Page 19 - HaMizrachi #9 Yom HaAtzmaut 5779
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Education



                                                                                Dr. David Pelcovitz



                SURGERY AND JAZZ:



                EMBRACING MISTAKES





              r. Charles Bosk, a sociology   When sociologist Dr. Sam Oliner was   keyboard produced sound that was harsh
              professor at the University   12 years old, the Nazis came into his   and thin because all the felt had worn
      D of Pennsylvania School of           town in Poland and murdered his family,   away. The 17-year-old girl in charge of
      Medicine, analyzed the difference     neighbors and friends. During the      producing the  concert  desperately  tried
      between   the    most   outstanding   chaos, he escaped to a farmhouse on the   to obtain an appropriate replacement
      neurosurgeons who, after years of     outskirts of town and was taken in by a   but was not successful on such short
      extensive training and practice, had the   Polish gentile family who sheltered him   notice. When Jarrett told her that he
      best success rates and lost the fewest   at tremendous risk to their own lives. As   would have to cancel the concert, she
      patients, and those at the other end of   an adult, Oliner dedicated his career to   became extremely upset at the prospect
      the spectrum, who lost so many patients   researching what the active ingredients   of being publicly humiliated. Jarrett
      that their privileges at their hospitals   were in the childhoods of these moral   took pity on her and agreed to perform.
      were terminated.                      giants which resulted in such remarkable   The performance that evening, on this
                                            courage and ethical clarity. Oliner found   ostensibly unusable piano, became the
      The top surgeons weren’t those with   that a crucial contributor was how     best-selling  piano recording  and  the
      the best manual dexterity, the highest   their  parents  handled  their  children’s   best-selling jazz piano solo in music
      MCAT scores, or graduates of the best   mistakes. When they did something that   history.  If  you listen to  the  recording,
      training programs. Rather, the best   violated  the moral  code  of  the  family,   you  instantly recognize  how  the
      predictor  of  being  in  the  top  tier  of   rather than berating them, their parents   seemingly insurmountable challenge
      this  select group of  doctors  was  how   patiently explained what was wrong with   became the source of genius. The
      they handled their mistakes. If they   their behavior. They conveyed a clear   adjustments that Jarrett had to make to
      lost a patient, these top neurosurgeons   belief in their child’s ability to engage   cope with this broken piano made the
      wouldn’t  rest until  they  determined   in a  teshuva (repentance) process that   music better. Forced to avoid the harsh
      how they could do the surgery better   would repair the mistake by making    registers, Jarrett stuck to the middle of
      in the future. They would go to the   appropriate apologies and righting the   the keyboard. This passion and effort
      medical library to  see if they missed a   wrong done to the injured party.  brought out a level of sublime artistry
      recent study and they would call leading                                     that over 40 years later hasn’t been
      surgeons around the world to discuss   In contrast to the prevailing atmosphere   surpassed.
      what approach might work better the   our children are exposed to in the media
      next time. In contrast, the transcripts of   and through many of our leaders, we   The Talmud tells us: “A person does not
      the interviews with the worst performing   should act differently. Adults should try   understand  statements  of  Torah  unless
      surgeons were chilling. They would    to teach children to have broad enough   he stumbles in them” (Gittin, 43a). The
      blame the lighting in the operating room   shoulders to accept responsibility   lesson of the jazz concert is that parents
      or  the  incompetent  nurses  assisting   for  wrongdoing.  And  calmly  suggest   and teachers need to educate children
                                            corrective action while simultaneously
      them with the surgery. These doctors   communicating a belief in the children's   not to be afraid of failing, to appreciate
      externalized all blame and failed to learn   ability to grow from their mistakes.  the power of risk, and to view mistakes
      from their mistakes. Stanford University                                     as a crucial engine of growth.
      professor, Robert Sutton, quotes similar   In 1975, world renowned jazz pianist,
      studies that document how creating an   Keith Jarrett, arrived early to try out the   Dr.  David  Pelcovitz  holds  the
      atmosphere marked by emotional safety   piano he would be using for his sold-out   Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in
      and the ability to calmly view mistakes   concert that evening. He immediately   Psychology and Jewish Education at
      as an opportunity to grow and improve   discovered that the piano was not usable.   the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish
      is a central ingredient in effective   The black keys stuck, the pedals didn’t   Education  and  Administration  at
      teaching and leading.                 work, and the upper register of the    Yeshiva University


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