Boston Jewish Day School Director Responds to Stabbing Attack: “We Will Fight Back”

The executive director of the Boston-area Jewish day school where the stabbing of a Chabad rabbi occurred vowed to “fight back” during a July 2 vigil in response to the attack.

The July 1 attack occurred in front of the Shaloh House Jewish Day School in Brighton, Mass. The victim, Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, was stabbed in the arm eight times after attempting to flee from the assailant, who allegedly pulled a gun on him. Noginski is currently in stable condition.

Rabbi Dan Rodkin, who heads the school, said during the vigil at the Brighton Common park, “We, Boston, are not going to sit back. We will fight back. We will bring goodness to the world. We’ll make sure that we will become better people and we will send a strong message: that evil has no place in America.” He also said that “the Jewish community is not scared … we are strong.”

Rodkin urged attendees to do at least eight good deeds—one for each time Noginski got stabbed in the arm—in response to the attack, such as reaching “out to your local neighbor and [saying] a few words of encouragement.”

At the vigil happening in Brighton.

Rabbi Rodkin makes a request of those who wish to support Rabbi Noginsky. He asks everyone to perform one good deed for each of the wounds the Rabbi suffered in the attack. He was stabbed eight times.

More than eight good deeds are okay too. pic.twitter.com/89f8u6lKcV

— Conspiracy Libel (@ConspiracyLibel) July 2, 2021

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said during the vigil that “people don’t believe there is a rise in antisemitism and it’s very, very real.” She vowed to hold the assailant “accountable, but we have a lot more work to do than just that. We have to start having conversations about antisemitism.”

Boston Mayor Kim Janey said at the vigil, “This is Fourth of July weekend. The weekend that we celebrate independence in America, the weekend that we celebrate freedom. We all deserve the opportunity to live freely, and certainly that is true of our Jewish brothers and sisters.”

The suspect, who was arrested shortly after the attack occurred, has been identified as Khaled Awad, 24. Police are still investigating the motive, but Noginski’s brother, Moshe Laskin, believes the attack was motivated by Jew-hatred.

“He didn’t try to get money, to get anything—he only wanted to harm and kill him,” Laskin told The Algemeiner. “He tried to stab him in the stomach, but my brother was able to fight back. I don’t understand what’s taking the authorities so long to determine [the motive].”