New York (CNN) As the rock was smashed into his face, the attacker's words hit Rabbi Avraham Gopin almost as hard. "He said 'Jew, Jew'," Gopin recalled in an interview with WCBS, a CNN affiliate. "It was hate," the rabbi added. The attack broke his nose and knocked out two teeth.

Gopin, 63, had gone out to get some fresh air in a park in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, late last month, when someone came up and began punching him. When Gopin tried to defend himself, the attacker hit him in the face with a rock.

Rabbi Avraham Gopin was left with bruises, missing teeth and a broken nose after he was attacked in a Brooklyn park.

A 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime, as well as criminal possession of a weapon.

Gopin's ordeal was one of a growing number of anti-Semitic hate crimes reported across the country. In New York City this year, anti-Semitic hate crimes are already up 63% compared with 2018, the city's police department said. Nationally, anti-Semitic incidents in 2018 were at near-historic levels , according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Last year had the third-highest totals for assault, harassment and vandalism against Jews, since the ADL started tracking in 1979.

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