Daniel Zion

Daniel S. Zion (3 August 1883, Salonica – 13 November 1979, Jaffa) was an Orthodox rabbi, Kabbalist[1] and political activist. Zion moved to Sofia, Bulgaria, as a slaughterer and cantor. Bulgaria's Jewish community at the time was almost completely assimilated, and there were no ultra-Orthodox communities in the country during World War II.[2] In 1943, Zion was removed from his position on the local rabbinic court for his newfound belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish Messiah.[3]

Rabbi
Daniel S. Zion
Personal
Born3 August 1883
Salonica, Ottoman Empire
Died13 November 1979 (1979-11-14) (aged 96)
Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
ReligionJudaism
NationalityBulgarian
DenominationOrthodox (later Messianic Judaism)

The Holocaust in Bulgaria and subsequent life in Israel

In May 1943, alongside Chief Rabbi Dr. Asher Hananel (1895–1964), Zion helped prevent the deportation of 800 Jews from Sofia. They did so by appealing to the Metropolitan Bishop of Sofia, Metropolitan Stefan, then head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Sofia.[4] Bishop Stefan then appealed to Tsar Boris III.

On 24 May 1943, Rabbi Zion addressed a gathering at a synagogue, then participated in a mass street demonstration against the anti-Jewish Law for protection of the nation.[5] This law was in effect between 23 January 1941 to 27 November 1944.

Two days after the demonstration, Zion was arrested among many others. Having previously enjoyed refuge under the protection of Bishop Stefan, he was transported to a concentration camp for Jews at Somovit, on the bank of the Danube.

After the war, Communist interests appointed Zion Chief Rabbi of Sofia. As a result, he was given the moniker "the Red Rabbi.".[6] In 1949, Zion immigrated to Jaffa in the newly formed state of Israel.

In June 1950, for reasons to be discussed in the following section, a panel of Israeli rabbis ruled that Zion was mentally ill and removed him from the position of rabbi in Jaffa.[7]

Relationship with Christianity

Not long after his arrival in Israel, Rabbi Zion was accused of having an interest in Dunovism, a Bulgarian mystical Christian sect led by Peter Deunov. Dunovism combined elements of Orthodox Christianity with local Bulgarian religious practices.

On 13 June 1950, an Israeli periodical reported that the then Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rabbi Isser Yehudah Unterman (1946-1964), had interviewed Sephardi Jews who knew Zion personally.

The Sephardim reported that Zion had become increasingly anxious in recent times. They claimed that he had fasted for three days and he was hallucinating and experiencing visions. Ultimately, a conference of rabbis declared him "insane." Zion was not allowed to enter any synagogue in the city of Jaffa.[7] He was relieved from his duties as a judge on the Beit din,[1] ostensibly because Zion had come to hold a faith in Jesus.[8]

Zion was interviewed on 14 September 1952 by Kol Yisrael Radio, the national radio station, which was broadcast in Jerusalem. He expressed his view that Jesus fulfilled the various messianic prophecies. Zion further claimed that he served as the president of the Union of Messianic Jews in Israel (Ichud Yehudim Meshihiim Be-Israel), an organization founded by Abram Poljak.

Works
  • Iz Nov Put,(Sofia, 1941)
  • Pet godini pod fashistki gnet, (Memoir: Five Years Under Fascist Oppression), (Sofia, 1945)
  • Troiniya put na Noviya Chovek, (Sofia, 1946)
  • Seder ha-Tephilot: Tephilat Daniel(Sofia, 1946)
  • Rabbi Daniel Zion (1946). Jewish Feasts and Traditions (PDF) (in Bulgarian). Sofia.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References
    • Betsalʼel, N. Kabbalah and the Holocaust (Orot, 2001)
  2. The Adventures of 'Rabbi' Daniel Zion, the newspaper Herut, 18 October 1960.
  3. "Beyond Hitler's Grasp"
  4. "Yad Vashem - Request Rejected".
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "גלגוליו של "הרב" דניאל ציון [18/10/1960] - נח זבולוני - רנ"ז - מאמרים".
  7. Search results. דניאל ציון
  8. "Global online fundraising for charities | GivenGain". www.givengain.com.

Books
  • Friends' Intelligencer, (1950), (Volume 107, Nos. 26-52), Pg. 614
  • American Jewish Year Book, (1951), (Volume 52), Pg. 361
  • Annual :Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria "Shalom"(1951, 1970, 1980, 1984 and 1987)
  • Arendt, H. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, (Viking Press, 1963), Pg. 169
  • Boyadjieff, C. Saving the Bulgarian Jews in World War II (Free Bulgaria Centre, 1989)
  • Chary, F.B. The Bulgarian Jews and the Final Solution, 1940-1944 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977)
  • Chary, F.B. "Bulgaria", Wyman, D.S. and Rosenzveig, C.H. (eds.), The world reacts to the Holocaust (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996)
  • Fein, H. Accounting for Genocide: National Responses and Jewish Victimization during the Holocaust, (Free Press, 1979)
  • Groueff, S. Crown of thorns: The Reign of King Boris III of Bulgaria, 1918-1943 (Madison Books, 1987)
  • Haskell, G.H. From Sofia to Jaffa: The Jews of Bulgaria and Israel,' (Wayne State University Press, 1994.)
  • Koen, A. and Assa, Saving of the Jews in Bulgaria, 1941-1944 (Setemvri, 1977)
  • Rothkirchen, L. Yad Vashem Studies on the European Jewish Catastrophe and Resistance, (Volume 7), (Yad Vashem, 1968)
  • Sachar, H.M. Farewell España: The World of the Sephardim Remembered (Howard Morley, 1994)
  • Steinhouse, C.L. Wily Fox: How King Boris Saved the Jews of Bulgaria From the Clutches of His Axis Ally Adolf Hitler, (AuthorHouse, 2008)
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