WARSAW (EJP)---An Orthodox American Jew was attacked on Thursday by a group of teenagers in Warka, a city located 60 kilometres from Warsaw.

The 19-year-old Asa Yitzchak Baitch, from Ann Arbor, near Detroit, US, arrived in Poland two weeks ago and was visiting the “Ohel” or mausoleum commemorating Rabbbi Yitzhak Kalish, a well-known Hassidic rabbi, at the local Jewish cemetery.  

The rabbi, who died in 1848, is buried in the cemetery, located on the banks of the Pilica river.

Baitch told EJP: "I was by myself when I arrived at the cemetery. There, I met a group of twenty teenagers – aged between 11 and 16- to whom I asked the direction of the Ohel. When I arrived at the Ohel, located on the top of a hill, the teenagers started laughing at me, asking me for money and shouting “Jew” in Polish before they punched me in the face."

The young man, who was lightly wounded, managed to escape and was later helped by Polish policemen who tried to identify the teenagers.  

In a reaction, Poland's chief rabbi Michael Schudrich said: “Even though this is an unusal occurrence in Poland, where many Jews visit the country, it is unacceptable."

He said he was hopeful that police will find the aggressors.

Schudrich was himself attacked in the centre of Warsaw two years ago.