The rabbi was on his way from the synagogue with his son on Saturday when the 16-year-old is said to have hit the man in the head and bitten him in the shoulder, according to a source for AFP.
The boy is reported to have uttered anti-Semitic insults against the rabbi before attacking him, according to local media. The boy was arrested on Saturday evening.
The rabbi was not seriously injured but was shaken.
France's President Emmanuel Macron expresses support for the rabbi's family and all French people of Jewish faith.
"Anti-Semitism is a poison", he writes on X.
France has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel and the USA and also the largest Muslim population in the EU.
Since the Gaza war broke out on October 7, 2023, following the terrorist-stamped Hamas attack on Israel, several EU countries have reported an increase in hate crimes against both Jews and Muslims, according to the EU's Agency for Fundamental Rights.
