According to Yoffe's wife, Yael, his condition was described as stable but doctors said he should stay at home under medical surveillance for at least one week.

Reached by telephone, Yael Yoffe said her husband viewed the incident as clearly an anti-Semitic act.

Police in Nizhniy Novgorod said they would take all necessary measures to find the assailants.

The city has the third-largest Jewish community in Russia. The Ukrainian-born Yoffe has served as the city's rabbi since 1996.