Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Canadian-Israeli Victim of Jerusalem Terror Attack Still in a Coma

A Canadian-Israeli citizen remains in a coma nearly a week after the deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue during morning prayers.

Howie Rothman, 53, who moved to Israel some 30 years ago and is the father of 10 children, was hit in the head and arm with a meat cleaver by one of the terrorists. He has lost vision in one eye, suffered brain damage and after at least three surgeries remains in a medically induced coma, the Toronto Sun reported.

The United Jewish Appeal in Toronto over the weekend held what the agency’s representative Steven Shulman called an “unprecedented” fundraising appeal for an individual.

“We don’t do this kind of fundraising; we do it for the community at large. We have made an exception in this case,” Shulman told congregants at the Beth Torah synagogue in suburban Toronto on Saturday, according to the newspaper.

“Howie is a product of this community and in terms of need it’s tremendous. He has 10 children and six are still at home. He was attacked and his life has changed forever. We had to do something. That is the essence of being Jewish.”

Rothman, who works for Israel’s state comptroller and was a regular worshiper at the Har Nof synagogue where the attack took place, also recently became a grandfather for the first time, according to reports

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.