Neria Leiter Discharged From Shaare Zedek to Neurological Rehabilitation

Neria Leiter, the son of Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, was discharged on Wednesday, November 11, from Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and moved to neurological and head-injury rehabilitation. The hospital said he left still unconscious but breathing on his own. He was critically wounded in a ramming attack near the Maccabim checkpoint on Route 443 on September 23. According to the hospital, Leiter arrived in critical condition and in immediate danger to his life, and trauma, neurosurgery and intensive care teams fought for days to save him. He underwent several neurosurgical operations and major orthopedic surgery, and spent several weeks sedated and on a ventilator in the general intensive care unit headed by Prof. Phillip Levin. Once his condition stabilized and he was out of danger, he was moved to the neurological-neurosurgical intensive care unit under senior neurosurgeon Dr. Evgeny Karpov. The staff who treated him said the family's strength of spirit was "an inspiring symbol and example" and that they were praying for his recovery. The Leiter family thanked Shaare Zedek's medical teams for care it described as dedicated and professional "above and beyond." The family asked for its privacy to be respected and asked the public to keep praying for him. The IDF reported the ramming attack in the Maccabim checkpoint area of the Binyamin Brigade on the afternoon of September 23. Neria's elder brother, Maj. Moshe Yedidya Leiter, fell in the fighting in Gaza. On November 8, the ambassador told the annual conference of Chabad emissaries in New York that he had come directly from his son's bedside at Shaare Zedek, and asked them to keep praying.