I saw the interview that Ofer Winter gave to Omer Assenheim and I was very impressed by the man. I recognized a man who runs forward with his truth without compromise, does not particularly consider political correctness and thinks outside the box. These are all qualities that I, personally, appreciate.
He made an impression on me as a charismatic and talented commander, and it is also evident that he is a natural leader. I think it is safe to assume that the man is a brilliant officer, and that his potential could have been better utilized.
But his promotion in the army was stopped. why?
the letter
On the eve of the departure to "Tzuk Eitan" Brigadier General Ofer Winter wrote a letter to the "Givati" fighters.
Below are excerpts from Winter's letter (emphasis mine):
It was a great privilege for us to command and serve in the Givati Brigade at this time. History has chosen us to be at the forefront of fighting the "Gazetted" terrorist enemy, Who insults, despises and blasphemes, the God of Israel's systems. We have prepared and prepared for this time, and we accept the task out of complete mission and humility and out of the fact that we are ready to risk and give our lives in order to protect our families, our people and our homeland. ... I raise my eyes to heaven, and sing with you, "Hear Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." The Lord God of Israel, please be successful in our ways, as we go and stand to fight for your people Israel Against an enemy that hates your name". In the name of the soldiers of the IDF and in particular, the soldiers of the brigade and the commanders, he made and will keep in us a scripture that reads: "For the Lord your God goes with you to fight for you with your enemy to save you" and it was said Amen. |
I am convinced that the words were written from his heart, and that he stands behind every word. But there is a serious problem with these things.
A religious manifesto
First, this letter sounds like a religious manifesto. As such, it contradicts the positions of many soldiers in the IDF. These soldiers fight for their people, their country, and their families, not “for the God of Israel.” While this fact makes them less religious than their kippah-wearing comrades, it does not make them less Jewish.
I consider myself a proud Jew. The last time I fought was decades ago. It is clear to me that I would receive such a message from my commander, I would be very upset and even angry. No one expects Winter to give up his faith, or to hide the cap on his head. But he does not understand that there is a very large Jewish public (yes, Jewish) that does not perceive God in the way that he perceives him, and some of them do not even believe at all. And I didn't say anything about what a non-Jewish soldier would think of such a manifesto.
It is inappropriate for such a letter to be sent on behalf of an IDF commander to all of his soldiers. Ofer Winter cannot understand this, because of the power of faith that pulses in him.
Following Hajj Amin
But there is a much more serious problem with this letter. This letter presents the war on terror that was imposed on Israel, and whose purpose is to protect the country's citizens, as a religious war, And this takes us to a dangerous place both ethically and practically.
The most hated Palestinian in history was Haj Amin Al Husseini. The man was a Nazi war criminalAn anti-Semite, a demagogue, and a bloodthirsty instigator of the worst kind. Hajj Amin is the father of Palestinian incitement against the Jews.
Haj Amin Al Husseini did everything he could to turn the Jewish-Palestinian conflict from a struggle between two national movements into a religious war. He invented the legend "Al-Aqsa is in danger", and tried as much as he could to turn the conflict over the land From a national conflict to a religious conflict.
religious wars
One of the things that Hajj Amin achieved in this, is the recruitment of hundreds of millions of Muslims of India (which then also included present-day Pakistan) to his side. This move put the British who ruled the country into a panic. The riots in India, which was the "jewel in the crown of the British Empire", alarmed them and influenced the policy of the mandate authorities towards the Jewish settlement.
I don't know if Winter meant it, but Ofer Winter's words to his soldiers send a message similar to that of Haj Amin - they drag the conflict to the religious side. These things serve the mufti's vision, and turn our defensive war into a religious war. Just think about a chief of staff who heads the army who sends his subordinates to war in the name of God and religion.
Religious wars are among the worst curses of the human race. Each side is convinced that God is on their side, and this causes people of faith to do terrible things to each other. Is it true that we have adopted a jihadist culture?
Beyond the obvious value answer, this direction will put us in front of billions of Muslims who get along with such a culture better than us.

Summary
There is nothing preventing a religious person from becoming a senior officer in the IDF. The national religious community produces quite a few elite people who influence all areas of life in the country. Among these are also many outstanding officers and soldiers, whose contributions and sacrifices we have seen in recent times.
But an officer, even if he is an excellent officer, who tries to drag us into a religious war, constitutes a security and value risk. His place is not in the IDF, and doubtless in any public system.
It doesn't matter what we think and want it to be. It matters what the other side thinks. Although it is very inappropriate for you, the other side since the days of Amin al-Husseini sees the establishment of a Jewish national home or a Jewish state as a religious conflict that Islam cannot accept. See my book 'Understanding the Muslim-Jewish Conflict'
I don't disagree that Hamas, the "Brothers" and others see this as a religious war. Of course that's the case.
I'm just arguing that declaring a religious war on Islam is dangerous folly.
Is that what you're really proposing? Declaring a religious war against Islam?
As a reminder, the Muslim world includes countries with which Israel has a peace treaty, and those with which we very much want to make alliances. And there is also Indonesia, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, and more – with all of these, are you proposing to start a religious war?
I expect such responses from ignorant tweeters or Jewish fundamentalists, and there are quite a few around as you can see.
I must say that this is a strange response from someone who considers himself an expert on the subject.
Your point of view is not Jewish and you are not affiliated with Judaism in any way, so your thinking is completely atheistic. You are allowed to deny it. But you can also understand a different way of thinking and the belief of generations of believers in a Supreme Being.
The author's opinion is well-founded. The Jewish people first united not around some divine being, but around the Nazi oppressor, who was powerful and sophisticated and who sought to destroy him. Thus the Holocaust occurred, and in response to it the State of Israel was finally established, abandoning the paralyzing religious myth of redemption by the Messiah.
The Arab tyrant Al Husseini's motives for fighting the Jews are less important. The Arab nationalists were partly devout Muslims, and there were also Christian or secular Arabs among them, and they were supported by Soviet communism. Both were dangerous, and Israel had to fight and win against all of them for its survival.
In the generation of fighters of 1948, those who achieved independence for Israel, socialists and atheists had an absolute majority.
This is what some of the people living in Zion do not understand: our wars are wars of religion, and once we understand this, our future will look different, better, and more peaceful.
Deep down, our conflict is not with the Palestinians, it is with "Lucifer" or the evil inclination.
You are over 70, when will you wake up???
The Hebrew University said it all. You are simply a Jew who got lost in the middle of the night and the assimilation and is convinced that you were brainwashed in the two educational institutions you studied and became a kind of Jew-hating Greek. Sorry, the majority of the people are neither progressive nor deviated from the path of the Jewish people, a program that is attributed to foreign donors who hate the Jews. Be a great writer
Hello, the author of the article. The passage was written in a rational and logical way but it does not reflect the truth but your opinion and your thoughts on the subject of the religious wars. There is no connection and no comparison between the 2 leaders you wrote. And you sin against the truth and it's a shame..
Kaplan-Horav's opinionated thinkers are given an endless stage by their friends in the media to incite. The poison machine is its embodiment. Poison against a religious person for nothing
Even if from your point of view the war in the Arabs is not religious.
In the eyes of the Arabs, this is a Jihad war. A religious war par excellence.
It is true that Winter's minister is a believer. A multi-secular audience will not necessarily agree with the minister. Here I agree and respect your writing.
However, bottom line. The enemy must be completely displaced, because if you look at the prices over the years, the prices we have yet to pay. They are greater than the one time the Arabs were displaced from Gaza and sent far away to the deserts of Moab.
Because Hamas is not a state, Hamas is a terrorist organization. Unlike a country with a leader like Jordan. or Egypt.
Therefore the holocaust is out of place.
I think you don't understand that this is essentially a religious conflict. You need to understand Islam a little for this to be clear and it will also make it clear to you why, if someone drops an atomic bomb on Israel in the coming years, it will be the Iranians: they are Muslims and they are not Arabs at all.
Yoram, this is exactly the problem of all the leftists and opinions like yours who think that my strength and mightiness of my hand made me this brave! And mainly because of the smug pride of the entire political/military system that failed on October 7 and brought this disaster!
You will learn and understand from most of the survivors of the holocaust that happened then and now who saw death with their eyes and were at least as distant as you in faith! And saw that there is someone who runs the world and miracles above nature!!
And there is nothing wrong with reading and strengthening the soldiers in this kind of street prayer. Rather, both religious and secular people accept it, except for a small handful who do not require him to read/pray/answer Amen and certainly not to force or coerce him!
Agree with every word. Quite a few commenters here try to sell the claim that most soldiers are religious. It is nonsense which is the continuation of the Hinduism of the consciousness of the people of religious Zionism as if they and not secular Zionism founded the state. I, my three brothers, my children and my friends who served and are serving combat service did so to protect the people and the country, not to glorify or serve God in a religious war. The defense of the people and the country is the common denominator of all of us and a commander in the army, religious or secular (or Druze) is obliged to it. The other motivations are the personal matter of each soldier.
You should remember what connects you to this land, the connection is the Bible. This is your connection, this is your justice, of every Jew to this land and it is great that Ofer Winter reminded his soldiers what and why they are fighting. He has a vision, a goal, and because he did not align himself according to Aj Nad Oslo, show him the way out
A ball of balls.
This opinion piece generated a lot of interest, and received a lot of comments and a lot of views. I can't respond to everyone, but I will try to formulate a general response:
* I have nothing to say about Ofer Winter as a talented military man, and the article is based on the assumption that he is one. But that's not the point. My main argument is that a senior officer or public figure who does not understand the danger of a religious war endangers our existence.
* Forgive me who claimed here that if we want it or not it is a religious war, because that is how our enemies treat it, but this is a wrong and harmful concept. Hamas does see this war as a religious war. They will be happy to drag us there, but we must not fall into this trap. Think for a moment... if we are there, there will be no peace with Egypt, Jordan and the Emirates, nor a coalition with Saudi Arabia. Do you want to mobilize the entire Muslim world against us? If so, then you will really need help from heaven.
* Regarding religion in general. I have given a lot of thought to the benefits (there are certainly some) and the harms (there are no less) of religions, and anyone who wants is welcome to read. It is a bit long (11 chapters) and requires concentration and an open mind.
https://yoram-katz.com/religion/
* The question of Jewish identity concerns me a lot. I know thanks to the religion that kept us as a people for many years, but we are still in the 21st century and there are also Jews who see it as folklore and not faith. I have my own ideas about it.
* There are Jews of all types - religious, traditional and atheist. The country belongs to all of us and the army belongs to all of us, but a chief of staff who sends his soldiers in the name of God Almighty will be in serious trouble with a large part of his soldiers.
* And for those who are enthusiastic about the amount of negative reactions: in opinion articles, the absolute majority of the commenters are always those whose opinion contradicts their thinking. By the way, the (high) number of respondents to this article is barely one percent of the number of readers.
And thanks to the responders. Even for those who disagreed with me.
This is probably the reason.
Why not move on first...
About half and maybe more of the accumulation
He is secular.
The civilian public defends the country because this is a war there is no choice... The Arab enemy does not accept our existence here.
It is better to leave the situation as it is...
Do not drag into a religious war.
I invite you to the IDF headquarters to go over the fallen in recent years, you will see an absolute majority for the religious and traditional (periphery)
Ofer Winter must think carefully about what you wrote.
Yoram, you are confused!!!
99% of fighters are believers!
There is no Judaism without faith.
What are you Jewish anyway?
And if you don't believe?
You're just conquering with a stranger! without any right in this land.
So please make your way!!
If you haven't yet understood that the war of Islam is only a war of religion, it has always been and will remain so and they will fight you in any situation, you don't need a religion to start a war on you from Islam and if you don't fight with them in their language religion, you will never defeat them,
I don't feel like he's turning the war into a religious war by giving reinforcement to soldiers before battle. Commanders who aren't religious at all have done this in the past, but a soldier needs reinforcement with meaning before going into battle.
An excellent article that accurately describes the man Ofer Winter. Winter crowned himself a super officer with extraordinary abilities, and apparently he is not... With his arrogance, in my opinion, he will not get far in the civilian field either...
We'll see, I took a screen shot that one day I'll read your comment and laugh at you a bit in a good section, not to mock, God forbid,
On the one hand you admire Winter but on the other hand you are against the eagle you call religious. The nation of Israel has been going on for 3500 years since the appearance of Abraham our father until we became a nation in the days of Moses and received the Torah at Mount Sinai. "Hear Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one" was a common saying among the people of Israel for thousands of years and up to our days. Rabbis located the children of Israel in the Holocaust in monasteries by this reading.
Anyone who tore himself away for generations from believing in the G-d of Israel will eventually be cut off from the people.
It is true that there are Jews who do not believe in Israel and in the world, but look at how many of them in the diaspora assimilated because they did not follow the customs from generation to generation. And regarding your refusal to see that all wars in our region are wars. Religion, you are wrong: the Muslims do not reconcile with our existence solely because of what their religion dictates to them and as above between them: the Sunnis against the Shiites and conversely all against those who are called infidels.
A noisy officer and not a big spit. Interesting and correct article.. We are awakening a billion and a half Muslims
You put a finger in their eye. We need to put Muslim solidarity to sleep and not do things that upset the majority of peaceful Muslims in Indonesia and other places. They are busy with their own affairs, what turns them on are religious matters, such as climbing the Temple Mount and such. We must not try to clash with the entire Muslim world. God forbid someone will rise up. and succeed in uniting the entire Muslim world, we are eliminated
Let's ask like this, will a person who fights out of desire for God's holiness be hurt when they give a secular speech about the love of the land and the land and not about its holiness?
And does the opinion column come up only because it involved quotes from religion
I disagree, but I really appreciate the style of writing that starts by praising the person before criticizing them.
Perhaps the reason that Ofer Winter did not advance in the IDF beyond the rank of lieutenant colonel, stems from the reason that he was not such a successful division commander, and not for any other reason.
If it didn't have zero negative comments, it might be true.
Maybe despite how easy it is to slander Olly, maybe even so it's better to stop it?
I recommend you go to his Wikipedia to read about all the honors he received
Apparently until now you didn't understand that this is a religious war and that's why people like you continue to think in a distorted way about Hamas in Gaza, if we were fighting against England or France you would be 100% right, I hope you will sober up and understand where you went wrong.
Listen, you idiot, you haven't lost the token yet. This is a religious war. There is no problem with this manifesto. On the contrary, Hamas needs to hear these things and that's the only way they will understand who they are dealing with.
This is how it is when an idolater represents his superstition
There is no such thing as "Palestinian"
Some ignorance in one article.
All wars in the Middle East are religious wars.
It is enough to see the statements of our enemy, who talk about al-Aqsa and so on.
This is exactly the mistake of the Israeli left, which thinks in rural Western terms and does not understand Eastern and Islamic culture
Idiot leftists took over the country - destruction of house 3.
Stupidity drips from your ears. I'm interested to know if it came naturally to you from birth or only started when you voted for Israel's crime party. You are what is called in non-popular parlance, a brainless baboon.
A Jewish Jew who preserved the Jewish symbols in exile for two thousand years
1. You deny reality
You were not born in a vacuum
2. He just prays.
I didn't force you to pray.
It is not written in the leaflet that you have to sign and approve it.
This is his believing self and that of most fighters.
Your interpretation has nothing to do with the interpretations of the Arabs. You are not an Arab and do not live in Arab countries and do not know what a pious or non-pious Muslim thinks.
This is not the military's policy document or its values.
Most of the militarily and geopolitically strong countries in the region are very religious, in fact they are Halacha countries.
You have the right to renounce the religion of the God connection....
But you have no justification to be here if this is not the country of your ancestors, the land of your ancestors and they all 100% believed and were part of the religion of Israel.
If you are only a colonialist, then all the more you have no moral strength, moral courage, moral or value integrity, the desire to survive and the love of your homeland....your enemies, the Arabs, have the same right and more than you, you cannot overpower them, kill them, expel them, subjugate them because you accept and believe that they have the same rights as you do and they believe that you personally have no right whatsoever to live here.
As for the commander himself, it is not about charisma on the part of Yitzhak Barik, who went from division to division, brigade, brigade by virtue of his position as a soldier acceptance representative and more.... Winter was the only one whose unit, company, division was ready and passed every test and unfortunately all the other tests failed. I repeat all the units that Barik tested were Not prepared, unprepared, and by chance this officer was prepared, prepared, and outstanding.
As a mostly secular apostate...or whatever you call yourself, you want to live and survive or signal to everyone that you have values....dead wounded or facing a life-threatening situation in a war situation.
It is also clear that he should be promoted and should be promoted simply because of the fact that the others are failed and opportunistic personalities.
If Winter was one of several dozen, you could sail in the privilege of the fact that he is, in your opinion, divisive and not unifying, but since that is not the case, what you are actually complaining about.
The main value for you is that you stay alive and that you are culturally Jewish, only that you define for everyone who is a Jew and what a Jew is allowed to say or not say.
Your right to your opinion and his right to his opinion.
Yoram Katz lives in the concept of October 6,
So he does claim to be right-wing but unable to see an ancient and primitive religious text...
So why are you fighting? You are invited to leave the country because the war is a religious war and the fact that the Shia fighters have not come this far and decided that you are a coercion and deserve to die does not contradict that this is what they will do to all of us infidels and non-infidels, but actually for them we are all infidels.
So it's time to get out of the movie and realize that if we don't fight for our country and the promised land that our God promised us 3500 years ago, you're welcome to pack a suitcase and fly to Uganda, because there they'll surely welcome us in a cabin...
When we see your ridiculous comment full of spelling errors, we realize that this is a young man whose intellect is equal to that of a baboon, only that baboons are not stupid racists like you.
The writer testifies to his complete ignorance, not the simple fact that everyone sees except him that there is indeed a religious war here - in every house in Gaza - in every house! There is a picture of their mosque in Jerusalem...
But that's not his ignorance, his ignorance is actually in the second major on his resume, in the field of psychology.
When a person speaks from the heart – every psychologist knows he is speaking the truth!! Ofer Winter speaks and shouts the truth, and this is his personal, existential truth without which he has no existence, he is not trying to drag anyone into a religious war that already exists, this is simply his language!! And what is better than the secular one??? That of the rest of the General Staff wretches who, in the name of their belief in the individual rights of the enemy, speak the bride and do not know what victory is??? What is it better than??? Nothing
Their peace and inclusion only brought us destruction and killing.
Your right to be secular, Anfer Winter's right to be what he is and to speak from his heart's blood, and the influx of all his soldiers after him and the spiritual existential language of the fighting generation proves the complete opposite of your words, proves where the fighters to protect your heart are.
You and Dumich Pesa, your time has passed, sit aside and write books and let those who know how to fight and win do the work.
I don't really understand what the problem is? Unless you claim that we are not Jews and that the country is basically just another country like other nations on the globe. And even then, there are countries that value their religion.
You don't have to be a believer in order to understand that the book of books is the oldest of all religions and as such it is appropriate even for a soldier who is not Torah observant and mitzvot to connect even for a moment with his past
Excellent! Very right!
I just wanted to add that on the one hand they want to recruit all the ultra-Orthodox, and on the other hand they deny the religious Jewish world they live in. And all the officers in the bars like Ofer Winter are ordered and blocked because of their faith, since they cannot as such join the Barangay Verlica of the Order of Secular Officers from the people of Shlomo.
It is worth noting that the late Shika Gavish wrote a similar proclamation in the order before the Six-Day War, and he was not religious.
Interesting opinion column Samet brings a different perspective on the situation. But maybe there is a bug in the conclusion, maybe it is a religious war.
That still doesn't mean we can't beat her
It's disgusting to see how many are trying to obscure reality.
A. You have no understanding of Judaism, therefore you see it as a religion, and it is very sad that a Jew who defines himself as a Jew no less than others is simply ignorant of Judaism.
on. What conflict is there?
You are not only ignorant of Judaism, you are also ignorant of the Middle East.
The war is a religious war! Not because of Winter and not because of the State of Israel.
But because the whole Middle East is fighting a religious war.
What is in Syria?
Why do Muslims kill Jews in Israel? Because they strengthen the name of the name! And they want to kill you too because you are Jewish. Not because you are a Zionist. Not because you are leftist, but because you are Jewish! Because you belong to a Jewish dynasty and in your presence you are against what they believe in their religion.
How did the great murderer Yahya Sinwar happen to the war of iron swords? Flood do not end!
What was Yasser Arafat's war? Al Quds - Jerusalem!
Don't you see?
Reality explains to you in your little Rachel that you are fighting against religion.
So choose to make agreements on sand or ice with Muslims, you will learn a brief history of Islam.
And understand that in a religious war in Islam everyone is killed, and an agreement is only good while your hand is down and as soon as you have the opportunity, break the agreement and kill.
You have so much extensive knowledge, it's a shame you didn't invest some of it in studying Hebrew and grammar. Your response is silly, riddled with embarrassing spelling errors at the level of an eight-year-old boy, and you're also quite stupid, and that's without knowing you at all.
Answer to Pantheon