diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/MultiTermQuery.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/MultiTermQuery.java
index 20e91a9..9daccef 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/MultiTermQuery.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/MultiTermQuery.java
@@ -68,6 +68,13 @@ public abstract class MultiTermQuery extends Query {
   /** Abstract class that defines how the query is rewritten. */
   public static abstract class RewriteMethod {
     public abstract Query rewrite(IndexReader reader, MultiTermQuery query) throws IOException;
+    /**
+     * Returns the {@link MultiTermQuery}s {@link TermsEnum}
+     * @see MultiTermQuery#getTermsEnum(Terms, AttributeSource);
+     */
+    protected TermsEnum getTermsEnum(MultiTermQuery query, Terms terms, AttributeSource atts) throws IOException {
+      return query.getTermsEnum(terms, atts); // allow RewriteMethod subclasses to pull a TermsEnum from the MTQ 
+    }
   }
 
   /** A rewrite method that first creates a private Filter,
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/TermCollectingRewrite.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/TermCollectingRewrite.java
index 049045f..7a64ccb 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/TermCollectingRewrite.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/TermCollectingRewrite.java
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ abstract class TermCollectingRewrite<Q extends Query> extends MultiTermQuery.Rew
         continue;
       }
 
-      final TermsEnum termsEnum = query.getTermsEnum(terms, collector.attributes);
+      final TermsEnum termsEnum = getTermsEnum(query, terms, collector.attributes);
       assert termsEnum != null;
 
       if (termsEnum == TermsEnum.EMPTY)