By: Phyllis Chesler

Rabbi Dr. Alter B.Z. Metzger, a towering figure in contemporary Jewish scholarship and a luminous exemplar of Chassidic devotion, passed away on Monday, 22 Shevat 5786, at the venerable age of 92. With his departure, the Jewish world loses not merely a distinguished academic and author, but a consummate educator, a translator of sacred ideas across cultures and generations, and a man whose life embodied the finest synthesis of intellect, faith, and boundless compassion.

Born into a lineage of communal leadership as the son of one of the founders of Agudas Yisrael of America, Rabbi Metzger’s path toward Chabad-Lubavitch crystallized on Yud Shvat 5711, when he first came to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. From that moment forward, he became a devoted chossid, forging a lifelong bond with the Rebbe’s vision of Torah infused with vitality, love for every Jew, and an unwavering commitment to illuminating the world with spiritual purpose. He and his wife, Mrs. Yehudis Metzger, made their home in Crown Heights, the beating heart of the global Chabad movement, where their residence became a place of learning, counsel, and quiet acts of kindness that radiated far beyond its walls.

Rabbi Metzger’s professional life reflected a rare confluence of rigorous scholarship and profound ruchnius. As a professor of Jewish Studies at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University, he mentored generations of students, nurturing in them not only academic excellence but a reverence for the living tradition of Torah and Chassidic thought. His classroom was less a lecture hall than a sanctuary of ideas, where texts were not merely analyzed but encountered as moral and spiritual companions. Students recall a teacher who challenged them to think with precision, feel with empathy, and live with integrity.

Beyond the academy, Rabbi Metzger served for many years as part of the elite team of simultaneous translators for the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s farbrengens and public addresses. In that role, he became a bridge between worlds, rendering the Rebbe’s teachings accessible to audiences who might otherwise have been barred by language. This work required not only linguistic fluency but spiritual sensitivity, the ability to capture nuance, warmth, and moral urgency in real time. It was an act of pedagogical devotion, one that multiplied the Rebbe’s reach and amplified Chabad-Lubavitch’s global mission of education, inspiration, and outreach.

Chabad-Lubavitch, as Rabbi Metzger understood and embodied it, is not merely an organization but a living, breathing network of chesed and learning that spans continents. Day after day, Chabad emissaries and educators meet people where they are—on university campuses, in remote communities, in bustling cities and isolated outposts—offering not judgment but welcome, not abstraction but practical kindness. Rabbi Metzger’s own life was an extension of this ethos. His door was open to seekers, his counsel freely given, his scholarship always yoked to compassion. As a teacher in the Ivy League Torah study program, he guided countless baalei teshuva through the often delicate journey of rediscovery, offering them intellectual grounding alongside emotional encouragement. He understood that teshuva is not merely a return to practice, but a reawakening of dignity, belonging, and hope.

His written contributions remain enduring testaments to a mind both erudite and generous. Through works such as “Chasidic Perspectives: A Festival Anthology” and “The Heroic Struggle,” Rabbi Metzger explored the moral drama of Jewish history and the inner landscapes of Chassidic spirituality with elegance and depth. For more than a quarter-century, his column, “The Golden Chain,” published in Di Yiddishe Heim by the Lubavitch Women’s Organization, offered readers a steady cadence of insight, weaving together historical memory, ethical reflection, and the quiet heroism of daily Jewish life. These writings did more than inform; they fortified. They reminded readers that each generation is a link in a sacred chain, responsible for preserving faith while renewing its expression.

Integral to Rabbi Metzger’s vision was a profound appreciation for the indispensable role of women as shlichot within Chabad-Lubavitch. He spoke often of the transformative power of the rebbetzins and female educators who, alongside their husbands and in their own right, have built schools, led community programs, and cultivated spaces of learning and belonging across the globe.

Their educational initiatives—ranging from early childhood programs to adult study circles, from social services to pastoral care—have shaped the spiritual contours of communities large and small. Rabbi Metzger recognized that the quiet constancy of these women, their pedagogical creativity and pastoral wisdom, forms the bedrock of Chabad’s enduring impact. In honoring their work, he affirmed a broader truth: that the future of Jewish life depends upon the cultivation of homes, schools, and communal institutions animated by wisdom, empathy, and moral courage.

The recent tragedy at Bondi Beach, where a senseless act of violence shattered lives at a Chanukah candle lighting ceremony, cast a pall of grief across the global Jewish community. Yet, in the wake of that devastation, Chabad-Lubavitch emerged with renewed resolve, transforming sorrow into solidarity and fear into faith. Through pastoral support, public gatherings of prayer, and acts of tangible kindness, Chabad’s emissaries fostered emunah and bitachon—faith and trust—reminding communities that even amid darkness, the light of shared purpose and divine presence endures.

Rabbi Metzger, whose life was devoted to nurturing precisely this resilience of spirit, would have recognized in that response the living embodiment of Chabad’s mission: to meet suffering with compassion and to answer despair with hope anchored in Torah.

Rabbi Metzger is survived by his devoted wife, Mrs. Yehudis Metzger; his children Rabbi Yehoshua Metzger of Midtown Manhattan, Tova Mayzlesh of Mexico City, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Metzger of Milwaukee, Chana Perman of Toronto, and Rabbi Shmuly Metzger of Midtown East Manhattan; as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren who carry forward his legacy of learning and kindness. He is also survived by his sister, Mrs. Judy Sukenik of Queens, and his brother, Rabbi Gershon Metzger of Jerusalem. His levaya passed by 770 Eastern Parkway, the spiritual epicenter of Chabad-Lubavitch, before burial at Old Montefiore Cemetery—a final journey that symbolically traced the path of a life rooted in devotion to the Rebbe’s vision.

In mourning Rabbi Dr. Alter B.Z. Metzger, the Jewish world honors a scholar who never allowed scholarship to eclipse humanity, a teacher who never separated intellect from compassion, and a chossid whose fidelity to Chabad-Lubavitch’s mission enriched lives across the globe. His legacy endures in the countless students he inspired, the readers he uplifted, the seekers he guided, and the communities fortified by the ideals he lived. May his memory be a blessing, and may the golden chain he cherished continue unbroken, linking past devotion to future hope.