By Jeremiah Love —
Because he became a believer in Jesus, a little-known messianic rabbi in Bulgaria named Shmuel Mizrachi wound up saving 50,000 Jews that were signed off to extermination by Hitler during World War 2.
Now, the book recounting the obscure history Legacy of Hope is being read in Israel and bringing Jews to Christ.
“This is a wonderful tool sharing with the Arab Israeli friends that you can be Orthodox rabbi and you can believe in Yeshua,” says co-author Avi Mizrachi, an Israeli Messianic Jewish pastor. “And
when we Jewish believers, Christian believers come together, we can stand together as the one man against the evil and overcome evil in such a time it is.”
Rabbi Shmuel fellowshipped and prayed with his friend Stephan I, prelate elected Metropolitan of Sophia, regularly. When the Hitler persuaded the king of Bulgaria to hand over 50,000 Jews to be slaughtered in the Holocaust, Rabbi Shmuel talked to his friend to influence the king to reverse his decision.
Rabbi Immanuel used every relationship, resource, and ounce of courage he had to protect Jewish families from deportation. He coordinated with sympathetic church officials, foreign embassy personnel, and underground rescue networks.
By helping secure protective documents, safe houses, and escape routes, he enabled tens of thousands of Bulgarian Jews to survive.
The book emphasizes that his heroism was not impulsive or accidental; it was rooted in a lifelong conviction that faith must express itself through sacrificial love, even in the face of death.
Avi Mizrachi wrote the book with his daughter D’vora Mizrachi starting with a quest to discover his own family heritage. His research into his family history became a book that inspires people to fight antisemitism and also is inspiring Jews to come to Christ.
“It’s a story that Jewish people can get a hold of, saying, ‘Oh, this is a person that did so much for our people and remained Jewish. He came and he immigrated to Israel; he was part of the land. He was part of the people,'” says D’vora, who works at the Dugit Outreach Center in Tel Aviv. “And that is the biggest witness that we can give to our people.”
Legacy of Hope: Hidden Heroes from Generation to Generation comes at a time when antisemitism is exploding across nations. Exploiting colonial and people of color tropes, Muslim extremists have managed to leverage the Gaza War to demonize Israelis and Jews in general.
After the world saw the horrors of 6 million Jews killed, people vowed, “Never again.” But current trends see Western nations now head to “Again.”
Sources: CBN, others.
