Beloved Vizhnitz elder and ritual expert Dov Daskal dies at 92

The Vizhnitz Hasidic community in Bnei Brak is mourning the death of Rabbi Dov, or Berel, Daskal, one of its oldest and best-known members. He died at the age of 92, after a long life described as one of Torah, kindness, and humility.

Daskal was born in Romania on 28 Adar 1934 to Rabbi Michael Daskal and Mrs. Perl, from rooted Hasidic families in Romania and the Land of Israel. He was widely recognized and loved by thousands of Vizhnitz Hasidim in the Vizhnitz neighborhood and throughout Bnei Brak, and was remembered as a survivor of an earlier generation who merited to live under the influence of Vizhnitz leaders across the years, beginning with the Amri Chaim and the Yeshuos Moshe, and later the current Vizhnitz Rebbe.

For many years he served faithfully as a trusted aide to the Yeshuos Moshe during the rebbe’s festive gatherings. Fellow Hasidim recalled his remarkable devotion to the rebbeim and the dedication with which he carried out his duties at tisches and on holiday occasions.

Alongside his closeness to the dynasty’s rebbes, Daskal was known as a devoted ritual slaughterer and an expert mohel. Over decades he circumcised thousands of Jewish infants, with exceptional skill, and many times performed the brit milah with a rebbe serving as sandak. About a year ago, in Shevat 5785, he suffered another family loss when his son-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Kramer, a noted Vizhnitz Hasid in Bnei Brak, died at age 59 after severe suffering borne with faith. Daskal leaves behind children, sons-in-law, grandchildren, and many descendants who continue in the path of Torah and Hasidism.