Before You Teach, Tune In - R. Ari Neuwirth - TorahAnytime.com

And I'm going to give you another story about Reb Freifeld. The year was September 18th, 1970. What happened on that date? September 18th, 1970. Jim Hendrix died. You know who Jim Hendrix is? Jim Hendrix was a famous rock star. He was a composer of rock music. He was also a very popular electric guitarist. Rabbi Freifeld noticed that one of his talmidim, one of his students, was extremely distraught. And Rabbi Freifeld knew the reason. It was because this boy was a fan, a very big fan, of Jim Hendrix. And now he was beside himself that this rock star had died. So, what did the great Reb Freifeld do? The great machanech. He went over to the boy and he told him, "Tonight, come with me to my house with a record of Jim Hendrix." The boy couldn't believe it. The rosh yeshiva wants to hear this? Came to Reb Freifeld's house. Reb Freifeld took the record and he gingerly placed it on the record player. And they started to listen together. And Rabbi Freifeld was mesmerized, sitting in front of the record player and the speakers together with his talmid, listening to Jim Hendrix rock and roll music. After listening to the whole record, Rebbe Freifeld says, I understand why he's popular. So, I want to think about it. I'm going to put on my music now. And he puts on some of his music, Rebbe Freifeld's music, and he's listening to the notes that are swirling around, the rousing music, and he's deep in thought, deep in thought. And after listening for a while to his own music, he stops it, and he turns to his student and he says like this, I know what Jimi Hendrix did. He defined in his music a generation that's in turmoil. But you know something? His music is disturbing. It's indicative of the struggles and discontent of our teenage generation. That's all he said. And this boy understood exactly what his Rebbe was saying. And he says, that was a turning point in my life. I got the message. My Rebbe didn't have to do anything more. What a genius. He dislodged the needle, the pain. Yeah, he was in pain that a popular rock star died. But in the scheme of things, it's nothing. And he had to convey that message to this Talmud. It's not important. Don't let it overtake your life. This is what we need to learn from master educators. How to dislodge the needle. Make the child, the student, feel comfortable so that we don't cause an injury and a wound.