Dovid Shmidel, the Israeli rabbi who chaired Asra Kadisha, died on May 11, 2026, at the age of 92.
Also spelled Dovid Schmidel, he was born in Vienna, Austria, on April 2, 1934, and moved with his family to Mandatory Palestine in 1939. In Bnei Brak, he led Asra Kadisha, the Committee for the Preservation of Gravesites, and was involved in protests against excavations at sites including the Tomb of Maimonides in Tiberias in 1956 and along Israel‘s Highway 6.
He studied at the Slabodka yeshiva and later at Kollel Chazon Ish under Rabbi Gedaliah Nadel.
Dovid Shmidel, 92, Israeli rabbi, chairman of Asra Kadisha.