with him 18 authentic Montreal sesame seed bagels from the Fairmount Bagel Factory.
It couldn’t hurt, of course, that Chamitoff’s aunt, Mona Shlafman, owns the business.
Gregory “is in touch with us all the time,” said Cote St. Luc resident Shlafman, whose late brother, Usher (also known as Ashley), was Chamitoff’s father.
“He called us up and said he would like to take some bagels along.”
The general media got wind of it through a family friend, Sol Boxenbaum, who disclosed the news on a program he hosts on radio station CJAD.
“After that, people were calling us left, right and centre,” Shlafman said.
As was reported in a March 27 CJN interview, Chamitoff and his family moved to California when he was 11 after spending his formative years in Chomedey, Laval.
Shlafman said that although her nephew was originally informed he could take a mere seven bagels along as part of a “wish list” the astronauts get, she sent him four packages of six anyway, of which he was ultimately allowed to bring three on board.
Shlafman, who sent the bagels to her nephew only one day before blastoff to maximize their freshness, is also pretty confident they were all eaten up by the time the crew got to the Space Station two days later.
She said the recent media coverage has been the most the family has gotten since the Bagel Factory reopened its doors almost 30 years ago. She said if St. Viateur Bagel – the city’s other main contender for king of the bagel hill and only one block away – was in any way envious about the publicity, “they didn’t show it,” and were in fact very gracious.
Her nephew always enjoys her bagels during his visits to Montreal, she said, including prior to the current mission when he and the Discovery crew underwent training on the Canadian-designed robotic arm at the Canadian Space Agency in Longueuil.
Shlafman said she was “very, very nervous” prior to her nephew’s liftoff, but said he received spiritual support through “two beautiful Jewish prayers” given to him by Shlafman’s daughter, Rhonda, and granddaughter Jacqueline Rose, 7, a student at United Talmud Torahs in Snowdon.
In his personal possessions kit, Chamitoff also carried with him on board two rocket-shaped, handcrafted mezuzot designed by Tel Aviv judaica silversmith and artisan Laura Cowan.
He is scheduled to return to Earth in the fall.