During Ottoman rule over Bulgaria, the Chief Rabbi of Adrianople (Edirne) was also that of Bulgaria. With the independence Of Bulgaria in 1878, the Bulgarian Jewish communities remained without any supreme rabbinical institution. The local government considered the Chief Rabbi of Sofia and its surroundings, then R' Gabriel Almosnino, as the legal representative of the Bulgarian Jews. Only in 1880, R' Gabriel Almosnino was officially nominated Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria. The Great Rabbinate was in fact a one-man institution representing the whole Jewish community. In 1884 the Central Consortium of the Bulgarian Jews was created in order to manage the local Jewish affairs and to serve as an administrative body to the Chief Rabbi.

   The chronological list of Bulgarian Chief Rabbis has been compiled from 1880 till 1949, when 45,000 out of 50,000 Jews immigrated to Israel. Most of the Jews who remained, lived in Sofia, some in Plovdiv while all the other communities just disappeared. In the post-war communist context, the Chief Rabbinate and the Central Consortium were dissolved. A Cultural and Educational Organization of the Jews of Bulgaria took their place and is functioning till today, while Sofia and Plovdiv communities have each their own Rabbi.

 

Bulgaria Chief Rabbis Since the Independence of the Country (1878-1949)
Compiled by Mathilde A. Tagger
Surname	Given Name	Function Period	Notes
Almosnino	Gabriel	1880- 1885	(Nikopol 1805 - Sofia 188?).
Bakish	Presiado	1885- 1889	Interim Chief Rabbi
Dankowitz	Shimon	1889- 1891	Former Bohemia Chief Rabbi.
Tadjer	Moshe (Moshonachi)	1891- 1893	Interim Chief Rabbi (Sofia 1832- Kiustendil 1913)
Gruenwald	Mordekhay (Dr.)	1893- 1895	(1853 - London 1895)
Bakish	Presiado	1895- 1898	Interim Chief Rabbi.
Tadjer	Moshe (Moshonachi)	1898- 1900	Interim Chief Rabbi.
Ehrenpreiss	Mordekhay	1900- 1914	Former Bohemia Chief Rabbi.
Davidov	Hezkeya Shabetay	1914- 1918	Interim Chief Rabbi.(Consitorium President) (Sofia1880- 1950)
Pipano	David	1920- 1925	Former Sofia Rabbi ( Salonica- ??)
		1925- 1945	No Chief Rabbi.
Hannanel	Asher  (Dr.)	1945- 1949	(Shumen 1895- Israel 1964)