This is a photograph of a colourful Torah scroll from 1919 which belonged to a Sephardi community in Bulgaria. Embroidered on the cover are the words, “Blessed is Gabriel on the miracle of his return from the war.” Underneath is the Hebrew year 5679, corresponding to 1919, one year after the end of World War I. Below the writing are several golden birds perched on branches of a tree, perhaps representing the soldier returning home from the war to relative safety and security. It is most likely that the soldier’s family dedicated this Torah in honour of his safe return from the battlefield.
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The Jewish Community in Bulgaria - The Jewish community in Bulgaria has a long and rich history. The first Jews arrived after the Roman conquest in about 46 AD, and Josephus himself wrote about Jews living there. More Jews arrived in the seventh century, escaping ill-treatment by the Byzantines. Following the lead of other countries, the Church Council demanded the expulsion of Jews from Bulgaria in 1352, although according to records the decree was not executed meticulously. By the time that the Ottoman Empire had full control of the country, there were several sizeable Jewish communities across Bulgaria.
For several centuries, the community was split into Romaniotes, Ashkenazim, and Sephardim, until 1640 when a single rabbi was appointed for all three groups. Once the modern state was formed in 1878, Bulgarian Jews were granted equal rights. Jews were drafted into the Bulgarian Army and fought in the Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885), the Balkan Wars (1912-13), and World War I. The deaths of 211 Jewish soldiers of the Bulgarian Army, among them 28 officers, were recorded during World War I.
