Professor Harry Reicher Passes Away at 66: UPDATED WITH FUNERAL PHOTOS at Har Hazeisim

EXCLUSIVE TO DIN

Written by AK

Reb Moshe Tzvi Reicher z"l, a devout Chasid of Bobov, succumbed to illness, this morning, surrounded by his children in Greenwich Hospital, in Greenwich Connecticut. He was 66 years old.

Professor Harry Reicher, Professor University of Pennsylvania

Reb Moshe Tzvi Reicher z"l, born in Prague moved to Melbourne Australia in the 1950's where he grew up and subsequently became one of Australia's leading experts on International law and taxation..
Reb Moshe Tvi, studied at the Rabbinical College of Australia  and New Zealand, The Melbourne Yeshiva Gedola and Yeshivas Kol Torah in Yerushalyim.

He  graduated with honors from the University of Melbourne and from Harvard Law School.

Reb Moshe Tzvi, was a gifted orator, speaking often in fluent Yiddish and then switching to the Queen's English in perfect harmony. He was a Talmud Chachom of note, giving a weekly Shiur at Kahal Yeshuois Chaim in Flatbush in the deep mystical secrets of Chassidus. With sparks of humor and a small dose of his sheer brilliance, he kept the people at the Shiur in total awe. 

 

Professor Reicher with President Bush after his appointment to the Holocaust Memorial Counsel

In the world of academia, he was known as "Professor Harry Reicher," teaching in law schools including Melbourne University. Recently he was Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor of Law at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center.

Reb Moshe Tvi was a walking Kiddush Hashem blending his Yirei Shemayim and his total dedication to Torah Umitzvois with the secular world; a feat not easily accomplished. He was able to skillfully dance in both worlds with grace and in perfect step. Never forgetting where he came from and what he stands for. He never compromised his ideals, morals or faith.  He was a true "Chusid" in every respect. 

He was also a much loved respected Professor, with one student commenting: "To be in his class was a treat." 

He was a humble spirit but had a generous heart, and  was always available to those seeking his help. 

His dedication to Klall Yisroel in general, and to his  community in particular, was his precious legacy. 

His sterling character and warm nature, his humility, sense of humor and his acts of kindness were his hallmarks. 

His Torah values and pride in Chassidus was what he transmitted to his family.

Some of his accomplishments"

• Reb Moshe Tzvi, created a precedent in the Australian legal system requiring that an infant passing away from SIDS not be subjected to an autopsy for faith based reasons.

• He served from 1995-2004 as the representative to the United Nations for Agudath Israel World Organization, working closely with Rabbi Moshe Sherer Z"L, whom he considered his mentor. In this capacity, he worked, at the legal and diplomatic levels, on promotion of international human rights, particularly freedom of religion. In particular, he was heavily involved in the protection and preservation of Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe; to protect Jewish schools there threatened with closure; and in a range of other areas.

• In 2004, US President George W Bush appointed him to the US Holocaust Memorial Counsel.

• Professor Reicher was centrally responsible for the first legislation in Australia, and only the second in the world after New York, granting relatives of a deceased person a statutory right to object to the performance of an autopsy, and then to challenge the Coroner’s decision in the courts.

• He was recently awarded the prestigious fellowship to research at the Shoah Center USC.

• Led a team of lawyers who researched and publicized a solution, within the framework of the Australian Family Law Act, to the problem of agunos.

But his goal, was his total dedication to the Jewish people. He was able to receive huge compensation and reparations from Germany on behalf of  Holocaust Survivors and  Mosdos HaTorah, from the "Claims Conference."

He dedicated his life to bringing to light, the atrocities of the Nazi Government perpetrated on the Jewish people, based on the German corrupted legal system. He was at the tail end of completing a College Textbook on the Holocaust to be published by Oxford Press.

Some lessons that he felt legal professionals should learn from the Nazis use of law was:

(1) Democracy is fragile and will not survive without constant vigilance, and to 

(2) Learn to take tyrants at their word.

He authored the following publications:

1. "Columbia Journal of Transnational Law"
2. "Australian International law: Cases and Materials."
3. "Holocaust Law"

He contributed to the following publications:

The Nuremberg Trials: International Criminal Law Since 1945: Published as Chapter IV The Jurists’ Trial and Lessons for the Rule of Law, K.G. Saur (2006)

"The Interface of Halakha and the Secular Legal System: The Australian Experience" published as Chapter 14 in Jewish Law Association Studies VII: The Paris Conference Volume, Scholars Press (1994)

He is survived by his wife: Mrs. Chanie Reicher, Brooklyn New York

His son: Reb Chaim Reicher, Melbourne Australia

His Daughter: Mrs. Elisheva Engel, Melbourne Australia

His Daughter: Mrs. Nechama Haskelevich, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

His Son: Habocher Ahron Reicher, Brooklyn, New York

His sister: Mrs. Susie Engel, Har Nof, Yerushalyim, Israel

He left countless friends in his wake, and he will be missed, he made the world alot better place because of his very existence.

Yehee Zichro Boruch!

Levaye will take place in front of Bobov, 1362 49th Street, Brooklyn at 10:30 AM followed by burial on Har Hazeism in Eretz Yisroel.

PHOTOS 

FROM BURIAL IN HAR -HAZEISIM