Think Again: The Sages and Winograd, by Jonathan Rosenblum (Jerusalem Post)
Commentary;
With Chag Shavuot coming tonight, Jonathan Rosenblum’s column adds a spiritual dimension to our current national crises.
There was a time in recent history, in Israel’s previous wars, where the IDF had the capacity to plan ahead, to plan not only the battle at hand, but to see the implications of the battle at hand and to plan two or three steps ahead and yet to improvise — or in NFL terminology; to “audible at the line of scrimmage.”
Rosenblum seems to suggest that the Israel, by virtue of corruption, personal political ambition and agenda, as well as arrogance, lacks this knack. This author says more strongly; Israel had that knack, but in it’s mass endoctrination on political and military levels in the 1980s and 1990s of a surrenderist political agenda and outlook, we have lost that knack. This surrenderist outlook and agenda is devoid of any spirituality and thus sheds doubt among those endoctrinated as to our right to Our Land. Or as Rosenblum seems to indicate, our governmental and military leaders have lost the ability to be objective, to be “free in the matter at hand of the bias and personal interest….” We have lost objectivity, “the distance [which] allows… clearheaded advice.” And the loss of objectivity, of clearheadedness is called “denial”, as Caroline Glick relates in her related commentary; Denial is Not a Strategy.
It seems obvious and axiomatic that the current regime has not learned and is not capable of absorbing the Lebanon lessons and is handling this current Gaza conflict in the same haphazard, disorganized, not thought-out way as it bungled the Lebanon conflict and with total lack of a Homeland security plan. MB
“For consultation to be effective, it is crucial that one does not surround oneself with yes-men. That requires seeking out those who will function like a good study partner, challenging one’s every idea and being prepared to offer trenchant criticism.”
Excerpts;
The very first teaching found in Avot is: “Be deliberate in judgment” (1:1). By reexamining an issue many times, say the commentators, one will almost always discover a new facet not previously considered, and thus arrive at a more accurate conclusion. One who fails to do so is judged as if he had erred deliberately, even if he believed his judgment was correct: “One who is too self-confident in handing down legal decisions is a fool, wicked and arrogant of spirit” (Avot 4:9).
Judgment refers not just to determining past events, but to anticipating future consequences. Indeed, when Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai asked his students “what is the proper way to which a man should cling?” Rabbi Shimon answered that the most important thing is for a person to “consider the consequences of his deeds” (Avot 2:13).
That is precisely what our government failed to do. In the words of the Winograd Committee: “The government authorized an immediate military strike that was not thought through.” Not only did those responsible for going to war not think two or three moves ahead, they did not think one move ahead. That Hezbollah would strike back with thousands of Katyushas was obvious, yet no inquiries were made about the state of the country’s civil defenses. Far worse, no initial consideration was given to how the IDF could eliminate the Katyushas, or whether it was capable of doing so.
One key to deliberation in judgment is consultation with others. “The more advice, the more understanding,” Hillel taught (Avot 2:8). The internal consultative processes completely broke down in this war. According to Winograd, the prime minister, defense minister and a security cabinet that included three former defense ministers did nothing to probe the IDF’s plan of action.
TO SEEK advice, one must know that one does not know. Dan Halutz’s immediate predecessor as chief of General Staff, Moshe Ya’alon, told Ma’ariv that the essence of the job is consultation, since nobody can be the greatest expert in every aspect of military operations. That entails creating a culture in which subordinates are encouraged to fill in the chief of General Staff’s gaps in knowledge, and he makes clear that he appreciates their input.
No chief of General Staff ever needed more outside input than Dan Halutz once it became clear that there was no means of halting Katyusha fire from the air. As a lifelong air force man, he had no background for preparing or directing a large-scale ground operation. But his trademark arrogance – the same arrogance that caused him to say once that he relied solely on his own intelligence and determination, without any need of a higher power – tripped him up.
Too bad Halutz did not learn just one mishna – “Rabbi Levitas of Yavne said: Be exceedingly humble in spirit” (Avot 4:4). Maimonides comments that every character trait has a golden mean, except for pride. Most of a person’s miscalculations and sins come from an excess of pride.
To grow in wisdom, one must be a lover of wisdom and seek it out, rather than just relying on what one already knows, no matter how great. So Rabbeinu Yona explains Ben Zoma’s definition of a wise man: “One who learns from every person” (Avot 4:1).
“‘The habit of asking “What’s in it for me?’ clouded their judgment and rendered them incapable of thinking straight.”
Before one can seek knowledge from others, however, one must first acknowledge that one does not know everything. That Halutz could not do, and it was reflected in the incoherence of the military campaign and failure to develop and update plans for a ground action. When Ya’alon rushed back from Washington to brief Halutz on plans for a ground operation in Lebanon, Halutz could not find time to meet with him.
For consultation to be effective, it is crucial that one does not surround oneself with yes-men. That requires seeking out those who will function like a good study partner, challenging one’s every idea and being prepared to offer trenchant criticism. For that reason Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perahya stressed: “Acquire for yourself a friend” (Avot 1:6). A true friend, explain the commentators, is one who seeks his friend’s perfection, and therefore does not hesitate to reprove him. To give good advice, that friend does not even have to be at a higher spiritual level; he just needs to be free in the matter at hand of the bias and personal interest of the one he is advising. His distance allows him to give clearheaded advice.
None of those who presided over the disaster, or those who did nothing to plan or prepare during the six years that Hezbollah was amassing huge stores of Katyushas on our northern border are, …. by and large, unintelligent men. But they were done in by the pervasive corruption, personal ambition and arrogance that permeates our political culture. The habit of asking “What’s in it for me?” clouded their judgment and rendered them incapable of thinking straight.