Boston Rabbi Stabbed 8 Times Outside Synagogue and Summer Camp

A Chabad Rabbi was hospitalized in a serious but stable condition yesterday following a brutal stabbing attack outside an Orthodox Jewish school in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood.

Boston Police say they arrested 24-year-old local Khaled Awad at the scene, whom they charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer.

The shocking incident, which saw Rabbi Shlomo Noginski stabbed up to eight times by the lone assailant, unfolded in broad daylight Thursday afternoon just outside Shaloh House, a Chabad-affiliated synagogue and Jewish day school where Noginski works as an educator.

According to CBS Boston, the rabbi, who is Russian-born and in his 50’s, is a father of 12 children. “I am grateful to the Boston Police Department for their rapid response, and relieved that the perpetrator is in custody. I am looking forward to returning to my work as soon as possible,” said Rabbi Noginski from his hospital bed.

Shaloh House, which caters to the area’s sizeable Russian-speaking Jewish community, had been running a children’s summer camp at the time of the attack, although none of the young campers were physically harmed.

“He is, thank G-d, in stable condition and being treated in the hospital for stab wounds to his arm and police have arrested a suspected attacker” read a message from the school to the local community.

Chabad.org reported that a man approached Noginski with a drawn gun, asking the rabbi to lead him to his car. When Noginski attempted to flee, the suspect proceeded to launch a vicious attack, repeatedly stabbing the victim in the arm before trying to run away from the scene.

“When a rabbi is stabbed in a Jewish neighborhood in the middle of the day, it sends shockwaves of fear” said the Anti-Defamation League’s New England director Robert Trestan. “This area where it occurred, there are hundreds of people who are working, living, going to school. There are summer camps in close proximity.”

While the suspect appears to be of Middle-Eastern origin, no details have yet been confirmed or ruled out by police regarding his motive. Thursday’s stabbing comes at a time of elevated antisemitism in the United States following May’s Gaza flareup. Attacks against Jews have also taken place in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and South Florida in recent weeks.