10 years ago, on the 10th of Shvat (February 2nd), [then] Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced, for the first time ever, to journalist Yoel Marcus of Haaretz, his plans to dismantle the Jewish settlements of Gush Katif.
On the 10th of Shvat, yesterday, 10 years later, Ariel Sharon died.
Another point added is that the original announcement 10 years ago was at 1:58pm, and his time of death is noted at 1:58pm.
I have no idea what the significance is, if any, but the chances of this happening - dying on the same day at the same moment, seem to me to be about as good as the chances of winning the lottery...and it seems eerie..
Baruch Dayan HaEmes
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Fact check: the Haaretz article was published on 3 Feb 2004. Time is given as 12am, though that might just be because their DB wasn't saving times at that stage. Presumably Yoel Marcus had more than 12 hours to write it up, and there's no evidence to suggest that it was originally published at 1:58pm.
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify: given that the article was published on 3 Feb, it is at least plausible that Marcus interviewed Sharon on 2 Feb, and/or submitted his article for publication on that date. But it's kinda disingenuous to say that this was definitely so, and even more so to extrapolate that anything significant happened at exactly 1:58pm on that date.
DeleteEither way, I hope his eight years in a coma were something of a kappora to him. I don't know what earthly suffering could possibly expiate his burden of having destroyed the homes (and often, the lives) of 10,000 innocent people, and I'll leave that between him and his Maker to straighten out. I won't detract from the good things that he did in his life, but his last signal act was one of unabashed cruelty and evil, for which, to my knowledge, he never did teshuva. He died a rasha, and I, for one, will not mourn him.
it is at least plausible that Marcus interviewed Sharon on 2 Feb, and/or submitted his article for publication on that date.
Deletehe did the actual interview before. i remember hearing marcus talking about the interview days before it was published.
I suspect the english article you link to is not the original. maybe the Hebrew was. anyways, I asked and was pointed to the following ynet article from Feb 2, 2004 at 1:58 pm http://m.ynet.co.il/article.aspx?id=2868709 thats not the original Yoel Marcus article either, but this is the one that is at 1:58pm 10 years ago to the day (Hebrew date) and it refers to an announcement made the same day by Sharon
DeleteOK, that's pretty cool. But then... here's a fact check on the other end: according to Wikipedia says 2pm.
DeleteSorry, my reply got truncated.
DeleteFact check: JPost has his time of death at 1:50pm and Wikipedia has it at 2pm. Where's the source that he died at 1:58? If JPost is right we could darshen that he was spared 8 minutes of suffering for each of the 8 years he spent in a coma...
Saul, get back to work
DeleteIt's cute. But if there had been some other interesting event on some other 10th of Shvat, that could have also been the rumor.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem mourning him, even though the Gush katif disengagement was a terrible act. We do not know the ways of Hashem, so we cannot say, that he was in a coma because of whatever. I prefer to look at all the good things he did in the army, and the whole settlement enterprise. If anything, one can say he had a certain logic, in that as Begin said he was giving up in Sinai in order to keep Judea and Samaria, Sharon said the same thing regarding Gush Katif. I also feel that he became PM far too late in his life. In fact just as there ia a law that peopleover 67 have t retire, why should our leaders be allowed to continue? It is obvious that as people get older, their mind is not as good as before, they may not be able to think straight, and depend on others, sometimes not always best for them. So Sharon in his later years depended on Olmert, Omri, and the rest is history.
ReplyDeleteהוֹי הָאֹמְרִים לָרַע טוֹב וְלַטּוֹב רָע שָׂמִים חֹשֶׁךְ לְאוֹר וְאוֹר לְחֹשֶׁךְ שָׂמִים מַר לְמָתוֹק וּמָתוֹק לְמָר.
Delete- ישעיהו ה כ
Nowhere near the chances of winning the lottery. For an "eerie coincidence" like this, one match is as good as an other, and obviously Sharon had to have been doing *something* exactly 10 years before he died
ReplyDelete