Rav O. Asher Reichel zt"l, who taught Torah for 40 years on Manhattan's West Side, passed away last Sunday in Jerusalem.
He was born 90 years ago to parents from Lithuania who sacrificed to raise their children for lives of Torah. Though during the Depression years many Jews were unable to meet the test of not working on Shabbos and were assimilated into the American melting pot, they enrolled their sons in cheder and the deceased was among the first students to study at Yeshivas Torah Vodaas, where he became close to HaRav Shraga Feivel Mendelowitz. He later transferred to Yeshivas Rabbenu Yitzchok Elchonon, where he was an outstanding student and was ordained for the rabbinate.
He married Josephina Chana, the daughter of HaRav Refoel Chaim Shimshon Goldstein, and served as the rov of the West Side Institutional Synagogue at which hundreds pray every Shabbos. He undertook the task with his typical alacrity and stood firm against the winds of change wreaking havoc to Yiddishkeit in the US.
At the levaya eulogies were given by his mechuton and friend since childhood, HaRav Yitzchok Scheiner, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Kamenitz, his mechuton HaRav Zevulun Shub, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Divrei Emes, the admor of Gorlitz, his son, HaRav Moshe Hillel Reichel, rosh kollel of the Harry Fishel Institute, his son-in-law Rav Dovid Bruner, his grandson, HaRav Ben-Tzion Harris, a ram at Yeshivas Darkei Hillel, his grandson, HaRav Tzvi Bruner, and his brother-in-law, HaRav Shaar Yishuv Cohen, the rov of Haifa.
Rav O. Asher Reichel zt"l is survived by generations of and ovdei Hashem.
