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Chaim Herzog was born on the 11th of Tishrei 5679 (September 17, 1918) in Belfast, Ireland. He was the son of Sara nee Hillman and the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog. Rabbi Herzog also served as Chief Rabbi of the land of Israel beginning in 1937 and later became the first Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel (1948 – 1959).
Chaim Herzog arrived in Israel in 1935. He studied at Yeshivat Mercaz Harav Kook and also studied at the Hebron Yeshiva for 3 years.
In 1936, he enlisted in the Haganah. In 1938, he went to England to study law, and he attended the University of London and Cambridge, completing his studies in 1942.
When he graduated in 1942, after the outbreak of World War II, he joined the British Army as an officer and completed his military training concurrently with academic training at Sandhurst Military Academy. During World War II, he served as an intelligence officer in both the infantry and the armored corps and took part in the landing at Normandy, fighting in occupied Europe as an intelligence officer for the Armored Division. He was among the first of the allied forces that crossed the Rhine into Nazi Germany. Herzog participated in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and was in the supervisory command of the surrender of the German army.Herzog was on the staff of intelligence officers that was set up to expose the Nazi leadership.
In this position, he also took part in the interrogation of Heinrich Himmler, Commander of the S.S. At the end of the war, he was a member of the committee that organized the intelligence system in the British-occupied sector of Europe and served as military governor in northern Germany.
In 1947, when Herzog was demobilized from the British Army, he returned to the land of Israel and joined the Intelligence Division of the Haganah. He fulfilled various roles in the field of intelligence and headed the Security Department at the Jewish Agency. In this position, he was appointed liaison to the United Nations staff that arrived in the land of Israel to investigate the situation prior to the British withdrawal from the country.
When the State was declared and the Israel Defense Force was established, he joined its ranks and fulfilled many command and staff roles. During the War of Independence, he served as Officer of Operations and Intelligence of the 7th Armored Division and took part in the battle of Latrun to open the road to besieged Jerusalem.
In July 1948, David Ben-Gurion charged Herzog with establishing the Division of Military Intelligence, first as the deputy to Isser Be’eri and later as the Chief Intelligence Officer. In this position, Chaim Herzog built and led the establishment of the Intelligence Corps in the IDF, with its various branches and resources.
In July 1949, he was appointed head of the Secret Services Commission.
Between 1950 and 1954 he served as Military Attache in Washington. Upon his return to Israel, he served between 1954 and 1957 as Commander of the Jerusalem brigade. Between 1957 and 1959, he was head of the Southern Command.
>From 1959 through 1962, he served a second term as Head of the IDF Intelligence Division, and he retired from the IDF with the rank of Major General in 1962.
The year 1962 marked the beginning of Chaim Herzog’s private career, first as manager of a concern in the private sector and as an attorney-at-law.
On May 28, 1967, during the “waiting period” before the outbreak of the Six Day War, Chaim Herzog began to work as a news commentator for Kol Israel radio. These talks encouraged and raised the spirits of Israelis who were living within the May 1967 borders and restored a feeling of national confidence after the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran and the transfer of Egyptian troops into the Sinai.
His broadcasts received positive feedback and earned him a reputation for reliability within the Israeli public.
After Israel’s victory in both Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, he was appointed the first Emergency Military Governor of the united city of Jerusalem and of what had been known as the “West Bank,” a role he filled until the establishment of the civil authority at the end of 1967.
When Herzog was demobilized from the IDF, he was a director of corporate organizations, served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Keter Publishing, and held other senior executive positions. He was a partner in the establishment of the RAFI political party. In 1972 he began his career in law, opening a law practice, Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman, together with Michael Fox and Ya'akov Ne'eman, representing Israeli and international clients.
During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Herzog returned to public activity by fulfilling a valuable “hasbara” role. The calm and scholarly commentary he provided in his well-known, reassuring voice again became the national “soother,” encouraging and bolstering national morale.
In August 1975, Chaim Herzog was appointed Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and was stationed at the diplomatic frontline. At that time, Israel faced an all-out onslaught of censure and criticism. The height of this offensive was the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism, which was passed on November 10, 1975, the anniversary of Cristalnacht (a night of pogroms carried out by the Nazis against the Jews of Germany and Austria).
This resolution attacked the very foundation and morality of Judaism and Zionism, sending shock waves throughout the entire world. In his speech, Chaim Herzog compared the value of the resolution to the paper on which it was written and demonstratively tore it into pieces as he stood at the speaker’s podium. The resolution was only cancelled in 1991, when he was serving as President of the State of Israel.
It was the closing of a circle after years of activity in different channels, including initiating resolutions in parliaments of countries around the world demanding that the UN resolution be abolished.
As a military attache and ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog promoted Israel’s standing in the international community and forged connections that brought diplomatic rewards years later. He also contributed to strengthening the ties between American Jewry and Israel.
At the end of his service as ambassador to the UN (in 1978), he returned to Israel and to his law practice, as well as civic and public activity combined with domestic politics.
Over the years, Herzog was very active in voluntary activity, including ORT, a network of vocational high schools; Variety; and other local, national, and international organizations. He was given the honor of Knight Commander of the British Empire (K.B.E.), Honorary, in 1970, and many universities awarded him honorary doctorates. He served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of all the universities in the country.
His civic dedication and involvement led him into politics. In the 1960s, he was a partner in establishing the RAFI party. Later as a member of the Labor party, he worked to promote direct contact between the party and the voter by establishing an organization known as “Involved Citizens” and was the first to set up a liaison office between a Knesset member and his constituency. In 1981, he was elected to the 10th Knesset as a member of the Labor party, where he served until he was elected to the presidency.
On the 22nd of Iyar 5743 (May 5, 1983), Chaim Herzog was elected the sixth President of the State of Israel, a position he filled for two terms, from 1983 to 1993. He was elected to the second term in February 1988, with a resounding majority of 119 Knesset members. There was no precedent for such a vote in Israeli history.
Chaim Herzog’s vision of the presidency was a national one. Imbued with faith in the historic right of the Jewish people to a sovereign state in its own land, he filled the position with a sense of reverence. He worked to bolster the moral and national values of Judaism and democracy combined. Herzog, who had lived through the mandatory period, the darkest days of WWII, and the War of Independence, did not take the State of Israel for granted, but rather his aspiration was to work day and night to ensure its continued existence.
As President, he saw the presidency as a symbol of the unity of the people and a focal point of identification and expression of national pride both in Israel and around the world, an institution that is able to express the nation’s deepest feelings, encompassing all ethnic communities, nationalities, and beliefs.
He was active in bridging gaps among opposing sectors in Israeli society. His presidency was characterized by involvement in all fields of endeavor in the country, while taking a frank and open position on the national issues, among them:changing the election system, racism, societal problems arising from religious-secular tension, bridging among the various ethnic communities, absorption of immigrants, integrating minorities into Israeli life, and difficult labor disputes. He also worked hard to strengthen ties with diaspora Jewry.
Respect for the individual and the citizen was a cornerstone of his personal and presidential activity. Herzog was careful to maintain direct contact with citizens from all walks of life. He was attentive to them both inside and outside the President’s Residence, open to hearing their needs, wishes, and problems. He was responsive to the many requests that streamed to the President’s Residence from all segments of the population, finding solutions for thousands of citizens annually.
He was guided by the ideal of strengthening and fortifying Israeli democracy. During his two terms in office, six governments came and went; he served four prime ministers (Begin, Shamir, Peres, and Rabin). The job of charging the head of the largest party to form a government is not an easy one.He was called upon to discharge this duty six times and with six heads of governments established during his presidency. Each time he saw the need to establish a stable government within a short time. When he feared that trends and movements in Israeli society and politics threatened this democracy, he did not hesitate to call in the Knesset members and say:
“Be an example to others in your deeds and speech, be diligent in passing on the values of democracy to the nation and scrupulously guard your independence”.
Herzog believed that all the citizens of Israel, Jew and Arab alike, shared the aspiration for peace. Peace was, and remains, the ideal of Zionism. Realization of the Zionist vision will never be complete as long as there is no peace in our country. The ways to achieve peace and the shape of the desired peace agreement will always be legitimate as subjects of controversy, as long as there are true points of contention, a testimony to the nature of the Jewish people as a peace-loving and peace-seeking nation.
Herzog was invited for state visits by many countries; he used these visits to explain Israel’s position to the world. Chaim Herzog brought the message of Israel proudly and capably to the international community. In many of the countries he visited, he appeared before parliaments, at meetings, and at events at which he earned recognition and respect.
Herzog published many books and articles on history and military commentary. His writings appeared in Israel and abroad and were translated into many languages. Before his death, he managed to complete his autobiography “Living History.”
In 1947 he was married to Aura nee Ambache. The Herzogs have four children: Yoel, Michael, Yitzhak, and Ronit, and grandchildren.
Chaim Herzog died on the 10th of Nissan 5757 (April 17, 1997).
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