Aluf (Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s: אלוף) is the term used for General A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given and Admiral Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM". Where relevant, Admiral has a NATO code of OF-9, and is a 4 star rank in the Israel Defense Forces An order of Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 26, 1948 officially set up the Israel Defense Forces as a conscript army formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The IDF served as Israel's armed forces in all the country's major military operations — including the 1948 Arab–Israeli (IDF). In addition to the Aluf rank itself, there are four other ranks which are derivatives of the word. Together, they constitute the five highest ranks in the IDF.
Rank order of Aluf and its derivatives
- Rav Aluf (Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s: רב-אלוף) : the highest rank in IDF An order of Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 26, 1948 officially set up the Israel Defense Forces as a conscript army formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The IDF served as Israel's armed forces in all the country's major military operations — including the 1948 Arab–Israeli (Chief of the General Staff Rank), literally Arch-Aluf, Lieutenant General Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General/General A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given
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- Aluf: Major General Major General or Major-General is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of Sergeant Major General. A Major General is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of Lieutenant General and senior to the ranks of Brigadier and Brigadier General. Where relevant, Major General has a NATO code of OF-7, (arms An order of Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 26, 1948 officially set up the Israel Defense Forces as a conscript army formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The IDF served as Israel's armed forces in all the country's major military operations — including the 1948 Arab–Israeli, branches An order of Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 26, 1948 officially set up the Israel Defense Forces as a conscript army formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The IDF served as Israel's armed forces in all the country's major military operations — including the 1948 Arab–Israeli, and regional commands An order of Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 26, 1948 officially set up the Israel Defense Forces as a conscript army formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah, incorporating the militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The IDF served as Israel's armed forces in all the country's major military operations — including the 1948 Arab–Israeli)
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- Tat Aluf (Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s: תת-אלוף),literally Sub-Aluf, : Brigadier General Brigadier General is a senior rank in the Armed Forces. It is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General. A Brigadier General is typically in command of a Brigade consisting of around 3,000 troops (divisional A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 30,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions make up a corps. In most modern militaries, a division tends to be the smallest combined arms unit capable of independent operations; due and corps A Corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service. Corps may also refer to a branch of service such as the United States Marine Corps, the Corps of Royal Marines, the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, or the-level)
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- Aluf Mishne (Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s: אלוף-משנה), literally Secondary-Aluf, : Colonel Today, a colonel is usually a military title rated as the highest, or the second-highest, field rank below the general, or "flag", grades. In some small military forces, it can be the highest rank held (brigade A brigade is a military formation that is typically composed of two to five regiments or battalions, depending on the era and nationality of a given army. Usually, a brigade is a sub-component of a division, a larger unit consisting of two or more brigades-level)
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- Sgan Aluf (Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s: סגן-אלוף), literally Vice-Aluf, : Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence. A lieutenant colonel is typically in (battalion A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,300 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel. Several battalions are grouped to form a regiment or a brigade-level)
Rav Aluf is usually translated as "Lieutenant General", but is often considered to equate to a Field Marshall or five-star General[citation needed], since it is the most senior rank in the IDF. The rank is given only to the Chief of General Staff (Ramatkal), so there can only be one active Rav Aluf under regular circumstances. However this could change in a time of war. During the Yom Kippur War Badr – Budapest – Lahtzanit – Ofira – 1st Hermon – Marsa Talamat – Valley of Tears – Doogman 5 – Latakia – 2nd Hermon – Baltim – Sinai – Mansoura – Chinese Farm – 3rd Hermon – Suez in 1973, retired rav aluf Haim Bar-Lev was called back into service, replacing Shmuel Gonen as the commander of the southern front. Thus, along with chief of the general staff David Elazar (who succeeded Bar-Lev in that position the previous year), there were two people in active service holding the rank of rav aluf simultaneously.
Israel is essentially a land and air The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces. Founded at the same time as the formation of the State of Israel, the IAF is renowned for maintaining air superiority over its foes, repeatedly demonstrating superior combat performance. Its current Commander in Chief is Major General Ido Nehoshtan power, with the navy being apportioned less than five percent of the military budget A military budget of an entity, most often a nation or a state, is the budget and financial resources dedicated to raising and maintaining armed forces for that entity. Military budgets reflect how much an entity perceives the likelihood of threats against it, or the amount of aggression it wishes to employ. It also provides an idea of how much. Consequently, there are no separate naval ranks, and Aluf can be an Admiral as well as a General.
The term Aluf is taken from the Bible The Hebrew Bible is a term referring to the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) as originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some Biblical Aramaic. It is also called the Hebrew Scriptures. The term closely corresponds to contents of the Jewish Tanakh and the Protestant Old Testament (see also Judeo-Christian) and does not include the, where it was a rank of nobility among the Edomites Edom was a 1st millennium BCE Iron Age kingdom of southern Jordan. The region has much reddish sandstone, which may have given rise to the name, ancient Judea Judea or Judæa is the name given to the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael) during the period of Classical Antiquity, from roughly the 8th century BCE (Assyrian rule) to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed to Syria Palaestina following Bar Kokhba's revolt's neighbors (and often, enemies) to the south. It comes from an archaic root meaning "thousand"; "aluf" is the one who commands a thousand of people.
The non-Hebrew word "general" was also taken into Hebrew (גנרל), and is used to refer to the generals of foreign armies. It can also be used colloquially in reference to a senior Israeli officer, in a derogatory sense—implying that the officer in question is over-officious, incompetent, or involved in internecine power struggles with other officers to the neglect of proper military duties. For example, in a speech made by the former Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (Hebrew: מפלגת העבודה הישראלית, Mifleget HaAvoda HaYisraelit ), generally known in Israel as Avoda (Hebrew: עבודה) is a center-left political party in Israel. It is a social democratic and Zionist party, a member of the Socialist International and an observer member of the Party of European chairman Amir Peretz, he criticized two other party members who both hold the rank of "aluf" (ret.): former Vice-Chief of General Staff, Aluf Matan Vilnai and former Commander of the Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy is the naval arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea theater. The current commander in chief of the Israeli Navy is Aluf Eli Marom, Aluf Ami Ayalon Amihai "Ami" Ayalon is an Israeli politician and a former member of the Knesset for the Labor Party. He was previously head of the Shin Bet, Israel's secret service, and commander-in-chief of the Navy. He came in second to Ehud Barak in a Labor party leadership election in June 2007, and was appointed a Minister without Portfolio in, referring to them (and other former senior officers of the IDF) as "the generals and admirals":
"I look around me, and hear the voices, I look and I don't believe. Whenever a party does not win the status of a ruling party, the most respectable post is the Defense Ministry. And I hear the generals, and the admirals say: 'Why the Defense Ministry?' I hear the voices, and I am happy with myself, because this means we succeeded in changing the agenda in the State of Israel. The revolution is that a social general is no longer ruled out from being a minister of defense, and our generals yearn to deal with social issues." —Amir Peretz, former Defense Minister of Israel, "Peretz authorized to appoint Labor ministers", ynetnews.com
See also
- Israel Defense Forces ranks
- Mickey Marcus - the IDF's first Aluf.
- Yaakov Dori - the IDF's first Rav Aluf (Chief of Staff)
Categories: Hebrew words and phrases Categories: Hebrew language | Words and phrases by language | Jewish culture | Military ranks of Israel |
