UPDATED: Support pours in as Rothman remains in coma

Jeff Rothman, right, with his brother Howie (Chaim) Rothman, who is holding his first grandchild, Sarah, born just over a month ago

The horrific terrorist attack on a Jerusalem synagogue last month that left Canadian-Israeli Howie Rothman clinging to life has sparked an outpouring of support and generosity from the Jewish community.

The Howie Rothman and Family Victim of Terror Assistance Fund, established late last month by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto after being approached by his Toronto-based family, has raised more than $100,000 from more than 700 donors, said Steven Shulman, the federation’s campaign director.

“Usually we do not run funds to aid specific individuals and families. We made an exception in this case… Clearly this tragic situation has resulted in an extraordinary response, and UJA Federation is proud to have launched this fund,” he said. 

Rothman, a 54-year-old father of 10 who has been in a medically induced coma after being hit in the head, neck and arm with a meat cleaver during a Nov. 18 terror attack on the Kehilat Bnei Torah Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighbourhood, could be in the ICU for months, his brother, Steven Rothman, recently told The CJN

In an email update, he wrote that, “the pressure in his head seems to have gone down a bit, which is good. In addition, they did a procedure in the angiography room to insert an IVC (inferior vena cava) filter, something that looks like a metal umbrella, in order to prevent clotting in his legs that could lead to a pulmonary embolism.”

An email by Ira Walfish, a Toronto Jewish community member, was circulated last week, asking for contributions to a second fund that is being handled by Beth Oloth, a charity that supports Jewish education.

Donations for Rothman and his family are being matched by anonymous American donors and must be received by Dec. 5. For more information, email Mordechai Rothschild at [email protected]

In Montreal, Shelley Rothman-Benhaim, Howie Rothman’s sister, personally experienced the generosity of her own community, when members of her shul, Beth Zion Congregation in Côte Saint-Luc, raised money for airfare to Israel so that she could be by her brother’s bedside.

Rothman-Benhaim, who left for Israel on Nov. 26, was accompanied by Beth Zion’s spiritual leader Rabbi Boruch Perton, who said that in the days following the terrorist attack, money was quickly pledged among members to enable both of them to make the trip.

“I asked her [Shabbat] morning if she wanted to go, if she needed to be with her brother who lies 6,000 miles away in a coma, and, if so, she should not worry about the cost,” said Rabbi Perton.

“He could stay in the ICU for days, weeks or even months,” she said. The only glimmer of encouraging news came from her other brother Jeff, who also lives in Israel, in the Galilee, that the intercranial pressure in his brain has eased slightly.

The family also includes a sister Terri and their mother Mollie, who live in the Toronto area. None of them has been to Israel since Rothman was injured.

“I’m extremely grateful to [Beth Zion], more than I can say,” said Rothman-Benhaim. “Just to be in the same room with him will help me cope.”

She said donors in Toronto offered to send her mother, but at 80, she felt the trip would be too difficult.

On Nov. 27, Rabbi Perton blogged after his visit to the Kehilat Bnei Torah Synagogue that “the glass with bullet holes has not yet been replaced, nor has the door that the police smashed in order to gain access to the sanctuary.” He also noticed a bullet hole in a volume of Talmud.

“I was introduced to the son of Rabbi Aryeh Kopinsky [one of the five people murdered], who just got up from shivah for his father. He was coming to pray for the evening service. He was a pillar of strength and conviction. He was even able to smile briefly.”

Rabbi Perton also attended the dedication of a new Magen David Adom ambulance in memory of the five victims.

“It was attended by all the widows, including the wife of the Druze officer, Zidan Saif [a police officer who responded to the emergency call and later died of his wounds]…

“There were Jews from every Jerusalem walk of life. Black hats, knitted kippot, no kippot, Arabs were in attendance as well.”

On Sunday, Rabbi Perton had planned to visit  Druze villages and meet with an imam “because we so desperately need peace.”