The father and son from Weston, Fla., were sitting on the patio of a packed restaurant in Tel-Aviv, Israel, eating lunch, when the bomb erupted.

Ten pounds of explosives, laced with nails and shrapnel, ripped into 16-year-old Daniel Wultz, and his father, Tuly, on Monday.

The suicide bomber, believed to be a member of Islamic Jihad, killed 10 people including himself, injured 60 and sent shock waves of tension through the Middle East. The blast also rocked South Florida's Jewish community. Daniel, a sophomore at the David Posnack Hebrew Day School in Plantation, was in critical condition Tuesday after undergoing emergency surgery and losing a kidney and his spleen. His father, who owns an insurance business in Weston, suffered a fractured leg.

"Don't worry about me; pray for my son. Pray for Daniel," Tuly Wultz told friends in South Florida via cell phone Tuesday.

Frequent travelers to Israel, Daniel and his parents had flown to Jerusalem to spend Passover with the family's 95-year-old grandfather. They also planned to attend the bar mitzvah of a close friend, Oren Zadik, 13, also of Weston.

Daniel's maternal grandparents, Margie and Ronald Cantor, spent Tuesday at their North Miami Beach home with friends and family, constantly calling Israel for updates.

They were told that as father and son lay on the ground, Daniel held his wounded stomach.

"Tuly said, `I kissed Daniel and told him I love him, and Daniel kissed me and said, `I love you dad,'" said Margie Cantor.

Daniel's grandparents believe his strong spirit will pull him through.

"He's such a fighter," she said. "He's very determined."

He's also a good athlete who adores his cousins, Margie Cantor said.

"We have eight wonderful grandchildren - I hope eight grandchildren," she said, clutching her hands.

Today, the couple plan to be on their way to be with Daniel. His older sister, Amanda, a student at Tufts University near Boston, will join them.

Laurence Kutler, headmaster of the Hebrew Day School, said counselors will be available Monday, when the school's 725 students return from vacation. He already has sent an e-mail to all the school's families, asking that they pray for Daniel.

"This is really a hard one for the community," he said. "We're all very shaken."

On Tuesday, the Chabad Lubavitch of Weston held a vigil for Daniel and asked its members to pray psalms every day for a month.

"We're confident and we're certain that this will bring about the necessary, if needed, miracle," said Rabbi Yisroel Spalter. He expected about 200 people to pray for Daniel.

Among those at the temple Tuesday night was Alan Faidengold, 15, who said he was Daniel's best friend.

"I was devastated," he said. "I asked, `Why did it happen to him?'"

The Wultz family has regularly attended services at the temple since its inception 10 years ago. Daniel was especially devout, Rabbi Spalter said.

"(The trip) turned out to be less than joyous, but the joy will come when we celebrate Daniel coming home," he said.

On Monday, after shopping in Tel Aviv, Daniel and his father bought lunch from the restaurant and took it to an outside table, according to Daniel's mother, Sheryl, who had been on her way to join them.

Before she got there, the bomber set off the explosives.

Daniel and Tuly Wultz were rushed to Tel-Aviv's Ichalov Hospital, where Daniel was in the intensive care unit, family members said.

Tuly Wultz is from Jerusalem and met Sheryl, an attorney, while she was on an archeological project there. Three years later, they married.

Tuly Wultz, who served in the Israeli army, kept strong ties with his family in Israel, visiting often.

Holding bar and bat mitzvahs in Israel is fairly common among South Florida Jewish families, especially modern Orthodox ones with deep religious and political commitments to Israel.

"Typically people may have their larger ceremony here in South Florida, but then they'll go with their immediate family, close friends to Israel," said Rabbi Alan Sherman, executive vice president with the Palm Beach County Board of Rabbis.

Sherman said the threat of terrorism wouldn't stop people from visiting Israel. "The people who are going to do this will go anyway," he said.

About 50 of Oren Zadik's eighth-grade classmates from the Hebrew Day School plan to fly to Israel next week to celebrate that nation's independence day. Arrangements are being made for them to see Daniel Wultz, school officials said.

On Tuesday Rabbi Spalter called the head shaliach in Tel Aviv, Rabbi Yosef Gerlitzky and asked him to see to it that the Wultz's get all religious articles and best treatment.

Rabbi Gerlitzky later told Shturem that since yesterday bochurim from the Lubavitcher yeshiva in Tel Aviv Chazon Eliyahu have been visiting the Wultz's in the hospital. "The father was wounded lightly and is scheduled to be released to day but Daniel is in critical condition and is need of a miracle. he was operated on a few hours yesterday and still remains unconcious," Rabbi Gerlitzky told Shturem.

Another story related to Daniel Wultz by Marlene Naanes of the Sun-Sentinel:

As the family of a 16-year-old Weston boy injured in a Tel Aviv bombing comes together at his hospital bedside in Israel, the South Florida community continues to send its support from home.

Daniel Wultz's school in Plantation, his temple in Weston and classmates from all over the region are gathering money, prayers and messages for a speedy recovery as the teen continues treatment at Ichalov Hospital in Tel Aviv. Daniel underwent surgery Wednesday after his vital signs became more stable, but a family friend said his condition has fluctuated.

It's hour by hour, his condition changes," said Tammy Fayne.

Daniel and his father, Tuly Wultz, were injured as they ate on Monday in front of The Mayor's Falafel, a Tel Aviv sandwich shop, after they spent part of Passover with Daniel's paternal grandfather. Tuly Wultz's leg was broken by shrapnel and he is in good condition, but Daniel received severe injuries to his abdomen.

Since the attack, friends and neighbors have held vigils and offered emotional support to Daniel's maternal grandparents and sister before they left for Israel on Tuesday. Now the community is finding other ways to help Daniel's recovery.

Classmates at the David Posnack Hebrew Day School will craft uplifting cards, bracelets and quilts today to send to Daniel's family to read to him.

The Chabad Lubavitch of Weston is holding the celebratory end of Passover meal in honor of Daniel and his family today.

As doctors determine how long Daniel will be in the hospital and the family determines how long they must stay in Tel Aviv, the Hebrew day school will offer housing, funds or whatever the family needs so they can remain together, a school official said."We're all keeping positive for him because that's what the family wants," Fayne said