Shortly thereafter, Rabbi Moshe Yechiel was traveling on a train when a Polish man started up with him and spit on him.[citation needed] Rabbi Moshe Yechiel had been offered to be the rabbi of a synagogue for Ozerov immigrants on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and this incident—indicative of the treatment of Jews by the Polish people—was the impetus for him to apply to immigrate to the United States. After being rejected a first time, he was granted permission the second time and moved his Hasidic court to New York City in 1926. Rabbi Moshe Yechiel spent several years in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and then moved to the Bronx.