Chabad emissary stabbed outside Boston

Rabbi Noginsky has been working at Shaloh House Jewish Day School in Brighton, MA, as a teacher and Rabbi for the last two years. Image by Google Maps

By Jacob Kornbluh July 1, 2021

A Chabad emissary was stabbed multiple times outside a synagogue and Jewish day school he heads in Brighton, Massachusetts, on Thursday afternoon.

Rabbi Shlomo Noginsky, a rabbi at the Chabad House in Brighton Commons Park, known as the “Shaloh House” in Greater Boston, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Boston Police said the suspect was arrested on the scene and the motive is unknown at the moment. The suspect had a knife and a gun on him when he was apprehended, police said.

Police identified the suspect as Khaled Awad, 24, of Brighton. He has been charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a police officer, Boston Police said.

The building houses a synagogue, a summer day camp, Gan Israel; as well as a preschool and a day school. The facility was immediately put under lockdown and the kids were safe, according to Chabad.org, a Chabad-Lubavitch website.

Awad allegedly approached the rabbi, drew a firearm and attempted to force him to his car. After a struggle, he stabbed Noginski multiple times.

“We are all very shaken by what happened and ask for you to please keep Rabbi Noginski in your prayers,” Shaloh House director Rabbi Don Rodkin said in a statement. “We are heartened by the outpouring of concern and compassion we have received in just the last hours since the incident.”

In an interview from his hospital bed, Noginski said he is grateful to the police for their rapid response and is “looking forward to returning to my work as soon as possible.”

This post was updated.

Jacob Kornbluh is the Forward’s senior political reporter. Follow him on Twitter @jacobkornbluh or email [email protected].

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

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. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO