Ambassador Leiter Asks Chabad Emissaries to Keep Praying for Wounded Son

Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, asked Chabad emissaries to continue praying for his wounded son Neria during his address to their annual international conference on Sunday, November 8. He thanked the gathering for its prayers and said his son remained hospitalised. Leiter said he had come directly from Shaare Zedek after spending the preceding week at his son’s bedside, landing that morning to attend the gathering. He told the emissaries that he believed their prayers were beginning to have an effect and asked them to keep praying. He also described preparing the memorial for his eldest son, Moshe Yedidya, while caring for Neria. The ambassador recalled Moshe teaching soldiers entering combat to keep track of themselves, their comrades and the enemy. Leiter drew on that framework to discuss Jewish identity and antisemitism, urging the emissaries to recognise and confront efforts to delegitimise Israel and the Jewish people. Describing antisemitism, Leiter said: “It’s a virus that mutates.” He also recalled his father fleeing Vienna in 1938 as an eight-year-old refugee, and spoke of the hopes and prayers of Moshe’s grandparents as a source of strength for his son.