Colonel Ofer Winter was recently appointed the commander of the Givati infantry Brigade. On July 9th he issued the below command to the commanders and soldiers of the entire brigade.
Reading it makes we proud beyond description that we have commanders issuing such statements and entire brigades accepting and being motivated by them. Blessed are the people who these are their commanders and blessed are the people who these are their soldiers!
Shabbat Shalom to all of Am Yisrael, The soldiers of the IDF, the Givati Brigade and Colonel Ofer Winter!
(Below is a photo of the Hebrew original. Any mistakes and inaccuracies in the translation are mine alone – I did my best, though some of the “heart” of the phrasings are lost in translation!)
11 Tamuz 5774 
July 9 2014
Commander’s Message for Battle
Operation Protective Edge
Dear commanders and soldiers,
A tremendous merit has befallen us to command and serve in the Givati brigade at this time.
History has chosen us to serve as the spearhead of this battle against the Gazian terrorist enemy who curse, taunt and scorn the ‘God of the battles of Israel’. We have prepared and readied ourselves for this moment and we accept this mission upon ourselves with a sense of complete humility and Shlichut and with the readiness to endanger ourselves and give our lives to protect our families, our nation and our homeland.
Together, we will operate with determination and might, initiative and strategy, we will drive to contact with the enemy. We will do everything to fulfill our mission, to destroy the enemy and to remove the threat from The Jewish People. By us, we “do not return without completing the mission”.
We will operate and do everything to return our boys home safely. Through use of all our available resources and any necessary force.
I trust you, every single one of you, to operate in this spirit, the spirit of Israeli warriors who go forward ahead of the camp. “The spirit whose name is Givati”. I raise my eyes to heaven. And call with you “Shma Yisrael Hashem Elohenu Hashem Echad”. Hashem, God of Israel, succeed our ways which we are about to impart on to fight for the sake of your people Israel against an enemy who defiles your name.
In the name of the fighters of the IDF and specifically the fighters of the brigade and the commanders. Make it so the words of the verse will come true for us: “For Hashem, your God, is the One Who goes with you to fight for you with your enemies, to save you”, and we will say Amen.
“Together, and only together, we will win”
Ofer Winter, Colonel
Commander of the Givati Brigade
Here’s a word version of the translation Colonel Ofer Winter English
And here’s a copy of the original in Hebrew:
Babylon and Israel 