When one considers the life and legacy of Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, ztz”l, many words spring to mind. Rosh yeshivah. Rebbi. Mashpiah. Oheiv Yisrael. When one asks the wives of his beloved talmidim to describe their connection with Rabbi Freifeld, they have only one word: Father.
Rebbi did everything a father does including waking his children up in the morning.
“I’ll never forget this” Mrs. Goldfeder laughs. “When we first got married I had a job in Manhattan and in order to get there on time I had to leave home at seven. Yaakov didn’t need to leave until later. So I used to get up and leave while he was still sleeping. Rebbi was aware that this could lead to resentment. Here was Yaakov rolling over and I was on the way to work! Rebbi told him ‘Yankele get up and get dressed and have an early morning seder in yeshivah.’ If he was late Rebbi would call on the phone to see where he was!”
Rabbi Freifeld was very aware of the challenges of establishing a healthy marriage relationship and kept his finger on the pulse of all his young couples.
“He constantly talked about shalom bayis in yeshivah” Mrs. Hindy Sitnick remembers.
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