Chani Leiter, wife of Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, spoke in an emotional interview with Arutz Sheva about the condition of her son Neria, who was critically injured in a ramming attack more than a month ago and has now been transferred from the hospital to a rehabilitation center.
Leiter described the difficult weeks her family has endured since the attack, expressing cautious optimism about her son's progress while emphasizing that he remains unconscious and faces a long road to recovery.
"Until now, Neria has been in intensive care, and it's been really a roller coaster," she said. "There's always something going on, something he has to take care of, and he has stabilized, which is a very nice thing, and he's able now to deal with rehabilitation. Thank God."
She explained that the family's immediate hope is for Neria to remain medically stable so that rehabilitation specialists can begin working toward his recovery.
"We just hope he stays stable and he stays strong. And now it's time to just try to work on every muscle that we can, in his brain and everything we can work on, to help him come out of unconsciousness and return to himself."
Asked where she finds the strength to maintain her hope despite the family's suffering, Leiter credited the extraordinary support and prayers of Jews around the world.
She said she has received countless messages from people in Israel and abroad, representing every part of the Jewish community, who have undertaken prayers and other acts in the merit of her son's recovery.
"I really believe that Jewish people from all over the world and the Jewish people in Israel-and not only the Jewish people, a lot of Christians have also been praying for Neria," she said.
Leiter described receiving messages from Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews alike, including people who have organized challah-separation ceremonies and other religious activities dedicated to Neria's recovery.
"Any kind of Jew has been writing me and telling me that they're doing hafrashat challah, they're doing different things for Neria, different prayers and different things just for Neria, and they're thinking of him and sending good energies from all over the world."
She emphasized that this outpouring of support has become one of her family's greatest sources of strength.
"If you have the whole Jewish people behind you, you can't fall," she declared.
"It's giving me such strength. And one of the reasons I agreed to interview was that I wanted to thank the whole Jewish world, the Jewish people, for being there for us. It's just really so special and so meaningful."
The interview also touched on another tragedy the Leiter family has endured: the loss of their son Moshe, who fell at the beginning of the war.
Just days before the interview, the family held a memorial ceremony in his honor, an occasion made particularly emotional by Neria's ongoing medical condition.
Leiter recalled the large number of people who attended the memorial, describing the support as another powerful expression of the love surrounding her family.
"So many people came. That's also one of the things that we just feel so, so loved and so cared for by so many people, that the cemetery was really, really full," she said.
"We had a nice azkarah, a very meaningful azkarah, a very honorable azkarah."
Following the memorial ceremony, participants gathered for a large communal prayer for Neria's recovery.
"Shortly after the azkarah, we had a tefillah, a big tefillah for Neria. And they were singing, and we prayed for him together," Leiter recalled. "It was very uplifting. It gave me a lot of strength."
She said that many of those who attended were moved not only by the family's grief but also by the atmosphere of faith and national solidarity.
"A lot of people there were also crying, but also said that they were given a shot of Zionism and faith together," she said. "And we want to continue with that faith."
Asked whether she feels that Moshe continues to give her strength, Leiter shared a particularly moving memory of her fallen son.
"Moshe used to say to me, 'Ima, it'll be okay.' It's not-he didn't even say it'll be okay. He said, 'Ima, it's okay. It's okay. Hakol beseder.'"
She explained that Moshe had always been a calming presence in the family, reassuring her during difficult moments.
"At different times, he would always be so calm and say, 'Ima, hakol beseder,'" she recalled.
Those words returned to her as the family prepared to leave Shaare Zedek Medical Center following Neria's transfer to rehabilitation.
Leiter described the moment as emotionally complicated. Although her son's stabilization represented an important step forward, he remained unconscious, and the family still faced enormous uncertainty.
"As we were leaving Shaare Zedek, it was like a lot of mixed emotions because Neria is still unconscious and we still have a long way to go. And we don't know what will be. We're just hoping and praying," she said.
But as she walked out of the hospital, she found herself remembering Moshe's familiar words of reassurance.
"As I was walking out of Shaare Zedek, I heard Moshe. I heard Moshe's voice in my head saying, 'Ima, hakol beseder. Ima, hakol beseder.'"
For Leiter, the memory reinforced her belief that the family was taking the right steps toward Neria's recovery.
"We're doing the right thing. We're going to the right place. And we're doing whatever we can that Neria should come back to the family standing and being healthy."