Seder HaTephiloth: Tephilath Daniel (Hebrew )

(BULGARIA)

Menora, October

Sofia

1946

According to the Sephardic rite of the Balkans. With instructions in Judeo-Espanol and text translated into Bulgarian (in Cyrillic). Prepared by Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria, Daniel S. Zion

A rare prayer-book published in Bulgaria soon after the end of World War II, but under the Soviet-backed Communist regime that displaced the Bulgarian Monarchy. Chief Rabbi Daniel Zion was a remarkably courageous personality who dared stand up for the rights of the Jews when Bulgaria was a member of the Axis Powers. Despite the regular consultations King Boris held with Hitler in Berchtesgaden, none of Bulgaria's Jews were deported to the Nazi death camps. This was said to have been due to a “Letter of Warning from God” that "came to him in mystical inspiration" that Rabbi Zion presented to the Bulgarian King. Regarding this enigmatic chapter in Holocaust history, see B. Naor, Kabbalah and the Holocaust (2001), pp. 49-66; and EJ, Vol. IV, cols. 1488-90