ונגש הכהן ודבר על העם

Read with pride the letter of Colonel Ofer Winter, Commander of the storied Givati Brigade, sent to his troops as they massed near Gaza, poised to enter.
Givati chizuk

[Hat-tip to Harvey Tannenbaum, Efrat]

You may also like...

15 Responses

  1. lacosta says:

    and imagine if givati was 30% haredi…..

  2. Raymond says:

    I sure wish that the above letter would be translated into English, as my Hebrew is just not that good.

  3. Drs. Dorothea Killus says:

    Shalom from Southern Germany near Basel!

    You might be astonished to read a short word here of a theologian who is not Jewish, however deeply committed to the truth of the Tenach as divinely revealed and our authority today.
    The letter written by Colonel Winter is not less than a precious treasure and courageous and wonderful testimony. I gladly pray for him and the commission he has been given. May indeed many be encouraged by what he writes out of a deep conviction. There is, as the Tenach shows clearly, an invisible battle going on between light and darkness, the Most High and Satan, a battle which has also a visible and very concrete side. The Most High being the God of Israel, He will win and show his glory – for ever more!

  4. Cvmay says:

    Extraordinary love for his soldiers & for am Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel.

  5. Ben Waxman says:

    Sadly, some are complaining about it (here in Israel).

    Sigh.

  6. Harry Maryles says:

    What happened to Kochi V’Otzem Yadi?

    [YA – Maybe having so many dati – and even charedi – soldiers in Tzahal gradually makes a difference.]

  7. Moshe 613 says:

    As a Yid, I was touched by the letter. I was very disturbed, however, by finding that an Islamic apologist website latched on to it and is now touting it as proof that the Jews are mounting their very own “holy war” against Palestinians, just like Hamas is being accused of.

  8. Steve Brizel says:

    What a beautiful letter! Mi Kamecha Yisrael Goy Echad BaAretz!

  9. AMZ says:

    Col. Winter lived near my parents and davened in our shul in the Silver Spring, MD community for several years. He spent some time in the US training at the War College in Washington DC and just went back a year or 2 ago. A real yid and a real soldier. Every week he would stand up and recite the mi-shiberach for Tzahal and one could hear in his voice the same emunah displayed in the letter: we politicize the mi-sheberach, but to him as a soldier the mi-sheberach for Tzahal was/is is a public tefilla to declare the belief and acknowledgment that HKBH is the source of the army’s protection and of its strength, which is a belief shared across the frum community. We knew he was a decorated soldier and he was being groomed for leadership but did not know that he would shortly become the head of the Givati brigade.

  10. Mordechai Y. Scher says:

    A fitting order of battle from a graduate of Bnei David mechinah tzvait. A little more on him here:
    [Google Bnei David Eli Ofer Winter (first result)]

  11. dr. bill says:

    In addition to the Kiddush haShem of the letter, it has now been revealed that among the tasks that the Givati brigade was assigned was the discovery of tunnels. So far they have found 13. May they, be’Ezrat haShem, continue to be matzliach. In the short clip on the Givati role that the IDF released, the face of the chayal speaking is hazed. Nonetheless his beard is visible.

  12. c-l,c says:

    In Israel and in the IDF there has been an axiom:
    (translated)All national states have an air force,
    in Israel, the Air Force has a state.

    Ipso, the IAF officer corp. is still very secular ashkenazi

  13. c-l,c says:

    (Continued..
    and unlikely to tolerate serious change

    So if the “green”ranks become,as they almost are already,suffused with sephardim,religious,russians,druze,..
    that is greeted with indifference and sil vous plait

    P.s.could someone please translate for Raymond?

  14. Benjamin says:

    Translation by Dixi Yid

    (Citations inserted to psukim Colonel Winters obliquely referenced):

    ——

    We have been bestowed a great privilege to command and serve in the Givati Brigade at this time. History has chosen us to be on the cutting edge of the war against the terrorist enemy, the “one of Gaza” [cf. Yehoshua 13:3] who curses, reviles, and defames the G-d of the battalions of Israel. [Cf. Dovid’s encounter with Golias, the Plishti, Shmuel I 17:10, 26, 36, 45.] Let us prepare and ready ourselves for this moment when we accept upon ourselves this mission with a sense of agency and complete humility and with a readiness to put ourselves in danger or give up our lives in order to protect our families, our nation, and our birthplace.

    Let us work with resolve and strength and with initiative, strategy, and hard work in our encounter with the enemy. We will do everything we can to fulfill our mission to cut down the enemy and to remove fear from the people of Israel. Our credo is “We do not return before the mission is done.” Let us work and do everything we can to bring back our boys in peace by utilizing every means at our disposal and with any effort that is required.

    I am relying on you, on each and every one of you, to do your duty in this spirit, the spirit of Jewish warriors who go out in in front of the camp. “The spirit which is called ‘Givati.’” I lift up my eyes to Heaven and say with you, “Shma Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” May Hashem, the G-d of Israel, bring success in our mission in which we stand to do battle for the sake of Your people Israel against the enemy who curses Your Name.

    In the name of the warriors of the IDF generally, and in particular, in the name of the warriors and commanders of our Brigade, may Hashem act and fulfill in us that which it says in the pasuk, “Hashem your G-d goes out with you to do battle with your enemies for you to save you” [Devarim 20:4], and let us say Amen.

    “Together, and only together, will we be victorious.”

    Ofer Winter, Aluf Mishneh

    Commander, Givati Brigade

  15. Benjamin says:

    Translation by Dixi Yid

    (Citations inserted to psukim Colonel Winters obliquely referenced):

    ——

    We have been bestowed a great privilege to command and serve in the Givati Brigade at this time. History has chosen us to be on the cutting edge of the war against the terrorist enemy, the “one of Gaza” [cf. Yehoshua 13:3] who curses, reviles, and defames the G-d of the battalions of Israel. [Cf. Dovid’s encounter with Golias, the Plishti, Shmuel I 17:10, 26, 36, 45.] Let us prepare and ready ourselves for this moment when we accept upon ourselves this mission with a sense of agency and complete humility and with a readiness to put ourselves in danger or give up our lives in order to protect our families, our nation, and our birthplace.

    Let us work with resolve and strength and with initiative, strategy, and hard work in our encounter with the enemy. We will do everything we can to fulfill our mission to cut down the enemy and to remove fear from the people of Israel. Our credo is “We do not return before the mission is done.” Let us work and do everything we can to bring back our boys in peace by utilizing every means at our disposal and with any effort that is required.

    I am relying on you, on each and every one of you, to do your duty in this spirit, the spirit of Jewish warriors who go out in in front of the camp. “The spirit which is called ‘Givati.’” I lift up my eyes to Heaven and say with you, “Shma Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” May Hashem, the G-d of Israel, bring success in our mission in which we stand to do battle for the sake of Your people Israel against the enemy who curses Your Name.

    In the name of the warriors of the IDF generally, and in particular, in the name of the warriors and commanders of our Brigade, may Hashem act and fulfill in us that which it says in the pasuk, “Hashem your G-d goes out with you to do battle with your enemies for you to save you” [Devarim 20:4], and let us say Amen.

    “Together, and only together, will we be victorious.”

    Ofer Winter, Aluf Mishneh

    Commander, Givati Brigade

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This