 In 1946, he was brought to the US as an infant, and grew up in New York City on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.Helmreich wrote about his early years in a book he named ""Wake Up, Wake Up, to Do the Work of the Creator"" (a phrase, spoken in Yiddish, by those who went house-to-house to awaken worshippers for daily prayer).When asked about recordings of "many of the famous roshei Yeshiva of yesteryear" whom he interviewed, "Do you still have the recordings?"