Legacy of Hope

Prior to and throughout the time of World War II, Rabbi Daniel Zion was the head of the supreme rabbinical court of Bulgaria, with the prerogatives of Chief Rabbi of the Jewish people of Bulgaria. At the same time, Stefan of Sofia, known as Metropolitan (Chief Bishop of the Church) Stefan, was a priest and a prominent figure in the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria. In the years leading up to World War II, neither of these men could have imagined the bond they would form or the heroic part they would play in rescuing nearly 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from Nazi annihilation. Rabbi Daniel and Metropolitan Stefan faced many dangers, including the very real possibility of deportation and death. And yet they faced those dangers head-on and carried out their perilous plans, sustained by courage and faith, as they effectively saved not only the Bulgarian Jews of their generation but of many generations to come. Theirs is a story worth telling, and I, Avi Mizrachi, have humbly set out to do so, ever mindful of the miracles that enabled these two men to perform such valiant deeds. I am, in fact, a walking testimony to those miracles, as both my parents lived in Bulgaria prior to World War II. My mother’s family managed to flee to Turkey at the beginning of the war, but my father’s family remained in Bulgaria, miraculously surviving the horrors of the Holocaust. That my family and I now live in the reborn State of Israel is yet another miracle, celebrated by so many Jewish descendants of that dark time. For many of us living out this miracle today, we owe our lives to the relatively unknown heroes of that era, particularly Rabbi Daniel Zion and Metropolitan Stefan, who were instrumental in rescuing not only the Bulgarian Jews at the beginning of and throughout the war, but also the generations that followed. As one born in the generation following the Holocaust, I am honored to have the opportunity to share this incredible story and heritage with all who read it. And yet, had it not been for my daughters’ Avodat Shorashim (a school project requiring research of their family’s roots) near the time of their Bat Mitzvah, this story might never have been unearthed and told. Each time one of my daughters gathered materials for this project and asked their grandparents (my parents) questions, I was amazed by what I heard. As a result, I learned more and more about God’s faithfulness to my family and the miracles He performed for them. As the years went by, I knew this remarkable story had to be told. Yet, after my parents passed away, I felt I needed to learn more to fill in the gaps. It was then I decided to start writing this book, the story of my family’s journey. As a native-born tsabar (Jewish-Israeli), I wanted to be sure to preserve this story for generations to come. I am ever grateful to a God of miracles and perfect timing who brought this all about and allowed me to be a part of it.