http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=263233 Remembering a Christian warrior for Zion
By MICHAEL FREUND
03/24/2012 22:43
Fundamentally Freund: Orde Wingate’s contributions to the establishment of the State of Israel and its defense cannot be overstated.
Orde Wingate By Sotheby’s
Saturday marked the 68th anniversary of the passing of a great man, one whose contributions to the establishment of the State of Israel and its defense cannot be overstated.
And though his name graces numerous streets, thoroughfares and educational institutions throughout the land, Orde Wingate’s unique role in helping to lay the foundation for the revival of Jewish sovereignty has nonetheless begun to fade from public memory.
Just ask any young Israeli about Wingate, and they will most likely think you are referring to the institute for physical education and sport in Netanya, rather than the man for whom it was named.
This is a grave injustice, one that simply cannot be allowed to occur. We are doing a great disservice to history, and to ourselves, by not doing more to remember him.
Put simply, Wingate was a Christian warrior for Zion, a man whose biblical passion and beliefs propelled him to defy the pro-Arab sentiments of the day and embrace the Zionist cause. He set a noble example of unapologetically fighting terror, staunchly rejecting appeasement both as a policy and a world-view.
In 1936, at the height of the Arab terror campaign known as the Arab Revolt, Wingate was serving as a captain in British intelligence. Assigned to British units posted in Mandatory Haifa, he quickly came to admire the Jewish people and their determination to reclaim the land that had been promised to them by the Creator.
Wingate began training Jewish volunteers, who served in active defense units that came to be called the Special Night Squads. They launched daring missions to protect Jewish communities from Arab terrorists, often undertaking operations that penetrated deep into Arab villages.
Wingate drew on his deep love and profound knowledge of the Bible, employing strategy and tactics he had distilled from studying the campaigns of Joshua, Gideon and King David. As an officer, he emphasized the need for preemptive strikes, and insisted upon taking the fight to the enemy’s territory. Both of these principles later came to serve as central tenets of Israel’s defensive posture and military doctrine.
Wingate organized special training courses at Ein Harod, where some of the future leaders of Israel’s military were schooled. He dreamt of one day leading a Jewish army, and befriended various Zionist leaders such as Chaim Weizmann and Moshe Sharett.
To Jews living in pre-state Israel, Wingate came to be known as “Hayedid,” or “the friend,” but many of his British colleagues looked askance at his fondness for the Jewish cause. Fellow officers criticized him, forcing Wingate in 1939 to submit a formal appeal in which he wrote, “I am not ashamed to say that I am a real and devoted admirer of the Jews.... Had more officers shared my views, the [Arab] rebellion would have come to a speedy conclusion some years ago.”
As a result of his stance, Wingate was unceremoniously recalled to England, where the authorities went so far as to bar him from ever returning to the land of Israel.
With the outbreak of World War II, Wingate was assigned to Ethiopia to counter the Italian fascist occupation of the country, which he did with great success.
He was then sent to Burma, where he led a group of jungle fighters in the battle against Japanese forces. It was there, on March 24, 1944, that Wingate, by then a major-general, died in a tragic plane crash. He was just 41 years old. In his short life, Wingate had managed to win Britain’s Distinguished Service Order three times.
More importantly, however, he won the gratitude of the people of Israel.
When word of his death reached Jerusalem, a memorial service was organized for him at Yeshurun Synagogue and a special version of the Kel Male Rachamim prayer was even composed on his behalf. “Remember unto him his love for the words of your prophets concerning the return of the House of Israel to its Holy Land,” the text of the prayer said, adding, “May the name of Orde Wingate be remembered in the book of redemption of the House of Israel for eternity.”
David Ben-Gurion said that had Wingate lived to see the establishment of the State of Israel, he would have surely been asked to lead its nascent military. And in his autobiography, Chaim Weizmann referred to Wingate as the “Lawrence of Judea,” highlighting his “passionate sympathy – one might say his self-identification – with the highest ideals of Zionism.” Each year, the Jewish War Veterans of the USA hold special ceremonies in America and Israel to honor Wingate and his legacy.
It was at one such event in 1995 that then-chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau told a poignant story, noting that while stationed in Burma in 1943, Wingate had written to a friend to say that he had not forgotten the Zionist cause. “You promised not to forget us,” Rabbi Lau said, “and we promise not to forget you, not us, nor our children.” In light of all that Orde Wingate, a British officer and Bible-believing Christian, did for our people, that is one promise that we should all strive to keep.
May his memory be for a blessing.
This should be of interest for Ulli
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Brethren John Bodkin Adams[35] — General practitioner and suspected serial killer (tried for one murder but controversially acquitted)
Robert Anderson — Head of Scotland Yard and Christian author. Influenced many of the Brethren, though wasn't among them himself.
Thomas John Barnardo[36] — Took in destitute male and female street children; founded Barnardo's.
Patricia Beer[37] — Poet. Born into Brethren, left as adult.
John Gifford Bellet[38] — Prized Classics researcher of Trinity College, Cambridge
Lancelot Brenton — Translator of what is probably the most widely available Greek-English edition of the Septuagint[39]
Stuart Briscoe — author, international speaker and Minister-At-large at Elmbrook Church, was raised Plymouth Brethren, in England
F.F. Bruce — 20th Century Bible scholar and Christian apologist.
Geoffrey Bull — Missionary to Tibet in the early 1950s
Wilson Carlile — British evangelist who founded Church Army and prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral[40]
Robert Chapman — Prominent among the Plymouth Brethren in the 19th Century[41]
Dr. Edward Cronin[42] — Pioneer of homeopathy
Anthony Crosland — Foreign Secretary in Britain's Labour Government, raised in Plymouth Brethren[43]
Aleister Crowley[44] — Bisexual Occultist, drug user and practitioner of Magick raised within the Exclusive Brethren, referred in his memoirs to considering Brethren teachings and practices as essential for understanding his views. Known in his day as "the wickedest man in the world."
John Nelson Darby[45] — Famous preacher and father of modern Rapture doctrine
James George Deck[46] — Evangelist and missionary to New Zealand
L.C.R. Duncombe-Jewell — raised as a Plymouth Brother.
Jim Elliot — Missionary killed by Waodani Indians along the Curaray River, in Ecuador.[47]
Peter Fleming — Missionary killed by the Waodani Indians along the Curaray River, in Ecuador
Ken Follett — Author of The Pillars of the Earth was raised in a Plymouth Brethren family.
Roger T. Forster — Author, theologian and leader of Ichthus Christian Fellowship
David Willoughby Gooding — Professor Emeritus of Tanach Greek at Queen's University Belfast and Christian author
Edmund Gosse — Poet, author and critic. Raised as Plymouth Brethren and wrote the book Father and Son about his upbringing.
Emily Bowes Gosse — painter, illustrator and author of religious tracts
Philip Henry Gosse[48] — Naturalist and marine biologist
Anthony Norris Groves[49] — Missionary to Baghdad and India
John George Haigh — Serial killer[50]
David Hendricks[51] — Convicted of killing his wife and children but acquitted in a retrial
William John Hocking — Superintendent of the Royal Mint of the United Kingdom
Zane Hodges — Professor of New Testament Greek at Dallas Theological Seminary and co-author of the Greek New Testament according to the Majority Text
John Eliot Howard — Chemist and quinologist
Luke Howard — Chemist and meteorologist, the 'namer of clouds'
Harry Ironside[52] — Bible teacher, preacher and author.
Garrison Keillor — Radio personality ("A Prairie Home Companion") and author; raised Plymouth Brethren; No longer associates with them.
William Kelly — Prominent leader of the Exclusive Brethren in the late 19th Century
Dr. Ferenc Kiss — anatomist, university professor, former head of the Institute of Anatomy in Budapest, Hungary
Maurice Koechlin — Structural Engineer. Chief Engineer in the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
J. Laurence Kulp — 20th Century geologist. Critic of Young Earth creationism[53][54]
William_MacDonald — Christian author and scholar, author of well known Believer's Bible Commentary[55]
C.H. Mackintosh[56] — 19th Century author of Christian books
Peter Maiden — Current head of Operation Mobilization
Jim McCotter — Was a part of Brethren in early life. Left and was the founder of Great Commission Churches
Ed McCully — Missionary killed by the Waodani Indians along the Curaray River, in Ecuador
Brian D. McLaren — Prominent and controversial voice in the Emerging Church movement. Raised in a Brethren family.[57]
George Müller[58] — Founder of the Bristol Orphanage and a stated teacher in Bethesda Chapel, Bristol
Watchman Nee - Respected Leader in the "Little Flock" movement in China after being excommunicated by Exclusive brethren for "breaking bread with sectarians."[59]
Thomas Newberry[60] — Translator of the Newberry Reference Bible, which uses a system of symbols to explain verb tenses
Francis William Newman[61] — Younger brother of Cardinal John Henry Newman. Excommunicated for denying the Divinity of Christ.
Benjamin Wills Newton — Early leader of the assembly in Plymouth. Branded as a heretic.[62]
Frederick Handley Page — Pioneer in the design and manufacture of aircraft[63]
Luis Palau[64] — Argentinian-American evangelist, raised in the Plymouth Brethren.
Roger Panes[65] — Part of Exclusive Brethren who, while being "shunned" by his congregation, killed his wife and three children, before committing suicide.
John Parnell, 2nd Baron Congleton — Missionary to Mesopotamia
Joseph M. Scriven — Writer of the words to the hymn, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus".
Arthur Rendle Short[66] — Professor of surgery at Bristol University and author
K.V. Simon – Recognized poet, hymn writer, biblical scholar and a pioneer of the brethren movement in India.
William Gibson Sloan — Scottish missionary to the Faroe Islands.
James Taylor, Jr. — Controversial leader of one Exclusive Brethren branch (a.k.a. "Taylorites") from 1953–1970
Ngaire Thomas[13] — Wrote the book, Behind Closed Doors, about her childhood abuse in the Exclusive Brethren.
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles — English biblical scholar and theologian
Elsie Tu, then Elsie Elliott — A Plymouth Brethren missionary in China before leaving the movement and becoming a prominent political figure in Hong Kong
William Edwy Vine — Author of, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, and numerous commentaries[67]
Arthur Wallis — Founder of the British New Church Movement, formerly in the Plymouth Brethren
Jim Wallis — Founder and editor of Sojourners Magazine, raised in a Brethren family
Charles Gidley Wheeler– Author of The Believer, and A Good Boy Tomorrow: Memoirs of a Fundamentalist Upbringing – Fleet Air Arm pilot, TV dramatist, novelist and philosopher – was raised in the Plymouth Brethren before breaking away at the age of 16.
Smith Wigglesworth[68] — Pentecostal preacher. Testified that he had received his grounding in Bible teaching within the Plymouth Brethren
George Wigram[69] — Wrote a Greek and English Concordance to the New Testament and the Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance to the Tanach.
Dr. Edward Wilson[disambiguation needed ][70] — Founding member of the Brethren
Orde Wingate[71] — British Major General, advisor to Hagana units during the 1930s Gordon Jackson (politician)[72] — Scottish politician and QC
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