Rabbi David Hertzberg

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	Select an Archives Section: JP Archives: Leadership Challenges 253 Archived Articles Found in Leadership Challenges Next 20 Articles > 21) Posted May 04 2011 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 22) Posted Apr 28 2011 Parshat Kedoshim By Rabbi David Hertzberg In his elaboration on the nature of religious devotion, the Mesilat Yesharim writes (Chapter 26): "The path of religious devotion for a person for whom Torah is his occupation is perforce different from a person who is a day laborer, which is different from a person who is in business. It is not that the nature of religious devotion changes, indeed it is the same for everyone -- the performance of pleasing deeds to G-d. However, since circumstances change, the means to do this must change accordingly." Read Article 23) Posted Apr 18 2011 Pesach By Rabbi David Hertzberg On November 21, 1970, American Special Forces launched a daring raid behind enemy lines in North Vietnam. Their goal was to free the Americans imprisoned in the Son Tay prisoner of war camp. The raid went off without a hitch. No American soldiers were killed in the battle, whereas over one hundred enemy soldiers were. There was only one reason for the raid not to be labeled a success: there were no POWs there. They had been moved sometime before the raid. Read Article 24) Posted Apr 13 2011 Shabbat HaGadol By Rabbi David Hertzberg A line delivered correctly at the right time and moment can have a tremendous impact on the listening audience. Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate challenging President Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential elections, was on the receiving end of such a line. A potential hot issue in the campaign was Reagan's age. He was already over 70 and people wondered whether he had the mental and physical stamina to be president for a second term. Mondale hoped to score some points by contrasting his own relative youth and vigor against Reagan's older age. Read Article 25) Posted Apr 06 2011 Parshat Metzora By Rabbi David Hertzberg Many books have been published recently commemorating the centennial of Ronald Reagan's birth. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Reagan's views, nearly everyone concedes that he was one of the most significant presidents of the twentieth century. However, the Reagan presidency nearly came to an abrupt end on March 30, 1981 when he was critically injured in an assassination attempt. Fortunately, his life was saved by the actions of his Secret Service agents and the medical team at George Washington University Hospital. Read Article 26) Posted Mar 30 2011 Parshat Tazria By Rabbi David Hertzberg The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that from 1975-2001 seat belts in automobiles have saved over 147,000 lives. For many years cars did not have seat belts, as safety was not a primary concern. But in 1956 Ford Motor Company added the Lifeguard System which included as standard a deep-dish steering wheel that moved out of the way in a crash and safety latches which kept doors from opening on impact. Additionally, among other things, seat belts were offered as an option. Although it would be some time before seat belts became standard and their use required by law, Ford started the ball rolling. Safety was given its proper place in car design. Read Article 27) Posted Mar 23 2011 Parshat Shemini By Rabbi David Hertzberg Admiral Hyman Rickover, the father of the United States nuclear navy, was a man of contrasting characteristics. He was a visionary who focused on the most minor details. He allowed the members of his staff latitude in their decisions and yet he demanded to be kept totally in the loop. He could be brash and rude and yet kind and diplomatic. All in all, he was a fascinating personality and many lessons can be learned from his biography. In a 1982 speech at Columbia University he presented some of his thoughts on leadership. Among them are the following. Read Article 28) Posted Mar 16 2011 Purim By Rabbi David Hertzberg Abraham Lincoln believed that the Emancipation Proclamation was his most significant accomplishment. Although against slavery, Lincoln was not a radical abolitionist. When Lincoln ran for the presidency he made it clear that he had no intention of abolishing slavery where it already existed. His goal was to prevent its expansion and he hoped that with time, slavery would self-destruct. When the Southern states seceded, Lincoln's sole purpose in going to war was to restore the Union - not to dismantle the institution of slavery. Read Article 29) Posted Mar 09 2011 Parshat Vayikra By Rabbi David Hertzberg General George S. Patton was one of the most controversial commanders in World War II. Despite his tactical genius he always managed to get himself embroiled in controversy. Had it not been for his military effectiveness he would have been fired and sent home on more than one occasion. However, most of his missteps involved character and politics. When it came to his military decisions he had an impeccable record-almost. A little known incident towards the end of World War II in March 1945 undermined Patton's otherwise sterling military reputation. Read Article 30) Posted Mar 02 2011 Parshat Pekudei By Rabbi David Hertzberg "The devil is in the details." Any person who has ever run a program realizes the truth of this aphorism. How many times has a great idea or project gone awry because a minor detail was overlooked? The challenge is to identify and attend to the relevant details and not to waste time and energy on the non-critical ones. This is especially true for leaders who are under constant time-pressure. Read Article 31) Posted Feb 23 2011 Parshat Vayakhel By Rabbi David Hertzberg In a press conference on December 17, 1940 President Franklin Roosevelt revealed his "lend-lease" program to the American people. Although Roosevelt understood the importance of supporting Great Britain in her war against Nazi Germany there were various neutrality laws in force that prevented him from doing this outright. He therefore had to come up with creative ways to do so. To this end "lend-lease" was born. While America would not give away military hardware for free to Great Britain they would not demand immediate payment either. Rather, they would lease the goods to Great Britain-goods that Great Britain would either return or pay for in the future. Read Article 32) Posted Feb 16 2011 Parshat Ki Tisa By Rabbi David Hertzberg September 17, 1862 was a sad day for the Confederate States of America. At Antietam Creek in western Maryland, the armies of Generals Robert E. Lee and George McClellan battled one another. Failing to defeat McClellan on northern soil, Lee withdrew south to Virginia. While historians generally consider the battle a tactical draw Lee certainly failed to achieve his strategic goals. Read Article 33) Posted Feb 09 2011 Parshat Tezaveh By Rabbi David Hertzberg In response to the intelligence failures associated with 9/11 and the lack of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in Iraq, review commissions called for reforms in the intelligence community (IC). Most recommendations focused on structural and procedural changes. For example, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was established to oversee the IC and greater intelligence sharing between agencies was called for. The rationale behind these reforms was that had more of the "dots" been available to more analysts, the dots would have been connected and failures averted. Read Article 34) Posted Feb 02 2011 Parshat Terumah By Rabbi David Hertzberg On December 16, 1944 the German army launched a surprise attack through the Ardennes Forest, catching the Allied armies off guard. Allied intelligence had failed to pick up on this last-ditch effort by Hitler (y"s) to force the Allies to settle for a negotiated peace. This battle became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Read Article 35) Posted Jan 26 2011 Parshat Mishpatim By Rabbi David Hertzberg "We have done just about all the damage we are going to do. Let's get out of here" (Choices Under Fire by Michael Bess, 2006 p. 165). With this command, Admiral Raymond Spruance ordered the American fleet to turn around and leave the area of the Pacific Ocean where the Battle of Midway had been fought on June 4, 1942. Although it was not fully appreciated at the time, this battle proved to be the turning point of the Pacific War in World War II. In a minute of good fortune American planes found the Japanese fleet, destroyed four of their aircraft carriers and 275 of their planes and killed 4800 of their sailors and soldiers. The Japanese never recovered from these losses. Read Article 36) Posted Jan 19 2011 Parshat Yitro By Rabbi David Hertzberg It looked like such a peaceful hill. Yet it was the scene of the massacre of the lamed hei, the 35 soldiers who were killed by local Arabs while on their way to resupply the besieged settlements of Gush Etzion on January 16, 1948. Several years ago, when I was privileged to be in Israel, an Israeli friend was driving me from the Gush to my family in Ramat Beit Shemesh. During the trip we were discussing the fate of "the 35." At one point he slowed the car and pointed to a hill on our right and told me that "the 35" put up a perimeter defense around that hill and fought until they ran out of ammunition. The bodies were not recovered until after 1967. Some bodies had to be identified through the Goral HaGra employed by Rav Aryeh Levine. Read Article 37) Posted Jan 12 2011 Parshat Beshalach By Rabbi David Hertzberg The sixteenth century explorer and conqueror Hernando Cortez was determined to invade what today is known as Mexico and defeat the Aztec Empire. In 1519 Cortez, with a force of eleven ships, fifteen horses and five hundred men began his campaign by invading the Tucatan peninsula to engage the Aztec emperor Montezuma. Read Article 38) Posted Jan 05 2011 Parshat Bo By Rabbi David Hertzberg Over 2300 sailors and soldiers were killed and more than 1200 were wounded; 8 battleships were sunk-- some never to be recovered; 350 aircraft were destroyed or damaged; three cruisers, four destroyers, one minelayer, and five auxiliary ships were sunk. This was the terrible price the United States paid for being surprised by Japanese bombers at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Americans around the country woke that Sunday morning to the shocking news. President Roosevelt, in his request to Congress to declare war on Japan, aptly described the date as one which would "live in infamy." Read Article 39) Posted Dec 30 2010 Parshat Vaeira By Rabbi David Hertzberg April 1961 was a terrible month for President Kennedy. A mere three months into his presidency, Kennedy had authorized an invasion of Cuba which became known as the Bay of Pigs. It was an unmitigated disaster. Upon realizing the gravity of the debacle Kennedy exclaimed: "How could I have been so stupid to let them go ahead?" The truth is Kennedy was not a victim of stupidity. Rather, he was a victim of a far more insidious danger. He was a victim of a bad decision-making process. He was a victim of "groupthink." Read Article 40) Posted Dec 22 2010 Parshat Shemot By Rabbi David Hertzberg Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation, Hail to the Chief! We salute him, one and all. Hail to the Chief, as we pledge cooperation. In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call. Read Article 253 Archived Articles Found in Leadership Challenges Next 20 Articles >
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