Apparently that didn't happen. The land, the fields cleared for the thousands of cars and buses stayed empty. Most Israelis who remember Arik Sharon feel ambivalent at best, and many are still steaming mad.
Two hours before Ariel Sharon was scheduled to be buried, the large crowd expected at the funeral ceremony had not materialized. Only a few dozen people had showed up at Havat Hashikmim – Sycamore Ranch – in the Negev, where the legendary general and former prime minister was to be laid to rest, reported Maariv-NRG.
The civilians who came to pay their last respects were far outnumbered by hundreds of police and ushers at Givat Hakalaniyot, where Sharon will be laid to rest next to his late wife, Lily.
Organizers even gave instructions to some of the people employed at the funeral to take part in the event as if they were regular members of the crowd, so as to honor the occasion with a more respectable showing. (complete article click)
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Security was massive at the Shikmim Farm near Sderot in the northern Negev, the home of Ariel Sharon, who was buried Monday. |
Sharon's death has dredged up memories for good and for bad. Today when a new neighbor (just over a year in Shiloh vs our thirty-two-- he may have been born after we came) I had never met before offered to drive home, all the way to my house I felt it necessary to make a point of telling him that my neighborhood was one of Arik Sharon's better decisions. But then we both agreed that the bad, the evil he did weighs heavier. I've been hearing reports that the Disengagement DP's, those torn from their homes of all ages have been especially agitated and angry. All of the praise we hear about Sharon by the media is just reopening the wounds of Disengagement.
Some people have been trying to "guess" that maybe Ariel Sharon repented in some way during the eight years he lay unable to communicate with people but showing signs that his mind did work. That sort of repentance wouldn't cleanse the sins against people or the Holy Land of Israel which were the results of Disengagement. I have no doubt that if he had tried to communicate with G-d that he was sorry, then somehow G-d would have found a way to get the message to Sharon's sons. If Omri and Gilad had apologized for Disengagement in the name of their father, if they would have used their wealth and influence for the DP's, the displaced people, those torn from their homes, that would be a different story. If Omri and Gilad would have admitted that Disengagement had been a terrible, dangerous mistake that we're unfortunately paying for and will pay for a long time more, then I'd feel more charitable and then the amcha would have come in the numbers the family had been expecting.
PS I wouldn't be all that surprised if there isn't an earthquake in the area of Sharon's farm...
8 comments:
I'm not surprised Ariel Sharon is not being given his just due in death exactly as he didn't give others their just due in life. Somehow, its turned out to be all very fitting, indeed!
When one does evil, one's funeral is going to be a very lonely affair.
And that is exactly what has happened! No one in Israel cares that Sharon has died.
The near empty seats at his funeral tell the tale.
This is one funeral I've resolutely shunned!
Norman, there has also been a dearth of "Z"L" after his name, which the secular media frequently uses after Rabin's.
Batya,
The most delicious send-off of all came from the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, who fired rockets at Sharon's ranch!
Looks like the fruits of his Disengagement landed close to home.
It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy!
batya. as you know i am a believing gentile for the last 22 years. i thank you for allowing me to participate in your blog. you need not have had to, considering the harm non jews have done to your people thro every generation.
i will not be reading your blog anymore. its no loss to you or the others, i do know that. but if i continue reading your blog atleast as what your wrote today i am afraid i might loose something of what my rabbis and torah tutors taught me all these years. people should write in the same level of consciousness expected from human beings. my rabbis taught me that all human beings from adam were made in G-d's image. this is not physically but in terms of qualities, compassion etc. if we speak ill or curse any human being, its like cursing the Creator Who made us.
i feel this last blog writing of yours and the comments is appalling. i dont see any difference between the words written here between jews and gentiles. i would like to add that he died before shabbat ended, he died on the yahrzeit of a very holy rebbe and the beginning of the last rebbe. all these are Hashem's blessings to an icon He created. i wonder how many of you were ever on the front line in a war, and how many of you were responsible to the security G-d blessed him to give israel as a result of thousands of jewish babies being born. i can understand now why rebbe menachem schneerson told not to read or watch the media, today's media. i used to read eveyrthing connected to israel. but this blog and the comments today, does not seem to be the jewish people i have studied about in the tanach, nor the jewish people Hashem promised to the non jewish world to be a light to all nations,. my rabbi told me baseless hatred still has not left the jewish people. how far its true or not true i dont know. only Hashem Knows everyone's hearts. what i do know as a noahide is what you wrote today and the comments is everything not in line with my torah studies and the chofetz chaim's teachings or my rabbis or the great sages who asked every jew to love one another. r nachman told that we must do our best to seek even one good quality in a non observant jew. the cnn was full of the funeral, and what some of sharon's own did not attend or see, many non muslims all over the world saw, appreciated and thanked G-d for bringing a man of such courage to this world. during the last two years i prayed for ariel sharon. How Hashem sees my prayers is entirely for Him to Know. i dont have any regrets about that. but i do regret bitterly ever reading today's article on your blog. the arabs could not have done better in spewing so much hatred. rabbi meir's wife told him,not to hate the sinner, but only the sins. if an earth quake comes it will not be because of sharon. all the prophets predicted of a huge quake. its Hashem's Will.
and for anyone to wish evil to a dead man and his family in the form of a quake leaves me speechless. we visit jewish blogs to learn all the goodness of the torah taught and the sages taught, not to learn about baseless hatred. we have enough of that in our world and lives.
thank you for the space and time. G-d bless.
rainbow, good luck on your journey. We'll miss you here. Judaism is very complex. Let that suffice.
Blessings from the holy City of Shiloh.
Batya, I want so badly to defend you from the subtle form of antisemitism being displayed (perhaps unknowingly) by your last commenter! So many who speak/write like that expect us to be perfect and walk away when, in their eyes, we're not.
All blessings to you and everyone in Shiloh.
CDG, Yerushalayim
Batya, I respectfully disagree. I don't think the low turnout had anything to do with the "Disengagement." If anything, it would have been likely to have caused more people to come since the majority of the media and NGO's are so left wing.
I saw a very telling comment by David Ha'Ivri on FB today--or yesterday. He said that the low turnout was most likely the result of Sharon having been in a coma and deemed pretty much "dead" for so long already.
What do you think?
CDG, she's being taught a very simple version of Judaism. I'm confusing her.
Eitan,
Eitan, Disenagment's a cloud hovering over everything concerning Sharon.
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