Daniel Zion
Orthodox Rabbi (1883-1979)
Daniel Solomon Zion (Hebrew: דניאל ציון; 3 August 1883, Salonica – 13 November 1979, Jaffa) was an Orthodox rabbi, Kabbalist and political activist. Zion moved to Sofia, Bulgaria, as a shochet (ritual butcher) 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. In 1950, after emigrating to Israel, Zion was removed from his position on the local rabbinical court for his newfound belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish Messiah.
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. 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. 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.
The public source identifies “Daniel Zion” as orthodox Rabbi (1883-1979). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Daniel, Zion and Orthodox.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5219153. VIAF identifies the subject as 297771960. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883, 1979, 1950 and 1943.
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This entry incorporates text from “Daniel Zion” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.