Daniel Wultz, the Weston teen critically injured in a Tel Aviv suicide attack, is improving but has a long, long way to go, his rabbi said Friday.
nwaller@MiamiHerald.com
A rabbi who prayed at the bedside of a Weston teen injured in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv came back with a message for South Florida residents: Your prayers have been working.
Rabbi Yisroel Spalter of Weston's Chabad Lubavitch synagogue was administering a prayer ritual Monday when Daniel Wultz opened his eyes for the first time since the April 17 attack that killed nine and injured 50.
Doctors initially gave the youth a slim shot at survival, but the 16-year-old has defied expectations.
''We have seen this child as a miracle child,'' Spalter said at a news conference Friday at the synagogue.
Spalter, who returned from Tel Aviv on Thursday, urged everyone to keep Daniel in their prayers and do kind deeds in his name. Members of Spalter's synagogue have been conducting twice-daily prayer services and now wear blue bracelets imprinted with ``Pray for Daniel.''
Daniel, a sophomore at the David Posnack Day School in Plantation, regained consciousness Tuesday, but doctors have put him back under sedation.
The teen lost his right leg below the knee and underwent surgery last week at Ichilov Hospital to remove a kidney and his spleen. Spalter said the teen's condition remains ``very, very critical.''
Daniel appears to understand questions but cannot yet speak. Spalter said the teen mouthed his sister's name but is otherwise communicating with family by blinking his eyes.
No one has told him about the bombing, but ''he's aware he's in a situation that's very bad,'' Spalter said.
The Hamas-backed Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Tel Aviv restaurant, Mayor's Felafel, was the only one serving kosher food that was open for Passover in that section of the city that day, which may have made it a target for terrorists.
On Monday, Spalter was placing tefillah -- leather boxes containing parchment scraps printed with verses from the Torah -- on Daniel's body when the teen opened his eyes for the first time.
Daniel's parents, Sheryl and Tuly Wultz, were jubilant.
''There was overwhelming joy among those present,'' Spalter said. ``The electricity was in the air.''
Still, Daniel's progress over the next few weeks will be crucial, and Spalter said he will be in the hospital for at least the next six months.
''I believe Daniel will pull through with the help of all of us,'' Spalter said.
The rabbi is considering another trip to Israel but has made no firm plans. For now, he said, both he and the Wultzes are urging people to continue their prayers.
''The family is confident and certain that the prayers of millions around the world are helping their son, Daniel,'' he said.
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