Rabbi David Hertzberg

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	Select an Archives Section: JP Archives: Leadership Challenges 200 Archived Articles Found in Leadership Challenges Next 20 Articles > 1) Posted Sep 07 2010 Parshat Ha'azeinu By Rabbi David Hertzberg In the 1860's Edward Everett was the most famous orator in the United States. So it was no surprise that when Governor Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania decided to dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg to bury the Union dead, Everett was invited to be the keynote speaker. As an afterthought, the organizers of the day's events scheduled for November 19, 1863 invited President Abraham Lincoln to deliver, "A few appropriate remarks." Read Article 2) Posted Sep 01 2010 Parshat Netzavim-Vayeilech By Rabbi David Hertzberg "Everything in Life is a Graded Event." Several years ago I came across this quote in the book Muddy Boots Leadership by John Chapman. It made such an impression on me that I had it inscribed on a desk plaque for everyone who visits my office to see. Essentially, Chapman argues that leaders are never off. People are watching everything they do no matter how seemingly trivial. They are watching to see how well the leader does and how much self control and discipline he displays. A chance encounter will be "graded" in people's minds and could therefore potentially have a tremendous impact on the leader's future. Read Article 3) Posted Aug 25 2010 Parshat Ki Tavo By Rabbi David Hertzberg "It has become clear to me that we had very important achievements: I do not know whether any nation other than ours' could have had such achievements. But if you think we have the power to defend the Yishuv, you are deceiving yourself. We have a public that is devoted to the Haganah and that is prepared to give up its life to defend Zionism, but we do not have a talented public that is trained and equipped for that." These cautionary words were delivered by David Ben-Gurion on May 29, 1947 at a meeting of his political party's leadership. They reflected his conclusions following what has become known as "Ben-Gurion's Seminar." Read Article 4) Posted Aug 18 2010 Parshat Ki Teitzei By Rabbi David Hertzberg Plan XVII was the French military plan implemented at the beginning of World War One. The plan developed in 1913, called for a French offensive east across the Rhine River should war break out with Germany. This offensive would require the bulk of the French army thus leaving France's northern border relatively weak. The historian Barbara Tuchman wrote in her classic study of failed foreign policies The March of Folly (1984) that this "strategy could only be justified by the fixed belief that the Germans could not deploy enough manpower to extend their invasion around through western Belgium and the French coastal provinces. This assumption was based on the equally fixed belief that the Germans would never use reserves in the front line" (p.7). Read Article 5) Posted Aug 11 2010 Parshat Shoftim By Rabbi David Hertzberg Sherman Kent was one of the CIA's most famous analysts. He played a prominent role in the production of the September 19, 1962 intelligence estimate which concluded that it was unlikely the Soviet Union would introduce offensive nuclear weapons into Cuba. Less than one month later photographic evidence taken by a spy plane on October 14 proved that estimate wrong. The Cuban Missile Crisis had begun. Asked to explain how he and the other analysts could make such a mistake, Kent commented: "We missed the Soviet decision to put the missiles into Cuba because we could not believe that [Soviet Leaders Nikita] Khrushchev could make such a mistake" (as quoted in "Learning from Intelligence Failures." by John Hollister Hedley. International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 18:3, 2005, p.439). Read Article 6) Posted Aug 04 2010 Parshat Re'eh By Rabbi David Hertzberg July 1, 1937 is a significant date in modern history. It was the fist time the 999 emergency number was used in Great Britain to report an emergency. A woman called the number at 4:20 a.m. to report a burglary in progress at her house. The operator called the police immediately, and the burglar was arrested within five minutes (BBC History Magazine July 2007, p.13). While we take such service for granted, we should realize that prior to 1937 no such service existed. (The United States didn't institute this service until1968.) To get help people called an operator to report an emergency. The operator would then call the appropriate agency. As is often the case, it took a tragedy to galvanize the British government to adjust the way emergencies were reported. Read Article 7) Posted Jul 28 2010 Parshat Eikev By Rabbi David Hertzberg Leaders make mistakes. For some mistakes they can be forgiven, especially when those mistakes are as a result of a sincere and honest effort to choose the best course of action. However, mistakes that result from arrogance are unpardonable. History is replete with examples. The following case described by historian Margaret MacMillan in her book Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History (2009) is one such tragic case. Read Article 8) Posted Jul 21 2010 Parshat V'etchanan By Rabbi David Hertzberg "As to moral courage, I have very rarely met with the two o'clock in the morning kind. I mean unprepared courage that is necessary on an unexpected occasion, and which, in spite of the most unforeseen events, leaves full freedom of judgment and decision." The author of this maxim that places such a high premium on moral courage is none other than Napoleon, arguably one of history's top ten generals. While certainly aware of the need for physical courage-- the courage required to march forward and charge toward the sound of the guns (another of Napoleon's maxims)-- Napoleon realized that the greater courage needed by a leader was moral courage. Read Article 9) Posted Jul 15 2010 Parshat Devarim By Rabbi David Hertzberg Nazi Germany's subsequent surprise declaration of war against the United States propelled America to become a full partner with Great Britain in the fight against evil. Throughout the streets of the U.S. there were calls for revenge. But the country's leaders in Washington knew that wars are not fought, let alone won, by mere patriotic fervor and rhetoric. As of December 1941, the stark reality was that the American army was too small and in no condition to fight both Germany and Japan simultaneously. An army would have to be raised, trained and transported to the combat zones. Read Article 10) Posted Jul 07 2010 Parshat Matot-Massei By Rabbi David Hertzberg At 5:00 p.m. on April 12, 1945 Vice-President Harry S. Truman received a cryptic phone call summoning him immediately to the White House. Thinking that President Roosevelt had something urgent to discuss with him, he found his driver and rushed through the Washington evening traffic to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When he arrived at 5:25 he was met by two ushers and taken to the residence on the second floor. Upon exiting the elevator Truman saw Eleanor Roosevelt in her sitting room. Seeing Truman she approached him and put her arm on his shoulder. Read Article 11) Posted Jun 30 2010 Parshat Pinchas By Rabbi David Hertzberg General George Marshall, chief of staff of the United States Army during World War II, is often referred to as the war's "organizer of victory." Although he never commanded men in combat, he proved himself to be an organizational genius, strategic thinker and deliberate diplomat. Arguably, however, his greatest strength was his eye for talent and assigning the right men to the appropriate jobs. Generals such as Ike Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, George Patton, Mark Clark and Beetle Smith were discovered by Marshall and given positions of prominence. These names were part of a list that Marshall compiled throughout the twenties and thirties of promising young officers. This list became known as Marshall's "Little Black Book." Read Article 12) Posted Jun 23 2010 Parshat Balak By Rabbi David Hertzberg "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." The preceding quote is attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Allegedly, while others were basking in the glory of a major victory, Yamamoto realized that the victory at Pearl Harbor would most probably lead to the total defeat of Japan. Regardless of whether Yamamoto actually said the above quote, he certainly shared those sentiments. Read Article 13) Posted Jun 16 2010 Parshat Chukat By Rabbi David Hertzberg Semper Paratus-"always ready." Made the motto of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1910, this phrase epitomizes the "Coasties" as the members of the Coast Guard are known. Countless numbers of people over the years owe their lives to these brave men and women, who, at tremendous risk to their own lives, braved the elements to rescue them at sea. While we often remember the great tragedies of ships lost at sea, such as the British RMS Titanic, where over 1500 people perished, we know little of our own Coast Guard's tremendous successes. Read Article 14) Posted Jun 09 2010 Parshat Korach By Rabbi David Hertzberg October 6, 1973 is a Yom Kippur Jews around the world will never forget. On this day Egypt and Syria launched surprise attacks against Israel. In the South, Egypt had 1350 tanks, 2000 artillery pieces and 100,000 soldiers. To defend against this giant force Israel had 450 soldiers, 44 artillery pieces and only 290 tanks ready for action. In the North, Syria had an 8:1 advantage in tanks (The Yom Kippur War by Abraham Rabinovich, 2004, p.3). Against such odds it is little wonder that Israel suffered such major setbacks early in the war. Read Article 15) Posted Jun 02 2010 Parshat Shelach By Rabbi David Hertzberg The Soviet Union's failure to adequately prepare for the Nazi (y"s) attack in June 1941 was an intelligence failure. America's failure to expect and defend against the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 was an intelligence failure. America's failure to anticipate and prevent the Soviet Union's placement of nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962 was an intelligence failure. The CIA's failure to predict the Shah of Iran's downfall in late 1978 was an intelligence failure. 9/11 was an intelligence failure, as was the intelligence community's conclusion that Iraq possessed WMD (weapons of mass destruction). The recent spate of just barely foiled terrorist attacks could have resulted in terrible carnage due to intelligence failures. Read Article 16) Posted May 26 2010 Parshat B'ha'alotcha By Rabbi David Hertzberg What's the most thankless job in the world? Without a doubt it's being a referee or umpire. If a referee does a good job nobody says a word to him, but if he does a bad job by making a controversial call, well suffice it to say people will let him know their feelings. Kyle Garlett and Patrick O'Neal recently wrote a book The Worst Call Ever (2007) recounting many of the terrible calls made by referees and umpires. Read Article 17) Posted May 18 2010 Shavuot By Rabbi David Hertzberg Which president of the United States arguably violated the Constitution more than any other president by usurping Congressional authority and suspending peoples' constitutional rights? Most people are shocked that the answer is Abraham Lincoln. Faced with the worst crisis our country has ever had to contend with, Lincoln raised an army (a Congressional power); ordered a blockade (also a Congressional power); arrested people for speaking out against the war (an apparent violation of free speech); suspended the constitutional right to a Writ of Habeas Corpus; and emancipated the slaves during a time when slavery was still constitutional. What was Lincoln's justification? Read Article 18) Posted May 12 2010 Parshat Bamidbar By Rabbi David Hertzberg "Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground." After uttering these words Sgt. William H. Carney turned over the regimental flag of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment to another soldier. He then collapsed from the four wounds he suffered during the failed Union attack on Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. Despite his injuries he held the flag firmly and guarded it with his life, thus preventing its capture by the Confederates. For his actions that day he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the army's highest award. Read Article 19) Posted May 05 2010 Parshat Behar By Rabbi David Hertzberg May 13, 1940 was a dreadful day in Great Britain. That morning at 5 a.m. the Queen of Holland phoned the King of England requesting passage to London as her country was crumbling before the Nazi (y"s) juggernaut. Following the invasion of France three days before, the king asked Winston Churchill to form a new government because Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain realized that he could no longer effectively lead the country. Read Article 20) Posted Apr 28 2010 Parshat Emor By Rabbi David Hertzberg President Lincoln was thrilled. After nearly a year of humiliating defeats at the hands of General Robert E. Lee, the Union Army of the Potomac finally won a battle in early July 1863. The Battle of Gettysburg has gone down in history as one of the most important battles of the Civil War. In the quiet town by that name two mighty armies fought each other ruthlessly from July 1- July 3. By the battle's end over 50,000 men lay dead or wounded. Lee's gamble to win the war by invading the North had failed miserably. Read Article 200 Archived Articles Found in Leadership Challenges Next 20 Articles >
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