BOSTON (WHDH) - Brighton community members on Thursday gathered for a menorah lighting ceremony honoring the rabbi who was stabbed outside a Jewish day school earlier this year.
Rabbi Schlomo Naginski was stabbed eight times outside of the Shaloh House during an alleged anti-Semitic attack.
Security camera footage captured Khaled Awad approaching the victim, Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, on the Jewish day school’s steps as a children’s camp, before drawing a weapon that appeared to be a gun, and allegedly demanding Noginski hand over the keys to the school van, Rollins said.
Awad then rejected the keys and tried to get him inside it while putting away the weapon and pulling out a knife.
Noginski told investigators he tried to flee toward a nearby park before Awad stabbed him nine times, according to the release.
Awad was taken into custody in an alleyway after allegedly pulling a gun on officers.
A grand jury returned nine indictments against Awad, including assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon.
On Thursday, Naginski attended the menorah lighting at the Shaloh House in the very spot where he had been stabbed.
He still does not have full use of one of his arms due to the injuries he sustained during the attack.
“He’s doing much better, he’s improving but still has a lot of pain, and he feels it’s a miracle, like the miracle of Hanukkah,” Naginski told 7News through a translator. “He’s grateful that he’s alive.”
Mayor Michelle Wu and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft also attended Thursday’s ceremony.
“The city of Boston will always stand strong in rejecting bigotry antisemitism, hatred,” the new mayor said.
“What happened to the rabbi shouldn’t happen to anyone of any background,” Kraft added. “We are a country that receives all people, all religions. that’s the spirit of America.”
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