In a disturbing antisemitic incident that has shocked France's Jewish community, the chief rabbi of the French city Orléans, Rabbi Aryeh Engelberg, was violently attacked and bitten on Saturday while walking with his 9-year-old son in Orléans, highlighting growing concerns about antisemitic violence in what officials described as a "usually relatively quiet" city.
According to the report, Rabbi Engelberg was walking with his son on the street when a young man began to confront and curse him while filming him. After the rabbi asked him to leave, the young man attacked him, hit him on the head, bit him on the shoulder, and fled the scene.
According to the French channel BFMTV, the attack occurred on Saturday around 1:30 p.m. Thanks to security cameras in the area, a 16-year-old suspect was identified and arrested around 9:45 p.m. According to a source close to the investigation, the teenager is not known to French intelligence services and was taken for questioning.
🚨 A rabbi who was on his way back from synagogue on Saturday in the city of Orléans, France, was severely attacked and bitten on the shoulder. The rabbi filed a police complaint, the attacker fled and was arrested.
— Netanel Worthy - נתנאל וורתי (@NetanelWorthy) March 23, 2025
The president of the Jewish Consistory of France, Elie Korchia, spoke with the rabbi after the attack and told the French media that while the rabbi is physically healthy, he is "in shock" from the incident. "He did not remain passive," Korchia noted in a conversation with BFMTV, adding that this was an "exceptional act of violence in a city that is usually relatively quiet." Korchia addressed the severity of the incident and noted that the attack on a rabbi is "quite rare and worrying in the current climate" in France.
