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Rabbi in stable condition after being stabbed outside Brighton Jewish day school

Rabbi Shlomo Noginski was stabbed multiple times Thursday outside the Shaloh House, a Jewish day school on Chestnut Hill Avenue in Brighton.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

A rabbi was stabbed multiple times outside Shaloh House, a Jewish day school in Brighton, on Thursday afternoon and was in stable condition at a hospital, officials said.

Rabbi Shlomo Noginski suffered wounds to an arm in an attack that was reported at 1:19 p.m. near the school building on Chestnut Hill Avenue where a summer program for youths was underway.

Noginski was “in good spirits,” Rabbi Dan Rodkin, executive director of Shaloh House, said in a statement.

A Brighton man, Khaled Awad, 24, was arrested soon after the incident. He was due to be arraigned Thursday in the Brighton division of Boston Municipal Court, according to Boston police.

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He is charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer, police said in a statement Thursday night.

The incident remained under investigation, said Sergeant Detective John Boyle, a department spokesman.

The daylight attack struck fear into the Jewish community, reeling from a national rise in antisemitic acts and from a deadly attack last week in Winthrop that apparently was targeting Jewish people.

The Anti-Defamation League of New England said the stabbing “sent a shockwave of fear & anxiety throughout the community,” in a Twitter post Thursday evening.

A unity vigil for Rabbi Shlomo Noginski on Boston Common. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

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

The school quickly went into lockdown after the attack, and no children were in danger, Rodkin said. Shaloh House will increase security for the rest of the summer, he said.

A unity vigil for the Noginski, his family, and Shaloh House is scheduled for Brighton Common at 10 a.m. Friday, the league announced Thursday night in a joint statement with Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Jewish Communities Relations Council.

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“As a community, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. If one of us feels vulnerable, we all are vulnerable. We will not be silent, and we will be there together,” the organizations said.

Separately, the ADL called for a rigorous investigation.

“As this investigation unfolds, we call for full transparency so that the community gets answers as to why a rabbi was stabbed outside of his house of worship,” the organization said.

ADL regional director Robert Trestan said the community was praying for Noginski’s recovery. “Healing from this incident will require accountability, justice and answer,” he said in the statement.

Outside Shaloh House Thursday afternoon, children were playing. A teacher said he was puzzled by the attack.

“It is not my place to state a motive,“ said Rabbi Ilan Meyers, who is also an administrator at the school. “I have no idea what the motive is, but we hope to hear from the police when they have an assessment,” he said. “It is not necessarily associated with antisemitism.”

At the time of the stabbing, the house was holding a summer program for local youth, he said. The children were not aware of the incident until later, according to Meyers.

Meyers said he hopes the community, and specifically the Jewish community, will come together in acts of “goodness and kindness.”

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“We shouldn’t be scared. We need to be firm. We need to be confident and use this as an opportunity to step up our actions and reach out to those in need,” he said.

Kathy McCabe of the Globe staff and correspondent Jeremy C. Fox contributed to this story.