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Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Condition Worsens, While Victim in Van Attack is Improving

May 10, 1994
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The health of the Lubavitcher rebbe, who has been hospitalized in very critical condition since March, has reportedly deteriorated further.

A hospital spokesperson said members of the Lubavitch community were “hoping for a miracle.”

The 92-year-old rebbe — who is in a coma and breathing with the help of a respirator — was diagnosed Friday with pneumonia, but is reportedly responding to treatment.

Rabbi Menachem Schneeson has been hospitalized in Manhattan since suffering a massive stroke, his second in two years, on March 10.

Meanwhile, Nachum Sasonkin, 18, one of four Lubavitch students shot on the Brooklyn Bridge on March 1, was released May 4 from another Manhattan hospital, where he was being treated for a bullet wound to the head.

Though said to be mentally intact, he was transferred to a rehabilitation facility where he is relearning to walk and overcome other physical impairments.

Sasonkin was a passenger in a van that was part of a convoy accompanying the rebbe’s return to Brooklyn after successful eye surgery in Manhattan. The van was attacked by a lone gunman as it approached the Brooklyn Bridge.

One of the other victims of the attack, Aaron Halberstam, 16, died of his wounds.

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