Ariel Sharon, z"l

After eight years of a comatose state and after deterioration in his health this past month, Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon finally passed away on Shabbat at the age of 85. Hi adopted son, Roni Schayak made the announcement.

Ariel Sharon, also known as Arik, was born as Ariel Scheinermann, (February 26^th 1928). He was an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel's 11^th Prime Minister.

He was born in Kfar Malal, then in the British Mandate of Palestine, to a family of Belarusian Jews. His parents fled the pogroms associated with the Russian Civil War. In 1942, at the young age of 14, Sharon joined the Gadna, a paramilitary youth battalion, and later the Haganah, the military precursor to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Sharon was a commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948. As a paratrooper and then an officer, he participated prominently in the 1948 War of Independence, becoming a platoon commander in the Alexandroni Brigade and participating in many battles. He was an instrumental figure in the creation of Unit 101 - a Special Forces unit, the Retribution Operations, the 1956 Suez War, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. As Minister of Defense, he directed the 1982 Lebanon War.

During his military career, he was considered the greatest field commander in Israel's history, and one of the country's greatest ever military strategists. His career was characterized by insubordination, aggression and disobedience, but also brilliance as a commander. After his assault of the Sinai in the Six-Day War and his encirclement of the Egyptian Third Army in the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli public nicknamed him "The King of Israel" and "The Lion of G-d".

After retiring from the army, Sharon joined the Likud party, and served in a number of ministerial posts in Likud-led governments in 1977–92 and 1996–99. He became the leader of the Likud in 2000, and served as Israel's Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.