Neriyah Leiter, the IDF reservist and son of Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter who suffered a severe brain injury in a terrorist ramming attack two weeks ago, has begun breathing on his own in an encouraging development, his father revealed Wednesday.

While Neriyah remains unconscious and his condition continues to be extremely serious, the latest update marks a significant improvement from just days ago, when Ambassador Leiter said his son remained on life support following emergency brain surgery.

“Neria has severe head injuries, but in recent days he has begun breathing on his own. He is still unconscious.”

Neriyah was critically wounded on Sept. 23 when a Palestinian terrorist rammed him with a vehicle near the Maccabim checkpoint on Route 443. The terrorist was subsequently shot and killed by IDF soldiers at the scene.

Neriyah was rushed unconscious to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Yerushalayim, where doctors performed hours of emergency brain surgery and other procedures. The hospital said following the operation that his condition remained extremely serious and that his life was in danger.

The critically wounded reservist has served hundreds of days in the IDF reserves on several fronts since the October 7 massacre, despite the devastating loss of his older brother, Maj. Moshe Yedidya Leiter, who was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in November 2023.

Ambassador Leiter rushed back to Israel after learning of the attack on his son. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu visited Neriyah and the family at the hospital shortly after the attack and returned for another visit ahead of Simchas Torah.

Only days before Wednesday’s encouraging update, Ambassador Leiter wrote an emotional message from Neriyah’s bedside, describing his son as still dependent on life support and thanking Jews around the world for the extraordinary outpouring of tefillos on his behalf.

“As I sit here at my son Neria’s bedside, I am thinking about what the most appropriate message would be as we enter the Simchat Torah holiday. Neria is still on life support and my first thought is one of immense gratitude for the support and all the prayers on his behalf. Your prayers have given my family and me tremendous strength in the knowledge that prayers matter. Prime Minister Netanyahu visited us in the hospital today to share a much-needed sense of comfort and support.”

Leiter then connected the attack on his son to the broader wave of terrorism directed at Israelis and Jews, writing that the ideology behind the October 7 massacre remains a threat that must be defeated.

“My second thought is of the importance of reminding ourselves, and anyone still willing to listen, that the October 7 attack on Simchat Torah three years ago was cultivated in an ideology that believes killing Jews is admirable and that there is no place for an Israel, any Israel. It is the same ideology that murdered Nathaniel Shukrun just before Yom Kippur, tried to murder my second son right after Yom Kippur, and tried to crash a passenger jet on its way to Tel Aviv two days before the anniversary of Israel’s own September 11. Until we defeat this ideology, we are all like Neria, on life support.”

In a third reflection, the ambassador turned to the resilience of Klal Yisroel and the significance of his son’s name.

“And thought #3: People don’t understand Israeli resilience. Neria is Hebrew for “G-d’s candle.” We gave him that name because he was born just before the Sabbath when the Biblical portion that begins with Numbers 8:2 is read in synagogues. In the verse, G-d instructs Moses to tell Aharon to set up seven lamps in a way that they face forward and give light in front of the Temple’s golden lamp stand. Aaron’s merit in this task was greater than all the other leaders who participated in the consecration of the holy Temple. Greater why? Because the consecration was a one-time occurrence, while illuminating the Temple, Jerusalem, was a permanent and ongoing duty.”

Leiter then cited Mark Twain’s famous reflections on the remarkable survival of the Jewish people through centuries in which far larger and more powerful civilizations disappeared.

“History has proven the light’s eternity. Mark Twain perhaps put it best: “If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of.”

“He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers.”

“He has made a marvellous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.”

“The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

At the time, with his son still on life support, Leiter concluded with a plea that the public continue its tefillos and expressed the hope that Neriyah would be able to celebrate Simchas Torah with his family one year from now.

“Please continue to pray for Neria’s recovery, perhaps next Simchat Torah he will be able to rejoice together with his darling wife and children.”

Wednesday’s news that Neriyah has now begun breathing independently offered the first major encouraging development since the attack, although he remains unconscious with severe head injuries.

The public is asked to continue davening for Neriyah Dov ben Chana for a complete refuah sheleimah.

{Matzav.com}