This page to be edited soon… starting with tweets I’ve posted about this unique scholar, teacher, chassid and professor…
BDE on the passing of the legendary Rabbi Dr. Alter Benzion Metzger. I spent 7 summers with him, learned a great deal from him. A unique Chassid & Jewish thinker. I wrote about him a little here: >
> I wish there was more talk about his broad-ranging & eclectic thinker father, an unusual Chassid, a big head swirling with ideas – so much going on, a passionate intellectual, with a thunder & a chuckle, a giant in both simple faith & complex philosophy, & knower of people >
> and here, a teaching that I continue to teach. And many other things. What an interesting and knowlegable & multifaceted scholar and teacher! Will write more about him soon IYH. May his memory be a blessing!
Ah! Rabbi AB Metzger clued me into how this verse shaped 3 movements: R Yisrael Salanter in Igeres HaMusar, R’ Shlomo Karliner and Alter Rebbe in Tanya 33. And I found 3 Seuss Books to match and elucidate. Very rich Sugya indeed.
> and here. Rabbi Dr. Alter Benzion Metzger loved this expression, this simple Tanya encapsulation, he would thunder it, he would mumble it, it was deeply ingrained and oft-articulated:
Rabbi Dr. Alter Benzion Metzger (Stern College etc) would sum up Tanya 15 27 & 30 (my combo, I love Tanya combos by theme instead of in order) as “The Struggle is Significant” and used his/that title for my class on this.
> and in remembering Rabbi Dr. Alter Metzger after his passing… Despite his depth & breadth of vast stores of knowledge, he had a hyper focus on original wording, key phrases, I remember him teaching this way at ILTSP/MyJSF:
Rabbi Dr. Alter Benzion Metzger had an educational technique of asking adult students to shout out repeatedly key classic phrases (I remember him leading chants of “Lechatchila Ariber” and “Shomaya K’Oneh” etc) ingrained! – even before they fully understood what the terms meant.
Rabbi Alter Metzger was enamored with ideas, but also deeply appreciated people & thought lovingly of them. He’d mention their names, extol their virtues. I remember one of “the program” (as he’d call it) alumni, I knew him via another way, he often mentioned him >
> by his Hebrew name & his mother’s Hebrew name, (accentuated by an exclamation point) & repeatedly mention the extraordinary dedication and sacrifice this person had for Jewish observance. He’d mention people in that way, whether you knew them or not.