Ozzy on his Jewish wife
24.07.2025
His Jewish wife made him a rock legend - together with her he conquered the world and our hearts. The great Ozzy Osbourne died.
Ozzy Osbourne was not a Jew. But his wife Sharon was a Jew - such that in 2002 she insisted on a second ceremony of their wedding: this time according to the Jewish rite. Sharon wanted to shoot it for the second season of the series "The Osborn Family", in which the film crew followed all the family members on their heels.
"I'm not a Jew! I'm not a Jew!" - Osborne convinced the cameramen, nervous before the marriage ceremony with the participation of a rabbi. "But why don't you give them a chance?" Don Arden, Sharon's father, persuaded him. It was from him that she inherited her Jewish roots. After that second wedding with Ozzy, the woman convinced the whole family for many years that "a drop of Jewish blood flows in all of them" and they should "honor traditions". "Mom said: I feel Jewish more than anyone else. And you wouldn't need this feeling either," recalled Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy's daughter.
Well, Ozzy was horrified at that wedding when he saw a rabbi with a bowl for a kiddush. "There is kosher wine in the cup," the rabbi explained. "Because in Judaism, wine is a symbol of joy!" And only then the musician allowed himself to relax. "You know, I like this guy!" he said. That episode in the series was eloquently called "My big fat Jewish wedding".
It is not known whether the wedding vows or the efforts of the wife influenced Ozzy then - but since then he has become a real lion when it came to the protection of Israel. Back in 2010, he brought his Ozzfest to the promised Earth - a large-scale festival where the famous rock veteran was joined by bands of the first magnitude.
That year, Ozzy decided to end the Ozzfest tour with a concert in Tel Aviv. In those days, the level of anti-Semitism that soared to the sky was still far from today. But the anti-Israeli movement of the BDS has already emerged. And leftists from rock music like Roger Waters from Pink Floyd already refused to give concerts in Israel - besides, they urged other musicians not to go there. Ozzy didn't care: his wife was Jewish, and he loved his wife. And he stood up, as the Jewish media now write in the obituaries, "for her people". In Tel Aviv, Korn, Soulfly and the local metal band Betzefer then took the stage with him.
In 2018, when Ozzy planned a concert in Rishon-le-Zion, everything was already much more complicated. At a press conference in London, the Osborne couple was literally attacked by journalists: "Why didn't you join the list of artists boycotting Israel? Don't you plan to cancel the concert?" Ozzy and his wife then barked in response: "No, we don't plan to! And we'll play wherever we want! And you know, we will also take the children to Israel! Let them touch the history of their people." And they really took it! 34-year-old Kelly and 33-year-old Jack came with their parents. Ozzy called the Israeli concert experience "incredible".
"In the past, our family already had a lot of anti-Semitism. It shouldn't be anymore!" Sharon Osborne said in 2019. She recalled the story of her father: he grew up in a Jewish family in Britain, and during World War II he joined the army to fight fascism. But even in the ranks of the English infantry, Father Sharon had problems because he was a Jew. "So his real name was Levi. And, of course, all the co-workers knew about his origin - and poisoned him, their comrade-in-arms," Mrs. Osborne said. According to her, other soldiers could wake up her father in the barracks in the middle of the night. They made him dig holes in the rain, saying: "You're a damn Jew, and this war is over for you! We'll fight, and you'll dig a damn hole!"
Later, her father, wanting to hide his roots, changed his name to a more English one, Don. But his daughter didn't want to go this way. On the contrary, having become known as Ozzy Osbourne's wife and his manager, she openly declared her origin. "Anti-Semites surrounded us throughout our careers," she recalled. - Once in Germany, our colleagues took us to a restaurant for a business meeting. And they apologized for the fact that this restaurant would be "full of Jews"! Unthinkable!"
Ozzy was nearby. In February 2024, he wrote in social networks that he refused Ye - this is the pseudonym taken by Kanye West - to use an excerpt from the song Iron Man by Black Sabbath. "I did it because Ye is an anti-Semite and caused many people incalculable mental pain with his antics," Ozzy said. And in March 2025, already seriously ill - Osborne was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease - he supported his wife when she demanded to deprive the American visas of the rock band Kneecap from Ireland. They made anti-Israeli statements at the Coachella festival. Sharon Osborne then also remembered the posts of Irish rockers in social networks, where they praised Hezbollah. "Their performance was incitement to hatred. Given that the band is going on a tour of the United States, I have doubts about the feasibility of the declared American concerts," Sharon Osborne said.
She was joined by Peter Himmelman, an American singer of Jewish origin, who called Kneecap "cunning provocateurs". Himmelman accused the group of manipulating the crowd. "They undoubtedly knew what they were doing when they forced the crowd to chant slogans against the world's only Jewish state in unison. As experienced songwriters, they understand how history rhymes. They may even understand how dangerous these rhymes become when everyone screams and no one thinks," he said. Himmelman compared the crowd at the Coachella festival with the victims of Hamas' attack on the Nova music festival. According to him, there is no difference between them: both there and there are young people who came to listen to music.
Ozzy Osbourne gave a farewell concert just two weeks before his death. For this show, the musician, who has more than 100 million records sold, reunited with the Black Sabbath band - in the 70s, it was with this team that he first conquered the musical Olympus. It was decided to hold the show in Birmingham, the native of the band members. Due to illness, 76-year-old Osborne could no longer stand on stage. The "Black Lord", as the press called him for scandalous antics back in the 80s, sat on a throne decorated with bats. The bat became one of the symbols of Osborne back in 1982. Then, at a concert in Iowa, USA, one of the spectators threw a live mouse on the stage - and the musician, sure that it was a plastic toy, tried to bite off its head.
Ozzy Osbourne died surrounded by his relatives at his home in Birmingham on July 22. He himself was sure that his tombstone would write: "The guy who tried to eat a bat." But now it's time to write: "The Lion of Israel".
Mikhail Blokov