In a special interview, the departing commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus, talks about the challenges of his position, the threats facing the various theaters, and dealing with the young generation joining the military. "The troopers come from a technological world where everything is instant. Our job is to challenge them"
Monday, May 29, 2023
The Cunundrum of Our Goldfoot Line: DNA Between QBZ67 and Q-M378--3rd Cousins
Nadene Goldfoot
My brother was tested with the Big Y haplogroup test offered by Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and it is QBZ67. Earlier before the Big Y test, David was listed as a Q-M242, and Q-Y2200 I have traced the Goldfoot line through David to our father, Moshe Goldfoot/Morris Goldfoot/Maurice Goldfoot to our grandfather, Nathan Abraham Goldfoot/Goldfus (Nathan "Nokhim Avram"Abraham" Goldfus Goldfoot) to Telsiai, Lithuania who had immigrated to England, then Dublin, Ireland where he lived with other Goldfoots. He even married briefly and then somehow got to Council, Idaho and married our grandmother (Bubbie) Zlata Jermulowski/sky. We knew our grandfather only as Nathan Goldfoot. I was not aware of any middle name until I did genealogy searches, or where he was born. Census only said "Russia."
One thing I can be sure is that the whole line of Goldfus that I found were from Telsiai going back to about 1730, and that there were many on our tree.
The problem is that I do not have paper evidence as to Nathan's parents. I chose Movsha ben Josel (John) Goldfus born 1836 in Telsiai, Lithuania from others because of the first name which was probably Moshe as my father's was on his birth certificate. Otherwise, I might not have realized that his name of Morris was the chosen anglicized form for Moshe (Moses). The Jewish custom was to name after the deceased. Movsha of Telsiai (Telz) was a distiller. (a person or company that manufactures liquor."barrels that the master distiller deems to be of superior quality").
Then I was found by Ian Goldfoot who had moved to the States from South Africa. We talked and realized at once that we were of the same Goldfoot line. Ian tested his haplogroup DNA and was an Q-M378, a little different from my brother's Q-M242.
The direct lines of both Nathan Abraham Goldfoot, my grandfather, and Ian Goldfoot and to his half-sister, Denise, my contemporary-born in 1934, and my 3rd cousin, is as follows:
Me: Nadene Goldfoot b: 1934 Portland, OR; f: Moshe,Maurice Goldfoot b: 1908 Portland; to Nathan Abraham Goldfus b: 1871 Telsiai, Lithuania to Movsha Goldfus b: 1836, to Iosel Josel Symka ben Yankel Goldfus b: 1798, to Iankel Yankel ben Abram Goldfus b: 1768-1774
Ian: Ian Goldfoot b: 1934 Krugerdorp, South Africa, f: Solomon Shlomo Solly Goldfoot b: 1904, Dublin, Ireland; Hyman Haim Goldfus Goldfoot b: 1867 Telsiai, to Avraham Haim Goldfus b: 1825 Telsiai, to Iankel Yankel ben Abram Goldfus b: 1768-1774
Therefore, as far as I can tell, Ian and my connection goes back to 1768 in Telsiai,Lithuania to Iankel or Yankel ben Abram Goldfus and his wife, Khana. Ian is 3rd cousin to my brother and myself and to my contemporary 1st cousins from my father's family.
1. IANKEL YANKEL BEN ABRAM6 GOLDFUS (ABRAM5, IONES JONAH4, UNKNOWN DNA MATCHING3, JACOB2, SALTMAN1 KALONYMUS, DARSHAN, JAFFE) was born Bet. 1768 - 1774 in Telsai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania, and died December 06, 1860 in Telsliai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania. He married (2) KHANA UNKNOWN Abt. 1800. She was born Abt. 1778 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania.
Notes for IANKEL YANKEL BEN ABRAM GOLDFUS:
3/9/08 I found a Rachel Clare Goldfoot b: 4 Feb 1906 and died Oct 1986 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire at age 80. She may have been a widow of a Goldfoot, I don't know.
I found and met Stanley Goldfoot in Jerusalem. He is my 3rd cousin. Stanley was a contemporary of my mother. Stanley was born in 1914 in South Africa. His father was Simon Goldfoot b: 1874 in Telsiai, Lithuania, and grandfather was SOLOMON-Shlomo Zalman Goldfus/ Goldfoot b: 1848-1849. then his father was Avrohom Abraham Haim Goldfus b: 1825 in Telsiai, making Stanley and Ian related through Abraham Haim Goldfus as 2nd cousins.
Stanley was the Chief of Intelligence for the Stern Group, called the Stern Gang by the British who were holding the 30 year mandate of Palestine. He had immigrated to Palestine at age 18 right out of high school in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa. Meeting him in Jerusalem at the King David Hotel was a thrill ! We met several times after that at his home.
3/11/08 Oral history from Stanley Goldfoot and Denise's father, Solomon Goldfoot, was that they were descendants of Vilna Gaon, who was Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman. 1720-1797. Talmudist.
He was born in Lithuania and was early famed for his scholarship. From 1740-1745 he traveled among the Jewish
communities of Poland and Germany, settling in Vilna where he taught and later
founded his own academy. He lived in
seclusion and refused rabbinic office.
He was called a saint and a scholar.
He led the opposition to the Hasidim in Lithuania, ordering their
excommunication and the destruction of their literature. His obdurate attitude checked the spread of
Hasidism in Lithuania. When he was about
60, he set out unaccompanied for Palestine but returned before reading it. His reputation lies primarily in the field of
halakhah. He sought to establish
critical texts of the authoritative rabbinic writings, resorting also to
emendations. He avoided pilpul and based
his views and rulings upon the plain meaning of the text. He regarded highly the early kabbalistic works,
and was extremely critical of philosophy.
He was interested in secular studies insofar as they threw light on the
Torah, but he opposed the Haskalah. His
works include commentaries on the Bible, annotations on the Talmud, Midrash,
and Zohar, works on mathematics, the geography of Palestine, Hebrew grammar,
etc. He exercised a vast influence on
his own and succeeding generations, the Mitnaggedim regarding him as their
spiritual leader.
from Geni: Dear Ezra,
Looking at your tree it appears that someone has given your patriline the identification of: Haplogroup Q-M242 / Q-Y2754 Y-DNA (in the about section of your father's profile and in the pedigree up to Moshe (Movsha) Magid). Do you know how this Q-M242 identification came to be associated to your pedigree? ( b: 1791 in Vilnius, Lithuania).
From the GENI tree it appears that Moshe Magid is the patriline great grand nephew of HaGRA. If all of this is correct and verifiable then it seems that indeed HaGRA is a Q-M242. Can you please cite the Maciamo Hay paper?
If this above holds true than you yourself may be a patriline relation of HaGRA. Have you done your yDNA testing?
Cordially and Appreciatively,
Adam (when researching about Vilna Gaon)
4/1/15 and 6/17/15, Yankel died at age 92 from old age, on Lithuania death list of LitvakSIG. On Tevet 5. also from Jewishgen through Dennis Khan.
Q-M242 is believed to have arisen around the Altai Mountains area (or South Central Siberia), approximately 17,000 to 31,700 years ago. However, the matter remains unclear due to limited sample sizes and changing definitions of Haplogroup Q: early definitions used a combination of the SNPs M242, P36.2, and MEH2 as defining mutations.
More About IANKEL YANKEL BEN ABRAM GOLDFUS:
Name 2: Iankel Yankel
Goldfus
Name 3: Iankel Yankel
Ben Abram Goldfus
Date born 2: 1768
Date born 3: Bet.
1768 - 1774, Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania
Died 2: Tevet 5 6/12/1860
Cause of Death: old
age
Census 1: 1811, age
37 Telsiai
Census 2: August 17,
1816, age 42, Revision, Iankel, Abram, head of household
Census 3: August 17,
1816, Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lith. age 42 (Revision List)
Citizenship 1: May
23, 1846, Well-to-do, 8 kopecks, with family, Candle Taxpayers
Citizenship 2: 1855,
Wooden house worth 500 rubles in Kaunas, real estate owners tax,
DNA 1: ca1775-ca1867
DNA 2: 1804, Czarist
law: registration of Jewish births
Occupation: May 23, 1846, Tax & Voters Lists: KRA/1-49/1/1381
More About KHANA UNKNOWN:
Census 1: August 17,
1816, Telsiai, age 40 , wife of Iankel son of Abram, Rvision List
Census 2: August 17, 1816, Revision, Age 40, wife of Iankel
More About IANKEL GOLDFUS and KHANA UNKNOWN:
Marriage: Abt. 1800
To find the connection of a 3rd cousin is quite a feat. However, we Jews make up only 0.02% of the world population, and of the Jewish haplogroups, Qs make up probably about 5% or less of this group as well. We're a rare group ! May we continue somehow! We're going to depend on those who did not change their names and are still Goldfus. It takes a male to keep the surname going.
From What Haplogroup WE Be? from another of my blogs:
Q1b1: 5% of Ashkenazi Jewish men are found to be Q1b, of which is my father’s haplogroup (Q1b1a or Q-L245) and the latest is called Q-Y2200, updated to Q-BZ67. Q originated in Central Asia 15,000 to 20,000 years ago and the men migrated through northern Eurasia into the Americas. Q3 became Native Americans coming from a mutation that happened 8,000 to 12,000 years ago. Q1b’s are from the Altai Mountains in Mongolia, Siberia and parts of Turkey. Khazaria may be the home of Q1b’s, and therefore these men could be part of the Ashina Royal Dynasty. Their common ancestor was a man 1,000 years ago. New Q SNP test results in: Q-L245 is Ashkenazi, Q-Y2780=ca 1400 CE; Q-&Ip1071=ca 700 CE, Q-&Ip1010-11 YP1008=800 CE, Q-&P1009=1400 CE ; ?????
4/21/10: P.S.Now we're not positive if Q1b comes from Khazaria though if I had to bet I'd bet that it is. It hasn't been accepted by the main body of scientists who decide such things. To me it's the most logical place, but we have no actual proof. We need more, perhaps several bodies with teeth that could be tested for the Ydna from Khazaria. Most likely the population of Khazaria was made up of a mixture of people from various haplogroups, but it's the Royal family that we're hoping to turn out to be Q1b's as the Royal family converted to Judaism but did not force their people to convert.Researcher: Prof. Alfred Krupa: " As for my Ashina of Khazaria certification, it has been issued by the largest genetic company IGENEA of Zurich, after agreement from the worlds largest genetic company FTDNA of Houston. Bennett Greenspann has been advised about all elements of formal papers and my own research,and approved such conclusion".
Update: 5/10/2012 Q1b1 is losing out in being considered as coming from the Royal family of Khazaria. DNA expert Rebekah Canada reports that they're thinking maybe G types and R1a1a types more likely candidates.
Double Update: 5/10/2012 from Rebekah Canada:
Updated on SNPs 5/26/16 to Q-BZ67.
Is Q-L245 found in modern Arab populations? Yes
Is Q-L245 found in modern Anatolian populatons? Yes
Is Q-L245 found in modern Iran and Iraq? Yes
Is Q-L245 found from the modern locations of the Ancient city of Ur down to the tip of Saudi Arabia and Oman? Yes
Does that cover the places where ancient Israel, Judah, and Sumaria were? Yes.
Q, Q-L245 or Q1b1a, now Q-BZ67 is the haplogroup of my
father's line. This is very exciting news today because Abraham
came from Ur, and this gives me the theory that he may also have
been of this group. Whereas Moses and Aaron may have been of the
J1 haplogroup, that doesn't necessarily mean Abraham had to as well.
Without a time machine and a test kit in it, we're left to theorize
intelligently.
Update: 7/7/13: Sorry, I did a tree from the Torah's information and
Update: 7/7/13: Sorry, I did a tree from the Torah's information and
Abraham would have been the direct descendant of Jacob's 12 sons.
So Moses would have been directly from Abraham. Moses was of
the Tribe of Levi. Moses was the 6th generation from Abraham
directly or his 3rd great grandson.
Update: 5/29/12; The latest news for our group is that our origins
Update: 5/29/12; The latest news for our group is that our origins
were around Pakistan and India this must include the Assyrian
Empire. Mesopotamia was a part of Assyria, and in that empire sits
Ur, which is located today in northern Iraq. This Semitic Akkadian
Kingdom was from the 25th century BCE down to 608 BCE from
the upper Tigris River in Northern Mesopotamia.
- Q1a2 (L56, M346): found in Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia and Hungary
- Q1a2a (L53): found among the Mongols
- Q1a2a1 (L54): found in Mesolthic western Russia
- Q1a2a1a (CTS11969)
- Q1a2a1a1 (M3): the main subclade of Native Americans
- Q1a2a1a2 (L804): found in Germany, Scandinavia and Britain
- Q1a2a1a2a (L807): observed in Britain
- Q1a2a1b (Z780): found among Native Americans, notably in Mexico
- Q1a2a1c (L330): the main subclade of the Mongols, also found among the Kazakhs and Uzbeks, as well as in Ukraine, Turkey and Greece (probably Mongolian and Turkic)
- Q1a2b (L940): found in Central Asia, Afghanistan, India, Russia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland and Germany
- Q1a2b1 (L527): found almost exclusively in Scandinavia and places settled by the Vikings
- Q1a2b2 (L938): observed in Anatolia, Lithuania, Britain and Portugal
- Q1a2b2a (L939): observed in Britain
- Q1a2c (M323)
- Q1b (L275): found among the Tatars of Russia, in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Q1b1 (M378): observed in Kazakhstan, India and Germany
- Q1b1a (L245): found in the Middle East, among the Jews, in Central Europe and in Sicily
- Q1b1a1 (L272.1): found in Sicily (probably Phoenician)
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_Q-M242
Book: Eliyahu's Branches by Chaim Freedman, the Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and his family, 685 pages, large heavy book, but lists people, not dna.
Labels: dna, ian Goldfoot, Nathan Abraham Goldfoot, South Africa, Stanley Goldfoot, USA, Vilna Gaon genealogy connection, What Haplogroup We Be? Jewish Facts From Portland
Wednesday, May 03, 2023
How Our Family Line of Goldfoot Wound up in Lithuania
Nadene Goldfoot
Native Americans first arrived on the continent 12,000 years ago.
Abraham was not a name we were privy to know about until genealogy research took place. He had named his 3rd son, Abraham, who had died in infancy, though. The Jewish custom of naming is for family who have died. Rabbi Goldberg told me to look and see if we had an Abraham in the family.
.jpg)
He was connected to us and my helper from Jerusalem. He was slaughtered in his synagogue during morning prayers later on, a horrible shock to me. I hadn't even known--he hadn't told me---that he was a well-known rabbi.
Our Nathan grew a beard because my father remembered sitting on his lap and playing with it. Zayda (grandfather) died from an accident when Dad was 4 years old, so he really did remember.
Our family line started with one man quite possibly born in Turkey of Central Asia who migrated to Mesopotamia who migrated to ancient Canaan some 4,000 years ago. A descendant of his then remained on the land till 70 CE-about 2,,000 years ago only to be transferred to Rome, Italy, possibly as merchants originally or slaves after 70 CE. From there the family finally wound up in Germany in around the year 1,000 CE, and then found they needed to leave and headed northwards, ending in Lithuania in the year 1321-1398, still part of the Dark Ages. We had become part of the Ashkenazic Jews.
We know these facts through genealogy with the modern help of places like ancestry.com; and our own DNA testing, especially the Big Y test from Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), that shows our one and only male Goldfoot's Y haplogroup to be a rare QBZ67. Q's are from places like Turkey. My brother's test was Q-M242 , then Q-Y2200 which is the predominant Y-DNA haplogroup among Native Americans and several peoples of Central Asia and Northern Siberia. Adele Canada is the project person at FTDNA for our line. Wikipedia said, "Q-M378's subbranch Q-L245's subclades Q-Y2200 and Q-YP1035 are the only varieties of
So, a very long time ago, our line split off from the Native American line to become a line of Jews that must have hooked up in Mesopotamia. As far as Jews go, who are a very small group today as it is after the Holocaust killed 6 million of us being only 0.02% of the total world population, This line is one of the small ones of Jews.
It is a part of the Halpern group, though. The Halpern group is a group on FTDNA of men related to the Halperns whose ancestors were many well-known rabbis of the day in Europe. The genealogy of many go back to King David of Israel (1010-970 BCE). Family lines of Wertheimer and Oppenheim/er are among those we connect with. 
The nice thing for genealogists is that in order to sit on the high court, the Sanhedrin, the 71 ordained scholars; rabbis who had to present their genealogy scrolls showing their connection to Rabbi Hillel of the 1st century CE or King David so there have been a few that were able to still exist today.
Interesting to me is that they didn't realize the power of DNA, expecting descendants of rabbis to produce rabbis who would be equally brilliant in their judgements. For in the days of Hillel, rabbis held debates between each other on point of law
of Moses. They even had debating partners and practiced debating. My son took debate in high school and went to state (Salem, Oregon) winning almost all their debates. Hillel had 2 famous teachers, Shemaiah and Avtalyon which is like saying Harvard AND Yale. Hillel even became president of the Sanhedrin. Hillel and his debating partner, who was known to take Hillel's opposing side, was Shammai. They were the last of the pairs (Zugot) of scholars. Hillel was well-known for his humility and tendency to leniency. Usually Hillel was the one other rabbis followed.
From Lithuania and before WWI, our grandfather, Nathan Abraham Goldfus, immigrated to England and changed his name from Goldfus to Goldfoot, and then from there to Dublin, Ireland seeking a new homeland lived for a short while with cousins who turned out to be the ancestors of Ian Goldfoot who I met a few years ago in Texas. From Ireland, somehow Nathan moved on to the USA while his cousins immigrated to South Africa, a favored place for Lithuanian Jews since I found many of our relatives there.
Nathan met and married another Lithuanian, Zlata Jermulowske, in Idaho where they married in Boise. They lived in a little mining town there of Council, Idaho for a short while. After my uncle Charley was born, they rode the train to Portland, Oregon.
When I made aliyah in 1980, the first thing I did was to look up Stanley Goldfoot (1914-2006) . He was a pioneer, moving to Israel before 1948 and becoming the Chief of Intelligence for the Stern Group whose leader was the famous Avraham Stern who went by Yair, (1907-1942). In 1939-1940 he left the Irgun Tzeval Leumi, of which he had been a leader, because of its refusal to continue anti-British activities in Palestine during World War II. He formed an underground organization later known as Lahame Herut Israel. The British called it the Stern Gang which carried out acts of sabotage, etc. They did attack the King David Hotel, as it happens--where I met Stanley much later on. Stern was killed by the British police while being arrested...one of those affairs we have seen happen to Blacks in the states during arrests. Wouldn't you know it, but Stanley had 2 daughters, no sons.
.JPG)
My son was a runner in high school. Ian would be so excited!
Finally, I traveled from Oregon to Texas and visited my brother and met Ian at David's home since he had finally immigrated from South Africa to Texas. We had been phoning and messaging each other before that, discovering each other. David's wife was Texas-born, reason for David to live there and not our lovely Oregon.
There are now Q's found in Sephardic jews. This is what we know about Jewish Q branches so far. Note that when we specify a group within the Jewish Diaspora we are only reporting where the branch is most common today.
Q-Y2232 Sephardic and our Q-Y2200-- QBZ67 Ashkenazic
This branch is primarily found in the modern Ashkenazi Jewish population. For those with Ashkenazi Jewish oral traditions, our definitive SNP appears to Q-Y2232. Other Jewish Diaspora Q branches seem to come from elsewhere on the Q tree. They likely came into the Jewish population separately from Q-Y2232. Immediately above Q-Y2232 is Q-Y2200. It is unclear right now how and when those who are Q-Y2200 but not Q-Y2232 are related to their Ashkenazi Jewish cousins. According to the info below, ours is from 1,800 to 3,200 years old.
Behar and others published a scientific paper January 2004 found 5.22% of Ashkenazi Jewish men to have the P36 marker (a SNP downstream from M242 and upstream from M378) whereas among the non-Jewish neighbors there was only 0.3% had this SNP. It now appears that many of us also have another SNP downstream from M378, the L245. As the results from additional testing become known we will share that information.
- M242 29,000 to 34,000 years old; Eurasia and the Americas
- L275 26,000 to 31,000 years old; Eurasia
- F1213 12,000 to 16,000 years old; Eurasia
- M378 8,000 to 12,000 years old; Eurasia
- L245 5,100 to 6,700 years old; Eurasia
- Y2998 3,200 to 4,100 years old
- Y2209 2,900 to 4,000 years old; Eurasia
- Y2211 2,900 to 4,000 years old; Eurasia
- Y2200 1,800 to 3,200 years old; Ashkenazi Jews and some Europeans
- Y2232 Ashkenazi Jews (4% - 6% of the Ashkenazi population today.)
Resource:
The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes, p. 156.
https://goldfoot_genealogy.blogspot.com/2017/07/connecting-to-wertheimer-and.html
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cro-Magnon
Labels: Ashkenazi, Cro Magnon, dna, ian Goldfoot, lithuanian, Nathan Abraaham Goldfoot, Neanderthal, Rbbi Abraaham Goldberg, Sanhedrin, Sephardic, Stanley Goldfoot, Stern Group, Turkey
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Brig General Dan Goldfus, Head of Infantry and Paratroopers Corps in Israel
Nadene Goldfoot
Brig Gen Dan Goldfus, Head of Infantry and Paratroopers Corps, Israel, paid a courtesy call on Gen. Purna Chandra Thapa, COAS, Nepalese Army, on 12 September 2019. The duo also discussed on possible future mutual cooperation. Now, which man is which? Both are generals! Dan's on the left in the blue shirt.
In Hebrew his rank is called a Tat Aluf-or Ta'al which shows one rocket? laying over a leaf. it's 3rd from the top rank.
Our surname was originally Goldfus. Dan Goldfus could be our cousin. Stanley Goldfoot of Jerusalem was a 3rd cousin. If his ancestors were from Lithuania, there's a 100% chance we are related and share a few genes. Stanley's parents emigrated to South Africa while ours emigrated to the USA.
Yes, I have found him on my tree. We are 4th cousins twice removed according to my Family Tree Maker chart. I'd love to have a DNA test from Dan to see what genes we share. If my research was correct, and I worked on this some years ago, his father was a Chaim Goldfus and mother was Caroline Ida Stern. He is 42 years younger than me. How wonderful to have him as a relative, though a distant one! If I am correct, Dan's birthday is tomorrow! Happy Birthday cousin Dan! What a coincidence!
I have our common ancestor being:
Iankel (Yankel) Goldfus b: 1768 in Telsai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania
Dan was from his son, Chaim c: 1801
I was from his son, Iosel (Josel) Symka ben Yankel b: c1798.
June 4, 2020 had an article in it from Jerusalem Post mentioning "Head of the Infantry and Paratroopers Corps, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus to lead it.
Lt.-Col. Avichai Mor Yosef was accidentally shot in the abdomen by another commander during a live-fire drill into Wednesday night.
Challenges of Command
The departing commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus (Photo: IDF)
The commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus, is regarded as one of the most daring and ethical officers in the IDF. A fighter through and through, he encountered numerous terrorists at point-blank range during his 23 years of service in the IDF, in nearby theaters like the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as in remote places which must remain unnamed. (I notice he's right-handed. My brother and a cousin and I are left-handed.)
"Goldfus is the son of new immigrants from South Africa who settled in Jerusalem. Originally religious, he does not wear a Yarmulke anymore. Goldfus joined the IDF in 1995 and volunteered for the IDF Navy's 13th Flotilla ("Shayetet") – the Naval Commandos. During Operation Shirat HaTzaftzafa, the fiasco in Ansariyeh, Lebanon in 1997, Goldfus, then a young warfighter, was a member of the rescue team that rushed to help the detachment that had sustained heavy casualties. This incident evolved into one of the most tragic disasters in the history of the 13th Flotilla, and remains an open, unresolved case for many within the unit even 21 years later. Back then, Goldfus was a 20-year-old warfighter in an operation still regarded as a severe and traumatic incident, and the actual circumstances and causes remain a mystery, as far as he is concerned. The IDF Chief of Staff has recently appointed Goldfus as Chief IDF Infantry & Paratroopers Officer. He will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and the implication is that he would not fulfill the dream of every naval commando – to become the commander of the 13th Flotilla. If Goldfus is disappointed – he hides it well, and definitely does not allow this fact to affect his demanding job as commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade."
Stanley Goldfoot was from South Africa. Many Jewish Lithuanians emigrated there.
"In a special interview, the departing commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus, talks about the challenges of his position, the threats facing the various theaters, and dealing with the young generation joining the military. "The troopers come from a technological world where everything is instant. Our job is to challenge them.""
Goldfus' IDF career has always been a zigzag between the Naval Commandos and the Nahal and other brigades of the "larger IDF" – those outside the realm of elite specialist units. During Operation Protective Shield, Goldfus served as the commander of the Nahal Brigade's reconnaissance company – Sayeret Nahal. For his performance while in this position, in a series of successful counter-terrorism operations in the territories, the general officer commanding IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski, awarded Goldfus a Major General's citation. He subsequently served as deputy commander of the 13th Flotilla, and then as commander of the IDF 769th Brigade – the Hiram Formation (the eastern brigade deployed along the Lebanon border). While in this position, the Brigade sustained a severe attack by anti-tank missiles Hezbollah had launched at a convoy of the Givati Brigade on Mount Dov. This incident, IDF designation "Shemesh Horpit," brought the State of Israel very close to the outbreak of the "Third Lebanon War," or the "First War of the North."
We met Col. Goldfus at the training camp of the Nahal Brigade in Tel Arad. The training troopers practice close-range running engagement drills, a 'dry run' followed by a 'wet run' (live fire). "They study the posture and acquire the ability to shoot effectively. I am a great believer in the simulators they had trained on before. We want to develop this activity further," says Goldfus.
Col. Goldfus is the type of commander you can tag as "old school" – one who regards his service as a calling, who regards the IDF as a military whose range of tasks transcends the realm of just fighting or training for war. The IDF Nahal Brigade has recently experienced a major trauma. On November 30, 2017, local Bedouins knifed to death one of the Brigade's troopers, Sgt. Ron Kokia, at a transport station in Arad, and escaped with his firearm. The victim was on his way back to the Nahal Brigade's training camp. "He had arrived at the transport station and waited there on a bench. We never thought it would come from within. We expected it to come from the territories, from the area of Hebron."
Out of the shock and rage, Goldfus announced a new project titled "Ohel Avraham" (Abraham's Tent) – a series of encounters aimed at getting to know the Bedouin community of the Negev, living close to the Nahal training camp. The formal objective was reconciliation and mutual acquaintance. The informal objective was to increase the percentages of Bedouins recruited into the IDF, opposite the trends of Islamization and radicalization, with Hamas, the Islamist Movement, and ISIS competing against the IDF over the hearts and minds of the young Bedouin generation.
"The project consists of four meetings, beginning with a meeting of the commanders," Goldfus explains. "We aim for a partnership, for 'togetherness.' The idea is for the (Bedouin) youngsters to see the troopers, and for the troopers to see the (Bedouin) youngsters, and drop off the stigmatic labels."
Is being a brigade commander in the IDF more complicated today than it was when you joined the Flotilla back in 1995?
"We had a training activity where we took the guys out and spent three days without access to mobile phones. Suddenly there was interaction among the troopers. Suddenly they started speaking to one another. When those three days were over, each one took back his mobile phone and went away, engrossed in the screen. It was an interesting challenge. The hierarchy has become flat since I had joined (the IDF). The story you are telling will be challenged. You must be prepared to answer the questions of even the last trooper. Maj. Gen. (res.) Yom-Tov Samia, who had served as the commander of the 931st Battalion of the Nahal Brigade, came to speak to the Battalion's troopers. Suddenly, a trooper stood up and asked 'Why would you go into politics?' Back in the day, who had the nerve to stand up and ask? It is amazing. It is great. You must understand the life of these guys. Especially the younger commanders – the challenge they face is even more substantial. Their friction is with the information. Today it is 'sit down, platoon commander, and I will tell you what it was like.' We must empower the platoon commander. We take what we do for granted. An 18-year-old youth hears a radio commercial for a college. Here with us, you will find command and a mission. We assign crazy adult responsibilities to 18 and 20-year-old youngsters. Today they are regarded more as children and the parents are more intensively involved and you attempt to establish a triple commitment: command-trooper-parent."
Col. Goldfus walks over to the new recruits near the encampments. "What's up, guys?" he asks them while shaking hands with each one in turn.
You are a little old fashioned with regard to military-society relations, are you not? Is it actually the military's job to educate about and become acquainted with the Bedouins? People will say 'what is to you? Go out and fight or prepare for war.'
"Yes, I believe in it. If that means being old fashioned, so I am, and I do believe in it. This is the real strength. I do not believe in a professional military. I will be delighted to take off my uniform, but I am here because I believe in what I do. It is amazing, nothing is more virtuous than this. Nothing equals the opportunity to raise and lead people."
In the week when we met at the Nahal training camp, elements of the Nahal Brigade were operating in all of the different sectors: Col. Goldfus' brigade had one battalion deployed in Hebron, another battalion on the Golan Heights along the Syrian border and two more battalions deployed along the Lebanon border. As the brigade commander, he is running around from one battalion to the next.
"We are just like any other infantry brigade," says Goldfus. "We set ourselves a goal to be excellent and relevant. The infantryman asks himself 'how can I be relevant?' We should have the best equipment, use simulators and be able to identify the reference threat. Hezbollah and the built-up area are relevant to both the north and the south and we are preparing our men accordingly."
You have recently concluded a division-level training exercise with the IDF Southern Command's 162nd Division to which the Nahal Brigade had been attached. How close did it feel to a situation where, at a moment's notice, you would be inside the Gaza Strip in the context of a new major operation, owing to the deterioration in the Gaza Strip?
"I believe that with the 162nd Division we came and managed to reach a common language at a very, very high level with regard to plans, concepts and how we expect ourselves to accomplish the mission when the time comes. All the way, that is the plan. Go all the way – wherever we may have to go. Based on that, you may say that you want to stop somewhere or initiate a certain act to influence the operation. The prevailing feeling is that it is a matter of decision-making – to embark or not to embark (on a new operation in the Gaza Strip – O.H.) – and we are ready. That is what we say to the Chief of Staff: we are ready, we are determined, and we will accomplish the mission. We have no doubts about it. One of the most significant problems is the fact that we sometimes doubt our own capabilities.
"We listen too much to the other side. To Nasrallah, to Sinwar, to anyone who wants to tell us stories. We need to ask ourselves what about us. We will always have gaps. Am I fully satisfied with what I have, with the training time allotted to me? No. Definitely not, but we must be ready to accomplish the mission with what we have, without excuses. To come in and initiate all the time. We remain on a very high state of alert for whatever we may be required to do. My mission, as a field commander, is to prepare my men to be resolute, to be the kind of men who can, at the end of the day, remain ethical and accomplish the mission."
How do you view the criticism the IDF is sustaining over its activities in the Gaza Strip following every major operation and even over the operations along the border fence?
"I have no problem with all kinds of organizations that state 'we were not like this and we were not like that.' On the contrary, I draw strength from the fact that I have to explain things better, to ourselves and to our soldiers. With regard to all kinds of incidents. An incident has occurred. Why did we act this way and not that way? Let us ask ourselves why we did what we did. We live in a democratic country. We must be strong enough to allow it."
Challenging the Troopers
Do you ask yourself what it would be like next time, in the next major operation in the Gaza Strip?
"Certainly. All the time. I am obliged to ask myself what it would be like all the time. I took my platoon commanders and asked them 'Tell me what the next war will be like. Envision the next war and describe it to me'. At the time of Operation Protective Edge, the troopers you see here were in the ninth grade, but where were the commanders? It is very difficult for them to envision the war, but it is very easy for them to envision their vacation in Thailand. You must help them envision the challenges of the next war, the encounter with combat. I think we are very powerful. We do not have to be arrogant. We must allow the problems to float up without fear of criticism. Anyone who fails to do it will be lost.
"I keep asking myself and the commanders above and below me: what can I do and what would be more complex for me to do. Scaring myself to death with casualty figures is ineffective. I always strive to get everyone I can back safely. It was during Operation Protective Edge that I witnessed realization that these things involve casualties. I believe the civilians were very strong. Some mistakes were made during Operation Protective Edge that we must learn from in order to be better next time."
Do such guys as the recruits of the Nahal Brigade train, for example, to fight in the underground tunnels – what the IDF calls subterranean warfare?
"We strive to avoid the subterranean medium. What we have to do is turn the subterranean medium into a death trap for the other side. Look at history, at the battle of Okinawa. What did the Japanese say? 'We cannot cope with the Americans, so let's build tunnels.' They built three lines of defense made up of tunnels. They had intended to force the Americans to fight for every inch.
"Hamas says: I cannot resist the IDF. If the IDF wants to – it will conquer the entire Strip in a second. Consequently, I have to think of a way to turn their space into a death trap, to drive them out of their safe space. That is the name of the game. That is the battle. I want to deliver my advantages and my subterfuge to the battlefield. We have the method to do it and the cooperation to do it. Nothing is perfect. We must practice our advantages and work on our disadvantages. They look for ways to kidnap an IDF trooper. They look for ways to turn a small incident into a major strategic event, and I look for ways to deny it to them, to kill them under the ground and not to play into their hands.
"These troopers are currently going through their basic training. For the first time since the year 2000 and the second Intifada, we are once again training according to the 17-17 pattern: seventeen weeks of training followed by seventeen weeks on frontline duty, so the troopers are training much more. The troopers get to know their weapons and the commanders can evaluate the quality of the training activity. We want to see how a trooper, who goes into the training activity at a performance level of X, emerges from that activity: X plus how much? We need to understand what the training had given him. This applies to the simulators that simulate the battlefield, including the casualties.
"We have to challenge them. The troopers come from a technological world where everything is instant. Our job is to challenge them in the context of what we are about to encounter during the war. We developed a training seminar on being the 'coiled spring.' Only for the Gaza Strip, only scenarios."
Resource:
https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/36727
me-research on genealogy of Goldfoot/Goldfus
Labels: Commander, genealogy, Goldfoot, Goldfus, IDF, Israel, Jerusalem, South Africa, Stanley Goldfoot
