JERUSALEM (JTA) — A group of youths in Moldova assaulted an elderly rabbi while screaming anti-Semitic abuse, according to a Russian Jewish news site.
According to report Wednesday on Jewish.ru, Rabbi Israel Livshitz traveled with a group of students to the village of Panasheshti for a fishing trip. Early in the morning, as the rabbi and his students were sleeping, a group of eight or nine youths attacked and robbed the rabbi of about 300 euros.
The attackers pulled at his beard and shook him violently while making anti-Semitic insults, the Web site reported.
Police have opened an investigation of the incident and have detained suspects.
It was not clear from the report if hate crimes charges would be filed against the alleged culprits, according to a news release from UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
