By COLlive reporter
One of the lesser known tales told about Israel’s late prime minister Ariel Sharon is the one when his life was saved by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
It was on July 23, 1968, a year after Sharon successfully led a powerful division into the Six-Day War as a Major-General in the Israel Defense Forces.
Before returning to Israel, Sharon came to Lubavitch Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn to meet the Rebbe, with whom he had a unique relationship and countless encounters.
While speaking with the Rebbe, Sharon periodically checked his watch, as he was scheduled to return to Israel that night, Sara Levy wrote about that fateful meeting.
The Rebbe suggested that Sharon stay a little longer and take another flight. Sharon complied and they finished their conversation.
Later that night, El Al passenger flight 426 was hijacked by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Palestinian leftist terrorist organization founded in 1967.
Sharon was meant to be on that flight.
The aircraft, a Boeing 707, was hijacked on the London-Lod leg of the flight and diverted to Dar El Beida (renamed Houari Boumedienne Airport) in Algiers, the capital of Algeria.
All Jewish passengers were held for 5 weeks before being released unharmed. According to those released, the hijackers seemed to be looking for “someone important,” and they were enraged when they realized that he was not aboard.
It was later revealed that the entire incident was an operation executed to capture Ariel Sharon, known today as the greatest field commander in Israel’s history.
A while later, Rabbi Zev Segal of congregation Young Israel of Newark who served as President of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), decided to corroborate the story with the Rebbe himself.
He frequently met with the Rebbe about issues confronting the Jewish communities and on one occasion he asked the Rebbe whether the miracle story about Sharon was true.
He shared the Rebbe’s answer during an interview with JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe oral history project in May 2006:
Timely sale: 50% off the entire DVD collection of JEM – including the Faithful & Fortified documentary about the Rebbe’s behind-the-scenes involvement in Israel’s security. Get it now!
what a miracle
i heard this story years ago and apparently the Rebbe specifically asked Sharon to change planes in a certain city, I guess london….so I am sure the Rebbe saw much more than he was willing to say out of his humility….
I’m not trying to minimize the destruction of Gush Katif and the subsequent bombardment of Southern Israel, but without Sharon there’s would likely not be any settlements at all. Have a little moichin and look at the big picture.
Read the letter the Rebbe wrote him, in the link provided in the article and you will see that the Rebbe did not want him in politics. Gush Katif was after he became prime minister. In general the only person that free choice was taken from was Paroh.
interesting how he relates the story, very aloof, abstract way of speaking,,,
I don’t question the vurture of it, just the method of speaking, like “eh epes a maise” as something that happened very cold
but yes it is a known story, and see how one repays the gift of life,
more importantly how the rebbe would save a mans life even with such an outcome,,,
R. Segal did not say he heard it fRom sharon, so it is still not confirmed….
not since nazi germany but since menachem begin who also had a strong connection with the rebbe. bib next
Didn’t this story appear in Faithful and Fortified volume 3 with another witness to the story?
There are miracles and miracles. Let’s remember when the Rebbe said the words “I am saying that Moshiach is coming and this is a prophecy – now, go and tell the whole world!
Rabbi Kuti Rapp was very involved in this story and in many other amazing stories of the REBBE specifically those having to do with Israeli leadership.
We had a long debate if this story was true. WE came to a conclusion that it’s a fairy tale as nobody had any reliable source or proof for that. Now, with this video, this matter has been resolved once and for all. thanks for sharing.
AND SHARON REPAID THE REBBE…….BY DISMANTLING, UPROOTING, EXPELLING 8,000 MEN WOMEN AND CHILDREN FROM GUSH KATIF AND HANDING IT OVER TO OUR ENEMIES!
THE FIRST EVER FORCED REPATRIATION SINCE NAZI GERMANY