TO ALL WHO SAW THE EMAIL ABOUT NAFTALI BEN GILA RACHEL

amother

Thu, May 08 2008, 5:48 pm

Please forward this message to all who may have receive:d it

The note below is NOT true. Naftali ben Gila Rachel (which is the

complete name) is improving day by day, and has been since before

Pesach. He has been moved from the Shaarei Tzedek ICU to a regular

ward, and then to Hadassah Har Hatzofim for rehab, where he is

undergoing daily physiotherapy to strengthen his legs and waist area and

learning to walk again. He is breathing and eating on his own and not

connected to any apparatus.

I work for the OneFamily Fund, which provides aid and assistance to

victims of terrorism, and we have a field worker in touch with the

family on a daily basis. Naftali is steadily improving, and when he is

not in rehab, he is studying with the only other student who remains in

hospital from the shooting, who is also in rehab at Har Hatzofim.

Naftali's family has asked me to express their thanks and deepest

appreciation to all who have shown concern for their son, and they have

also asked me to convey their dismay that these unfounded rumors about

Naftali's condition continue to make the rounds by email. They

expressly ask that these rumors be stopped.

If anyone would like more - or more regular - updates, please be in

touch with me directly. Should there be a need for any announcements

about Naftali's condition, these will be made through OneFamily.

Again, please distribute this message to any and all other lists,

people, email discussion groups, etc. where the rumors may have appeared

so that they are stopped and the family can resume caring for Naftali

and their other children as proper.

Chag Sameach,

Yehuda Poch

OneFamily Fund - Director of Communications

Office: 02-539-9000

Cell: 054-499-7624

email: yehuda@OneFamilyFund.org

shalhevet

Fri, May 09 2008, 3:12 am

Quote:

The following information is up to date as of Monday April 14 and
comes
directly from Naftali's mother, and was re-confirmed with Naftali's
aunt on May
6, 2008:

Naftali was critically injured in the attack. He was unconscious for 8
days,
and regained consciousness on Friday night March 14. He was moved out
of ICU
into the surgical ward of Shaare Tzedek hospital on Tuesday March 18.
He
celebrated his 14th birthday on Purim.

The family is very much aware of all of the tefillot and the concerted
effort undertaken by many in the community on behalf of Naftali and
his recovery,
and are very thankful for the tremendous outpouring of concern and the
well
wishes that have been expressed. The inaccuracies that have been
circulated
recently are therefore all the more painful for them.

On Friday night, April 4, Naftali suffered symptoms that are similar
to a
seizure, but were not actually an epileptic seizure. Hospital staff
moved him
back into ICU as a precautionary measure for observation.

On Sunday, April 6, Naftali was moved back to the Surgical Ward, where
he
has remained ever since. At no time did he suffer a stroke or anything
similar,
and at no time since he regained consciousness was his life in any
danger.
His condition is steadily improving, and he is often out in the halls
of the
ward in his wheelchair. In the hospital, he continues to keep up with
his
learning, and plays the violin when he is bored. He was allowed out of
the
hospital for the Pesach seder, and then returned to the hospital in
the morning.

At no time did Naftali have a name added for tefillot. His name was,
and is,
Naftali ben Gila Rachel.

Baruch Hashem, as the information above indicates, Naftali has made
tremendous and miraculous improvements and appears to be clearly on
the road to
recovery, rehabilitation (which itself will take months to years), and
G-d willing
to a normal life.

While the family is extremely appreciative of all the tefilos and
concern
for Naftali, they beg the Jewish world to please try to stop
inaccurate
e-mails. E-mails from the original incident requesting immediate and
urgent tefilos
continue to circulate (with no date markings), emails about adding a
name as
he's on the edge of death (not true), and requests for another round
of
urgent tefilos due to a stroke (mistaken information). These are all
untrue (thank
G-d!)

Naftali's mother conveys her thanks and warm wishes to all of Klal
Yisroel.