Monsey Stabbing Victim Showing Signs of Improvement

Josef Neumann, who suffered critical brain injuries in the Monsey stabbing attack on Chanukah, has been showing small but miraculous improvements.

Rabbi Yisroel Kahan, a police and government liaison to the Rockland County Jewish community, told Hamodia on Tuesday that Mr. Neumann has “opened his eyes” and is “showing some signs of responsiveness.”

Days after the attack, Mr. Neumann’s children had said in a statement about their father’s condition, “Doctors are not optimistic about his chances to regain consciousness, and if our father does miraculously recover partially, doctors expect that he will have permanent damage to the brain; leaving him partially paralyzed and speech-impaired for the rest of his life.”

Mr. Neumann is being treated in an acute rehab center in New Jersey.

Five other people were also injured in the machete attack on Motzoei Shabbos Chanukah. Grafton Thomas, 37, of Greenwood lake, has been charged with attempted murder and hate crimes.

“Hodu laHashem ki tov, ki leoman chasdo,” says Rabbi Kahan. “This news is miraculous, but Mr. Neumann still has a very long way to go.”

Readers are asked to continue to daven for the refuah sheleimah of Yehosef ben Perel, b’soch she’ar cholei Yisrael.

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rborchardt@hamodia.com