Comments about Ben MIntz by his Sunday morning class students.   



Deborah Kopp

Ben brought out the creative forces of Torah text. He allowed us to open up to the words and to each other.

Avril Weisman

Ben was a Renaissance man. He taught us so many lessons of life and Torah- whether sources came from literature, law, drama, art, pirke avos, or other Jewish sources. 

Ellen Epstein

And that was precisely the word I was going to use, Renaissance Man. Not only his broad and deep knowledge of Judaism but Shakespeare, movies, books. The level of erudition was astounding.

Maureen Stone

Ben was a gentle man and a sensitive teacher, as well as all the other things said.

Victor Stone
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"The light that burned within Ben, to teach torah to your children and we were all his children, burned brightly and never dimmed for even a moment."

Thera Swersky

Wise, curious, patient and generous with his time. Ben was the ideal scholar/teacher. Committed to learning of things both secular and sacred and to reaching students of all levels.







Helene Reisler

Ben was a Mensch who had love and warmth and humility and made everyone feel welcome and included in his classes.


Jeff Mendelsohn





We concur that Rabbi Mintz was a renaissance man, filled with wisdom and curiosity about the world around him. He asked questions and sought answers. He wove a tapestry of knowledge together with his words, lifting us all up with his teaching. The breadth of his thinking was endless, and he uniquely enlightened us by bringing together Torah and secular learning. He quoted Shakespeare to clarify or drive home a point he was making.  He just as easily could reference a scene in a classic film noir to shine light on his argument. We are fortunate to have learned with him, to have shared with him and to have him as a friend.

I found two Shakespearean quotations that seem apt:

“He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one,
Exceeding wise, fair-spoken and persuading.”
Henry VIII, 4.2.51-2, Griffith, to Katherine of Aragon, of Cardinal Wolsey.

“More are men’s ends marked than their lives before.
The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,
Writ in remembrance more than things long past.”
Richard II, 2.1.11-14, John of Gaunt to York.

This second quotation reminds me of the line in Kohelet (7:1): “A good name is better than fragrant oil, and the day of death than the day of birth.”


Janet Lipman

A polymath as conversant in Milton as in the Malbim, he was extremely humble. When I addressed him as "Rabbi Mintz," he corrected me and said, "My father was Rabbi Mintz, my son is Rabbi Mintz, but I'm just Ben.

Jeff Burt

Like Moses, Ben was "the most humble of all men" with a divinely inspired gift of transmitting Torah to his many and very fortunate students.



Pesha Rubenstein

Pirke Avot, Chapter 4 says:
"Ben Zoma said:Who is wise? He who learns from every man."

Wasn't that Ben? So many of us felt close to him, after just a conversation or two. He was as curious to learn about the people around him as he was about Jewish texts, literature, art, movies, or the news. He delighted in conversation, and was as good a listener as he was a speaker. I will miss learning from Rabbi Ben!

Mark Lazerson

I wish to add to the many Hespedim remembering your dear father Ben who gave so much of himself to so many. As one who regretfully was only an intermittent drop-in to his always stimulating and unpredictable Sunday morning inquiries into some facet of Torah, Ben always managed to approach it from an unusual angle, asking provocative, unexpected questions; lighting up for me and others what had previously been dark, unilluminated concealing rich territory, containing even more unexplored layers of intellectual humus. Ben loved to teach others, but he did so in such a gentle, loving, humble, questioning and unpedantic way, always open to new insights and understandings from his students. Learning from them as well. He was a true Rav, a Ha-Malommed Ha-Gadol committed to passing all that he had learnt in his rich and challenging life onto his students. In addition to all that, he was a warm, splendid man with a sparkling smile and wit, whose passing from this earth will be sorely missed.

May Ben’s memory be for a blessing and may Hashem comfort the Mintz family along with all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.


Marji Yablon



In addition to his Sunday class, Ben offered everyone the opportunity for individual sessions during the week, on topics of their choice. I saw an opportunity to enrich -- or re-enrich -- my Shacharit davening experience, something I'd long known I needed to do. Whether I was alone or at a service, it was often necessary to move along more quickly than I wanted to, and miss chances to contemplate what I was saying! During the sessions we were able to have, Ben spoke about the order of the prayers, the significance of individual words -- where else those words or phrases appeared -- in a megillah, perhaps, or a parsha, or even for a more modern, secular purpose. He ruminated as to why a particular word might have been chosen over a synonymous one, and much more. I have found that once we'd done that, then even on the occasions when I had to pray quickly, time seemed to slow down, so filled with meaning was each syllable. Those sessions took place several years ago, but the effect has never faded. If it should, though, I still have my madly scribbled notes from the chockfull sessions with Rabbi Ben, to refresh the experience.

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