Please, let us say a prayer for Sharon's Refuah Sheleimah

my husband said we should say tehillim for Ariel Sharon. A friend of mine said we dont have to, we can, but dont have to because he is part of "corrupt israeli govt." isnt a jew a jew?

it is not just a physical healing that we bentch and daven for. It is a complete healing. That would include; moral, spiritual, ethical, psycholigical, and many other things that we need to heal, including physical.
Refuah = healing
Shalimu = complete
With that in mind it is hard to imagine why certain behaviors or associations would prohibit bentching, or making tefilah an individual yid.

Nechama,
"Isn't a Jew a Jew"? I've heard from reliable sources that halachically Ariel Sharon is NOT a Jew. His mother was a half Jew, in that her father was a Jew but her mother wasn't. However, she converted when Ariel was 10 years old. Ariel refused to convert, saying he was already Israeli. When entering the army, his commandant wanted him to convert and he refused. So the halachic test of being a Jew is that you are either born of a Jewish mother, which he wasn't, or taking on the yoke of Torah voluntarily, which he didn't do. So while he is 75% Jewish, he is not halachically a Jew.
Having said that, it does not preclude us from praying for his refua shleima.

M Yisroeli

Are you sure about your source in his yichus.
When he was elected the charedi papers ran articles stating that he had early charedi chinuch. One source or the other is wrong.
MKF

My source is considered a Gadol in Eretz Yisrael. So unless his information is faulty, I'm the laughing stock.
I'm not even sure he was raised Chareidi, but even if he were, it won't make him any more Jewish halachically unless he voluntarily took on the yoke.

I know "Raful" Eitan's mother was not Jewish, but Sharon's? Hard to believe. In his parents' generation, there was almost no intermarriage between Jews and Russians. Every once in a while, I hear stories about how Peres's mother was an Arab. How she could have been an Arab when Peres was born in Poland is beyond me.

And what charedi education could Sharon have on a socialist moshav?

According to http://judaism.about.com/od/politics/p/bio_arielsharon.htm , he is Jewish.

"Sharon was born Ariel Scheinermann on February 27, 1928 in Kfar Malal in pre-state Israel. His father was a Jew of German-Polish origin, and his mother was a Jew of Russian origin. As veterans of the Second Aliyah, Sharon's parents were socialists with a secular worldview."

Alex,
Is what you have here an "authoritative source"? Most people outside the orthodox community assume people to be Jewish when they may not be, halachically. It is common knowlege within certain circles that the mother did convert. The source you show does not reflect that fact. I'm not disputing your findings. I'm just saying it would be nice to get the same information from a halachically authoritative source. Many people call themselves Jewish who are not Jewish halachically.
According to my sources, Sharon's maternal grandfather was a Jew and grandmother was not. We have frummed up and have a better sense of halacha than they did 70 years ago. So calling herself Jewish when only her father was wouldn't have been a big deal those days.
Again, I'm not disputing your findings, I just wish it were a halachically authoritative source.

As far as I remember, both of his parents were from Belarus. The couple lived in Azerbajan for a brief time before moving to Israel. How exactly did they classify one into "German-Polish" and another into "Russian"?

Alex,
After a little reflection, I think the excerpt you posted is not inconsistent with my assertion. Don't forget, public biographical sketches of Ariel Sharon started to surface as a result of his heroic work in the army. So that's at least 15 to 20 years after his mother's conversion. A reporter or archivist writing a biographical sketch would not ask "Was your mother born Jewish?" They know her to be Jewish now and the assumption is that she was born Jewish. Not only that, having been half Jewish most people would have considered her Jewish even before her conversion. So the excerpt you posted is not inconsistent with what I said. When the story was being written it was halachically accurate. The problem was his Jewish status at birth not his mother's status when the biographical story was written.

Was his mother's mother jewish? Was his mother's mother's mother jewish? His mother married a jewish man, why was she drawn to this, why did she convert? Could it be possible that somewhere someone is jewish, thus making him jewish?

A general in Israel...could he not be jewish? Why would a non-jewish person, become a general in israel?

Katja,
Apparently, his mother's mother was not Jewish. That's the problem.
Don't forget that the Zionists were not heavy on halacha. There are many people during that era who defined themselves Jewish loosely. Today we are a lot more machmir. I'm sure he is not the only one. I know a few Russians in Israel who are not Jews. Most claim not to be Jews but others do, on the basis of their names...like "Jacobinsky" or something like that. So if you are Olga Jacobinsky and you claim to be Jewish no one generally disputes it. A name like this simply means that your father is probably of Jewish descent, nothing more. He may not even be Jewish.

so the bottom line, is the prime minister of israel not jewish?

quote:

Originally posted by MosheYisraeli:
My source is considered a Gadol in Eretz Yisrael.

What is the source?

Instead of dragging Gedolim into this one, I suggest you take a look at Sh 'ah Tova Hahadashot written around April 22, 2005 and tell me what you think. It's a sizeable article.

Isn't all these comments, simply here say? It could be that a simple blood test may reviel that he is a decendant of david!

The man did alot for the establishment of israel...what is the purpose of this debate? To find fault in someone?

B"H
I agree with Katja. If Ariel Sharon is indeed a full-fledged Jew, those who have sought to libel his name will one-day have to give an account for "Lashon Ha-ra." I think the subject-matter of this thread serves to no good purpose.
Sincerely, David

David & Katja,
I agree with both of you except we were discussing halacha. Many people today call themselves Jews and I accept that. Since we are in a forum where halacha is discussed, I thought this would be a pertinent issue. Sharon calls himself a Jew, Am Yisrael accepts and embraces him as a Jew....that's all that matters in real life. But in halacha it's different. The information I have is compelling enough this would not be richlus or lashon hara. It is not heresay. He is a public figure and saying that his halachic status is out of bounds is absurd, but I leave it at that. It's a non-issue. The next time another non-Jew rises in our ranks we can also embrace him as a Jew in the interest of avoiding lashon hara. This thread is dead.

P.S One can be descendant of David and still not be a Jew.

B"H
Moshe, my dear friend,
Even if you were to say that Arik Sharon is not a Jew, what is point, or what is it that you wish to accomplish by all this? That people will hate him after he is gone from this world?
If the issue is strictly and purely a halachic question, you could have always raised the same issues & questions by using anonymity.

We ought to be very careful about libeling any man, especially when it carries the potential of infringing upon "Motzee Shem Ra," which thing is actually worse than "lashon Ha-ra." ("Lashon Ha-ra" might be true, whereas "Motzee Shem Ra" is not true at all!)

Your friend,
David