Miracles across the generations; How the Mizrachi family survived the Holocaust and Oct 7

One year ago today, on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 6:30 in the morning, thousands of people raced to take cover as rocket sirens sounded throughout southern and central Israel.

Avi Mizrachi, the founder and director of Dugit Ministries in Tel Aviv, received two phone calls from his daughters who live in different parts of the country. Both were sheltering with their children and husbands in bomb shelters. Avi could hear his grandchildren crying in the background, fearful about what was happening around them.

At the same time, Avi’s wife, Chaya, lay in a hospital room with complications from surgery on her spine. Determined to get to Chaya, Avi made his way to Chaya while sirens continued to go off all around him.

When he arrived and entered the hospital room, Chaya asked him what was going on. Avi began explaining the little bit of information he knew at that point, but in the middle of their conversation, more sirens started going off. Avi went out to the reception area and asked the nurse what he should do. She told him to move to safety immediately and leave his wife in the room because there was no time to move her. Knowing he couldn’t leave Chaya, Avi found a mattress no one was using and went back to Chaya’s room and placed the mattress in the window, providing the only protection from the falling rockets and shrapnel.

Avi and Chaya had no idea what kind of nightmare was taking place in southern Israel. They didn’t know 1,200 civilians, including women, babies and children were being brutally slaughtered. They didn’t know that nearly 7,000 people were wounded and 250 more, including women, children and Holocaust survivors were taken hostage into Gaza. The only thing Avi and Chaya knew was something was terribly wrong, and the only thing they could do was pray. Within hours, they would discover the shocking horrors of what Israelis now call the “Black Shabbat.”

Avi’s family, like thousands of other Israeli families would be impacted by the most massive attack on the Jewish people in one day since the Holocaust. Avi’s son-in-law and daughter would be called up to the army reserves and the Mizrachi family, like millions of others, would be forced to run in and out of bomb shelters. Over the next year, more than 20,000 missiles, rockets and drones were fired at Israel from Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

This isn’t the first time Avi’s family has faced direct attacks on their lives and miraculously survived. Avi’s parents were both Holocaust survivors who came from Bulgaria to Israel. Avi’s mother’s family managed to flee to Turkey during World War II, but his father’s family remained in Bulgaria.

The Mizrachis spoke with ALL ISRAEL NEWS in an exclusive interview to discuss their miraculous and encouraging stories of survival.

Can you tell me about your father’s family history in Bulgaria and how they were able to escape the Holocaust?

Avi: My father Nissim (which means miracles) was born in Sofia, Bulgaria to a Sephardic Jewish family. In their home they spoke Ladino (a Judeo-Spanish language spoken by descendants of Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition) and was the fourth in a family of six sons: Mordechai, Eliezer, David, Nissim, Samuel and Yitzhak. My grandfather, Avraham Mizrachi (who I am named after), was a welder who owned a metal shop. He built metal boxes and Chanukiyot (Chanukkah menorahs). My grandmother Sofie was known as an accomplished seamstress and a wonderful cook, so much so that she was asked many times to cook for the Jewish schools and their families.

My father witnessed the tragedies during the Holocaust. He lived through the anti-Semitic legislation in Bulgaria, the Nazis in the streets of Sofia, the family shops being taken away, being forced to wear the yellow star pin on his clothes, watching his older brothers being forced into work camps, and multiple attempts to deport the Jewish community. He spent his teenage years in the forests hiding out with the partisans, fighting the Nazis until the end of World War II.

During that time, God used a very special person to physically save my family from the Holocaust and later, he used the same person to help spiritually save them. His name was Rabbi Daniel Zion, who was the head of the supreme rabbinical court of Bulgaria, with the prerogatives of Chief Rabbi of the Jewish people of Bulgaria. My family was part of his synagogue in Sofia and later in Jaffa in Israel.

Rabbi Daniel Zion was a believer in Yeshua and good friends with Stefan of Sofia, known as Metropolitan (Chief Bishop of the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria). Together they saved nearly 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from being deported to Nazi annihilation. Rabbi Daniel Zion and Metropolitan Stefan faced many dangers, including the very real possibility of deportation and death. And yet, they faced those dangers with courage and faith, as they effectively saved not only the Bulgarian Jews of their generation but many generations to come. This also included the rescuing of my own family, the Mizrachi family.

After the war, my father returned to Sofia, where he found his mother, Sofie, and was delighted to see that she was still alive.

What an incredible story of bravery and friendship between two men: – one Jewish and one Gentile – that resulted in thousands of lives being saved. How did your father eventually make it to Israel?

Avi: After the war was over, he decided that it was time to make the journey he could only dream about before. My father came to Israel alone on a clandestine ship with the Zionist Youth Movement, Hashomer HaTsair. He told his mother that he felt in his spirit and in his heart that he must go home to the Land of his fathers, the land of Israel. He felt that his family had lived in exile for almost 2,000 years, and the time had finally come to return. Though my father was not a very religious person, he said he felt something he could not explain – a hope and excitement about going back to the Land of the Bible. It was time, as he said, to go “home.”

My father endured the difficult journey to Israel but was stopped by the British during the British Mandate. He was sent to a detention camp on the island of Cyprus, where he was kept until after the establishment of the modern state of Israel. The moment he landed in Israel, he was so overcome that he fell to his knees and kissed the ground.

After being welcomed by the Jewish Agency, he was enlisted and sent to fight in the War of Independence. From that time until the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he served loyally with other Holocaust survivors because of their shared love and belief in the Jewish State of Israel. It was their way of proclaiming that never again would the Jewish people be annihilated without a military to protect them.

What about your mother’s family? Can you tell me about how they made it out of Bulgaria during the war?

Avi: Yes. My mother, Rivka (Rebecca), was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria to a Sephardic Jewish family and lived there until her family fled to Turkey when she was seven.

My mother’s parents and sister arrived on the boat Anne Marie on April 4, 1949. However, my mother immigrated before the establishment of the state of Israel. My mother fought from the very beginning of the War of Independence. She was just sixteen years old when she trained with the Haganah Organization (the Jewish underground army, which later became the Israeli Defense Forces) on a kibbutz in the north. She fought in the Haganah, and later in the IDF on the northern front. She later moved to Jaffa where she met my father, Nissim.

Wow, both of your parents endured so much when they came to Israel as young adults alone. You mentioned earlier that Rabbi Daniel Zion also helped save your family spiritually. Can you tell me how?

Avi: In the early 1950s, my mother struggled with depression. She was frustrated at her inability to feed her family, since there was very little food in the land of Israel back then. Also, she lost a great many of her close friends when she fought in the War of Independence. By the time my mother was twenty-five, her mental state had deteriorated to the point that she decided to end her own life. Before following through on her decision, however, she determined to talk with a rabbi. She chose Rabbi Daniel Zion, as she and her husband prayed regularly in the local synagogue in Jaffa, where most of the Bulgarian Jews of the area went. When she met with the rabbi, she told him she didn’t wish to live. The rabbi encouraged her and then gave her a book. She returned home and began reading the book and to her amazement, she saw it was the New Covenant (New Testament), something she had never considered opening, let alone reading, because it was a forbidden book for the Jewish people. However, out of respect for the rabbi, she pushed ahead. Then, the next day she returned to the synagogue to meet with Rabbi Daniel because she had many questions.

To make a long story short, through reading the book and through the personal testimony of Rabbi Daniel Zion, my mother chose to live. After the meeting with Rabbi Daniel, she also recognized Yeshua as the Messiah of the Jewish people, the son of David, and became a Jewish believer. The very moment she came to faith in Yeshua, her depression lifted, never to return. This made it possible for me to be born a few years later, and for my children and grandchildren to be born. Not only that, but my sister became a believer in Yeshua through my mother and I became a believer through my sister. A whole family was saved, not only physically but spiritually as well. I give God all the honor and the glory, that I am alive today and that my grandchildren, the fourth generation from the Holocaust, are alive and being born and raised here in the land of Israel today. Am Yisrael Chai! (The people of Israel live!)

On October 7th, the Mizrachi family experienced another miracle when your family was protected from the massacre near the Gaza border. Can you tell me what happened?

Avi: Yes, there were two miracles that happened. About a year ago, my wife’s doctor told her that there was nothing else they could do for her spine to improve her situation. She was suffering a great deal, and the only solution left was to do an operation on her spine. It was supposed to be a simple surgery, and the plan was for her to be released home the very next day. The date that was set for the surgery was at the end of September.

In the meantime, one of my daughters and her family were planning to go on a camping trip with other Messianic families from Israel. The plan was to go to the south of Israel, near the Gaza border. But because of the date of the surgery, my daughter canceled the camping trip. My family and at least 7 more Israeli Messianic families would have been in the middle of the massacre if the trip had gone as scheduled, but because of Chaya’s needed surgery, they were all saved. From all this we have learned not to trust our own understanding but acknowledge God in our saving. For God will direct our path, even if we don’t understand it.

When the day of my wife’s surgery came, we waited hours until finally the doctor came out and told us there were complications. The Dura (tough fibrous membrane that protects and encloses the spinal cord) tore. The doctor said that he did not know if Chaya would be paralyzed from the neck down. He told the family that we would need to take one day at a time. Every day, week and month, Chaya got better, to the point that the doctors are now calling her a walking miracle. Chaya is walking on her own now, a year after the surgery. Praise God!

What an incredible story of God’s protection and healing, even in the midst of intense trouble.

The tragedies of October 7th and the past year have been enormously difficult for the nation of Israel. It’s difficult for the rest of the world to completely understand all that Israelis are dealing with on a daily basis. Can you describe what life is like right now?

Avi: The horrific events of October 7th and The War of Iron Swords have changed the face of Israel. In Israeli society, this date will forever be remembered and engraved in infamy.

First, we live in a constant state of tension and fear. We are always wondering when a siren will go off and we will have to run to the bomb shelter. This is also difficult for our children as they are afraid and need to be reassured that everything is going to be okay and that God is protecting us. With this, there is a great resilience to stand strong and fight for our country. Also, there is a very high emotional price paid by all the citizens of Israel. We see our young soldiers dying day after day and our hearts break the loss of such young life. Israel is a small country and everyone knows someone who has been directly affected by this tragedy. 

Moreover, the situation with the hostages that have been taken by Hamas has wounded us greatly. Especially knowing that Hamas has brutally murdered 6 of our hostages in an underground tunnel in Gaza. We are a people who care about life and every family in Israel has been affected by what has happened. Our nation and people are heartbroken, wounded and traumatized.

With all this fear in the atmosphere, I am praying to God that it will not control my family and I. Being a son of Holocaust survivors, I never thought that we as Jewish people would have to witness a massacre, the like of which my parents did during WWII. But I am holding on to God's promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for the Lord my God is with me and my family.’

After this past year of tragedy and turmoil, how are you holding onto hope for the future?

Avi: I know that even in this difficult time, I know that the keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps and His promises are forever and Amen. Our God lives.

One of the scriptures that has really spoken to me during this time is from Psalms 139:11-12 (TLV) "Surely darkness covers me, night keeps light at a distance from me, even darkness is not dark for You, and night is as bright as day – darkness and light are alike". Even darkness is not dark for our God. Even in the hard times of grief and pain, God is there with you, carrying you through.

During the Jewish holidays it’s a time when we fervently seek God. What is your prayer for the nation of Israel and those who support her?

Avi: God is moving. We know that God will use this situation to open the hearts of the people of Israel to their one and only Jewish Messiah Yeshua. We mourn with our nation and pray that God would reach out once again as in the days of old and cause Israel to repent and return to God. What is going on all around the nation of Israel is not just a physical war, but it is a spiritual battle in the heavens. Satan knows that his time is running out and he is doing all that he can to destroy and thwart the eternal plans of God. We must be strong as the One New Man – Jew and Gentile together – during these end times and declare the truth of our Lord and Savior Yeshua, the Messiah!

For more information about Avi’s family story and book called, Legacy of Hope, visit https://www.legacyofhopebook.com/ 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Mizrachi story to discover the practical ways their ministry is bringing the message of hope and salvation to the Israeli people, especially during this critical time of war.