Daniel Zion
{{Short description|Bulgarian rabbi}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox Jewish leader
| honorific-prefix = Rabbi
| name = Daniel S. Zion
דניאל ציון
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Rabbi_Daniel_Zion.jpg
| caption =
| began =
| ended =
| organistaion =
| organisationposition =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| semicha =
| rabbi =
| rank =
| other_post =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 3 August 1883
| birth_place = Salonica, Ottoman Empire
| death_date = {{death-date and age|13 November 1979|3 August 1883}}
| death_place = Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
| buried =
| nationality = Bulgarian
| denomination = Orthodox (later Messianic Judaism)
| residence =
| parents =
| spouse =
| children =
| occupation =
| profession =
| employer =
| alma_mater =
| signature =
| website =
}}
Daniel S. Zion ({{langx|he|דניאל ציון}}; 3 August 1883, Salonica – 13 November 1979, Jaffa) was an Orthodox rabbi, Kabbalist* Betsalʼel, N. Kabbalah and the Holocaust (Orot, 2001) 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.The Adventures of 'Rabbi' Daniel Zion, the newspaper Herut, 18 October 1960. 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."Beyond Hitler's Grasp"
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 nearly 50,000 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/press_room/press_releases/bulgarian_clergymen.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020417201027/http://www.yadvashem.org/about_yad/press_room/press_releases/bulgarian_clergymen.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2002|title=Yad Vashem - Request Rejected}} 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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.stm.unipi.it/Clioh/tabs/libri/7/11-Genov-Baeva_153-176.pdf?ref=Guzels.TV |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718143447/http://www.stm.unipi.it/Clioh/tabs/libri/7/11-Genov-Baeva_153-176.pdf?ref=Guzels.TV |archive-date=2011-07-18 |url-status=dead }} 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.".{{Cite web|url=http://www.ranaz.co.il/articles/article1324_19601018.asp|title = גלגוליו של "הרב" דניאל ציון [18/10/1960] - נח זבולוני - רנ"ז - מאמרים}} 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.[http://www.jpress.nli.org.il/Olive/APA/NLI/?action=search&text=%D7%93%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%90%D7%9C%20%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9F#panel=search&search=0 Search results. דניאל ציון]
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 Dunov. 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. He was relieved from his duties as a judge on the Beit din, ostensibly because Zion had come to hold a faith in Jesus.{{Cite web|url=https://www.givengain.com/?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&cause_id=1507&news_id=26927&cat_id=637%7B%7BDead+link%7Cdate=July+2019+%7Cbot=InternetArchiveBot+%7Cfix-attempted=yes+%7D%7D|title=Global online fundraising for charities | GivenGain|website=www.givengain.com}}
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)
- {{cite book|title=Jewish Feasts and Traditions|url=http://vineofdavid.org/_php/download.php?file=Jewish_Feasts_and_Traditions_(Bulgarian)_Zion.pdf|language=Bulgarian|author=Rabbi Daniel Zion|location=Sofia|year=1946}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
References
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)
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080704185139/http://www.theoptimists.com/theoptimists_metropolitan_bishops_stephan_and_kiril.htm theoptimists.com]
- [http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol26/iss2/2/ "The Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Holocaust: Addressing Common Misconceptions" - Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe]
- [http://www2.tu-berlin.de/~hashove/kultur/eBooks/Balgarite_i_Evreite/BulgariansAndJews-Summary.pdf tu-berlin.de]{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zion, Daniel}}
Category:20th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire
Category:Rabbis from Thessaloniki
Category:Bulgarian Orthodox rabbis
Category:Bulgarian Holocaust survivors
Category:Bulgarian emigrants to Israel