Preparing Versus Planning: Lessons from Warfare On Opening Schools During COVID-19

As school leaders, we find ourselves dealing with a unique situation none of us could have imagined other than as a summer science-fiction blockbuster film. We have been tasked with making informed decisions, yet we don’t really know what information and analysis to use to best inform our decisions. Like Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai (Berachot  28b, Bava Batra 89b), we can never be sure that our decisions are right, and, since each decision impacts so many people long term, we are painfully aware of the stakes at play and the price to be paid if we err or fall short. 

Frustratingly and to our great consternation, just when we think we’ve made progress, something beyond our control changes. Updated statistics, revised state guidelines, network “Breaking News,” and we’re back to where we started. Qualifying phrases like “as of now,” “as of today” or “as of this moment” pepper our memos and our posted “live documents.” An honest reckoning demands a rhetorical question: Will all these planning meetings have any value, or perhaps, sadly, we have been wasting our valuable time?

I am reminded of the military adage that “no plan survives contact with the enemy,” a statement attributed to Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, the famed Prussian chief of staff in the 19th century. Von Moltke wrote: “One cannot be at all sure that any operational plan will survive the first encounter with the main body of the enemy. Only a layman could suppose that the development of a campaign represents the strict application of a prior concept that has been worked out in every detail and followed through to the very end.”

If this is the case, then why make any plans ever? In answer to this very question, Dwight D. Eisenhower, general and later president of the United States,  replied, “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.” This seems to move the needle a little bit forward. According to Eisenhower, even though plans tend to disintegrate when confronted by reality, the process of planning has substantial worth. The question then becomes, In what ways might this be so?

We must distinguish between planning and preparing. Preparing is often undertaken in a controlled environment for a predictable situation. The Talmud provides such an example, when it declares that ”whoever prepares on the eve of Shabbat will be able to eat on Shabbat” (Avodah Zarah 3a). Prepare for Shabbat by cooking the food on Friday and you’ll have what to eat on Shabbat evening and afternoon. But this preparation isn’t  planning. A person cooking for Shabbat knows more or less how many people will be eating each meal, what time they will be eating, and what foods to cook. Of course the brisket could burn, the clock could run slow, or last minute sleepover guests might necessitate additional place settings, but it’s more likely than not that things will work out and the Shabbat meal will be enjoyed without a hitch.

Planning is fundamentally different. It often involves considering the possibility of something unknown or unpredictable happening in the future and of formulating strategies in the event of such an occasion. We can plan a family picnic weeks in advance, but if it rains on game day we are out of luck unless we have a backup plan.

I believe the halachah of Eruv Tavshilin might shed some light here. The Talmud describes that this eruv enables us to prepare on a holiday for Shabbat, an act that, absent the eruv, would be prohibited (Beitza 16b). In a situation when Shabbat immediately follows a holiday, some people will become hyper-focused on Shabbat to the neglect of the  holiday, others on the holiday to the neglect of Shabbat. The physical eruv is less about actually preparing the Shabbat meal on the eve of the holiday and more about ensuring that one “plans” appropriately for both the holiday and Shabbat. It’s the process of planning for both that guarantees that both the holiday and Shabbat will get their due.

In light of this, I would like to suggest some benefits of planning, even if the plans should end up changing throughout the planning process and, especially, during the implementation stage. Bearing these benefits in mind will justify to some extent all the time we have spent and will spend in planning meetings for the upcoming academic year.

1. The organization focuses on its mission, goals and values. When plans need to change, new plans should be adopted that keep true to the organization’s goals. For example, if in war the ultimate  goal of the battle is to win over the hearts and minds of the local population, a military unit that encounters friction will not switch to a tactic that wins the battle but causes substantial collateral damage.

2. An organization identifies its strengths, weaknesses, resources, capabilities, capacities, etc. While the original plan may need to be changed, new plans are designed with an acute awareness of these known variables, thus increasing the chances of success.

3. Various options are discussed. Even though one of them will be chosen as the primary course of action, the others should not be shelved. They form the core of other options to be looked at and possibly adopted during actual implementation.

4. The team accesses a range of sources of information. The planning group will be able to vet these sources for credibility and reliability so that they can know how much to weigh them during the implementation stage, when decisions need to be made based upon imperfect information. As part of this process, the planning group learns to operate and decide in a world of uncertainty.

5. The school selects outside agencies that can provide support and establishes relationships with them, as well as outside experts and consultants. Connections to these networks can be quickly accessed during the “action.”

6. Key members within the organization get to know each other and understand the leadership dynamic in a way that can be used during implementation.

May Hashem guide us in these difficult times as we forge our opening plans. And may we merit that our planning meetings become preparing meetings as well.

Rabbi Dr. David Hertzberg is the principal of the Yeshivah of Flatbush Middle School and an adjunct asst. professor of History at Touro College. His rabbinic ordination is from Yeshiva University. He holds a Master of Arts in International Politics from NYU and a Doctorate of Arts in Modern World History from St. John's University.