On this day in 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz, where more than one million people died, most of them Jews. January 27th is now observed worldwide as Holocaust Remembrance Day. A new book about the Holocaust tells the inspiring story of a rabbi in Bulgaria, whose bold intervention saved tens of thousands of Jews.
During the Holocaust, as Hitler systematically annihilated Europe’s Jewish population, a rabbi named Daniel Zion, who had become a Messianic follower of Yeshua, became instrumental in rescuing tens of thousands of Jewish lives in Bulgaria.
“They went to see the king himself. And Rabbi Daniel Zion delivered the letter to the king and said, you know, ‘If you hand over the 50,000 Jews to Hitler, one day you’re going to stand before God, and their blood will be on your hands. And this is how you’ll be remembered.’ God used them to bring the fear of God upon the government of Bulgaria and the king of Bulgaria,” said author Avi Mizrachi.
This breathtaking piece of little-known history is now told in Mizrachi’s book, Legacy of Hope. He and his daughter D’vora are now seeing this story result in something truly miraculous inside Israel.
D’vora explained, “And through the story you can actually share the Gospel, because here’s a hero for our people who did something tremendous, for our people. Saving 50,000 Jewish people is not a small thing. Not only was he Jewish, but he also believed in the Messiah, Yeshua. So it’s a story that Jewish people can get a hold of, and Israelis can get a hold of. Say, ‘Oh, this is a person who did so much for our people and remained Jewish.’ He came and immigrated to Israel. He was part of the land. He was part of the people. And that is the biggest witness that we can give to our people.”
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Mizrachi said, “This is a wonderful opportunity tool, sharing with our Israeli friends, that you can be Jewish, you can even be a rabbi, Orthodox rabbi, and you can believe in Yeshua, because he’s the only hope. And when we Messianic Jews and Christian believers come together, we can stand together as one against evil and overcome evil in such a time as this.”
As bright as this evangelistic story has become in Israel, it’s also set against the backdrop of a worldwide resurgence of antisemitism. From Manchester to Washington to Sydney’s Bondi Beach, violence and hatred against the Jewish people are rampant. CBN News asked what Christian believers can learn from The Legacy of Hope.
“Through it all, they never gave up, and they did not stay silent. For them, they were vocal, they prayed, they gathered Jews into their homes and their churches. They were vocally and very much active in saving the Jews of Bulgaria,” she said.
“Who knows if by us being active, maybe by our actions, they will see their Messiah, and the veil will be removed. It’s actually now that we need to stand for the Jewish people, when it’s hard, and we’re persecuted, and when they’re persecuted. Even to risk our lives, because we know that the Jewish people are part of God’s bigger plan. And if we want to be part of God’s plan, we have to be a part of this too.”
