markhagelin
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Location: Maine, USA
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 Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 11:16 pm Post subject: The Khazars |
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I have had these 2 articles for a number of years and do not have the original links for them. I saved them to my computer so that I could have a copy of them.
Be forewarned, they are a little lengthy, so those who don't want to read a lengthy post can stop now if they so desire.
They are both historical and religious [to a point] dealing with the early history of the FSU area pre-Russia et al.
For those who chose not to read the articles, here are 2 books on the subject:
1) The Thirteenth Tribe The Khazar Empire and its Heritage by Arthur Koestler
2) The Jews of Khazaria by Kevin Alan Brook
The Lord's Prayer in the Khazar language
Atamis kim köktä sen
Algiszle bulsun sening ating
kelsin sening hanlechin
bulsun sening tilemegin neçikkim köktä allay ierdä
kundegi ötmackimismi bisge bugun bergil
dage iazuclarimisni bizgä bozzatkil
neçik bis bozzattirbis bizgä iaman etchenlergä
dage iecnik sinamakina bisni kuurmagil
bassa barça iamandan bisni kuthargil.
Amen.
Source: "Codex Cumanicus" (ca. 1300)
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THE KHAZARS
by Yair Davidiy
The Khazars were a powerful people who once ruled over portions of Russia and Eastern Europe. They, (or at least many of their leaders), converted to Judaism and were eventually defeated and disappeared. Their descendants were either assimilated amongst the Jews or became Sabbath-keeping and other “divergent” Christians, many, (if not most), of whom in some way or other, migrated to the west and to North America. Other descendants of the Khazars may be scattered throughout the former area of the U.S.S.R. and in different parts of Europe. A knowledge of the Khazars is useful for several reasons. Evidence exists that the Khazars were descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. There is also proof that they were related to peoples in Northwest Europe. It follows that evidence connecting some West Europeans to Israel is strengthened when cognizance is taken of the Israelite ancestry of their Khazar brothers.
The Khazars and Anti-Semites
Another reason for studying the Khazars is that anti-Semites, and some assimilationist Jews, claim that the present-day Jews came from the Khazars, who they assume were non-Israelite. Anti-Semites use their notion of the Khazars to allege that the Jews are impostors and not true descendants of Israel. Some “Identity” groups also make this allegation. So do the Arabs and other anti-Semites. In the past some assimilationist Jews used the Khazar idea to claim that since their ancestors were not in Judah at a certain time therefore they were not culpable for whatever the Jews may or may not have done to the Christian Messiah. The background for some of these ideas also concerns the Karaites of Russia.
The Khazars and Karaites
The Khazars ruled over many peoples some of whom were also influenced by Hebraising tendencies. In Judaism at that time there were two main streams. There were Rabbinical Jews who parallel the Orthodox Jews of today, who believed in the Bible and in its interpretation according to oral tradition. They were homogeneous, (still are), and consistent in their basic beliefs and practices. They usually managed to reach a consensus regarding the practical application of Biblical injunctions. Another group were the Karaites who claimed to believe only in Scripture. The Karaites, however, were actually eclectic and widely divergent amongst themselves in their interpretation of Scripture. The Karaite movement in the modern sense had begun in the region of present-day Iraq but its roots may be traced back to the Samaritans and to the Sadducees and to other sects of former times. Amongst the numerous groups subject to the Khazars were Tartars and Turkish elements and some of these accepted the Karaite form of religion. IT SHOULD HOWEVER BE REMEMBERED THAT THOSE OF THE KHAZARS THEMSELVES ADHERENTS OF THE RABBINICAL FORM. The Karaites of Russia freely intermarried with the Tartars and spoke a Tartar dialect. Groups of Karaites were found in Lithuania and southern Russia and the Crimea and at one stage even in Germany. Under the Czars the Jews were persecuted and the Karaites naturally wished to be exempt from anti-Jewish discrimination. They, therefore, claimed to be descended from the Lost Ten Tribes and not Judaeans and so could not be held responsible for the crucifixion.
Crimean Tombstones and the Lost Ten Tribes
In the Crimea of Southern Russia certain tombstones, etc., were fabricated by a wealthy Karaite scholar named Firkovitch. These tombstones bear the names of people stating that they are descended from Tribes of Israel exiled by Assyria. For a short period several leading authorities were misled by this evidence and there were those who perhaps wanted to be misled in order to help the Karaites out of their predicament. By agreeing that the Karaites were descended from the Lost Ten tribes, or from the Khazars, they were helping the Karaites claim that they were not related to the Jews and thereby not be persecuted as Jews. [Some sections of The Lost Ten Tribes however really had once been in the Crimea and in other areas of southern and eastern Russia]. [Not all the evidence produced by Firkovitch was necessarily false. The case is still under consideration.] Other Karaite figures, both under the Russians and under Hitler, strove to prove that they were not racial, Jewish, or Israelite origin. Some of them were actively anti-Semitic. TO BE CONSIDERED AN ISRAELITE OF WHATEVER TYPE CAN BE DANGEROUS!! In some accounts of the Khazars it is sometimes assumed that the Karaites descend from them. This assumption is mistaken and misleading.
Biblical Attitude toward Converts in General
Regarding conversion or simply the genuine acceptance of membership in the Israelite community, Scripture has already spoken, “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22;20).
“One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD (Numbers 15;15).
“And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn amongst you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 47;22).
Khazar History
A linguistic study, (Baschmakoff, Paris 1937), based on place-names indicated that the Khazars could be connected with the region of northern Mesopotamia and to Adiabene, i.e. to areas to which the Lost Ten Tribes had been exiled in 730-720 BCE Arab chroniclers record the Khazars having been east of the Caspian Sea in the time of Alexander the Great (Dunlop). They were said to have invaded Armenia in ca.197-217 CE and to have been subjected by the Armenians (Moses of Chorene). They assisted the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate in 363 CE and managed to conquer Armenia with their ships dominating the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea was formerly known as “The Khazar Sea”. The Khazars were also known as “Gazari” and as “Akatzyri” and “Agathyrsoi”. In the past under the name Agathyrsoi they had been variously reported in Thrace (south-east Europe), in the Pontus (north-east Turkey), in Poland, and towards the far north-eastern edge of the Baltic Sea shore. Servius on Virgil and Scottish sources said that the Picts of Scotland were descended from a portion of the Agathyrsoi who crossed the sea and conquered north Scotland. One branch of the Khazars were known as Sabirs. A group of “Sabarium” together with “Carnutum” had served in Gaul as Roman mercenaries. These have been ascribed both Anglo-Saxon and Central Asian origins (GDH vol.1, p.209 ff, vol.4 p.108 ff). They used the runic “Ing” letter as their emblem. This sign is usually associated with the Angles and is of Scandinavian origin.
In the period 350-450 CE, the Huns from the area of Mongolia advanced westward conquering other peoples and forcing them to join their forces or flee before them. The Huns swept into Europe. The Anglo-Saxon and related invasions of Britain in the 450s are connected with the Huns aggression. Attila the Hun in ca. 434 CE made the Akartziri (Khazars) his tributaries and appointed his first-born son, Ellac, as king over them. The Akatziri, (Khazars), fought as Hun auxiliaries alongside the Black Huns and Alans in Gaul. Upon Attila’s death they returned to the Caucasus area.
Central Asian and Scythian history can be confusing since there were many different groups, each of which often had several names. The names of one group were sometimes interchanged with that of another due to conquest or assimilation or one group taking over the former territory or status of the other.
Another portion of the Khazars were the White Ugrians whom the Chinese described as tall, white-skinned, and green-eyed (McGovern p.472). The White Ugrians had been in that part of Scythia once ascribed to the “Hugie” who were in effect the Franks who later settled in France. The White Ugrians ruled over a mixed Turkish and Mongolian group known as the “Black” Ugrians. Another people once confederated with the Khazars were the White Huns who were also known as “Nephtali” and descend from the Nephtali Tribe of Israel. With the break-up of the Hun Empire remnants of the Huns in the east were absorbed by the “Turkish(?)” Juan-juan who became known as the Avars. The name “Avar” or “Abar” had originally been one of the names of the Naphtalite Huns but somehow it became applicable to the Juan-juan who ruled over them.
As stated, a people in East Scythia known as the Juan-juan had once dominated the Khazars, White Ugrians, and Nephtalite Huns who revolted. In the course of this revolt most of the Nephtalites moved westward eventually reaching Scandinavia and settling in Norway. In the meanwhile the Khazars and White Ugrians defeated the Juan-juan (“Avars”) killing most of them. The remaining Avars were accepted as leaders by the Black Ugrians who previously had been “White Ugrian” vassals. The Black Ugrians henceforth took the name “Avar” upon themselves and migrated to Central Europe, where during the period 550-769 CE, they dominated Hungary, parts of Austria, and parts of Germany. Their kingdom was destroyed by the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne.
Prior to 582 CE the Bulgars in eastern Scythia had been subject to a branch of the Khazars. They moved to the Volga-Ural region and also to the area of modern Bulgaria. In both places the Khazars were suzerain over them at some stage or other.
The Khazars Convert To Judaism
According to the Russian-Jewish scholar, Abraham Harcavy (Vilna, 1867), the Khazars converted to Judaism in about 620 CE. Other authorities put this event more than a hundred years later. The conversion at first was more or less a secret and was confined to the king and his co-ruling associate prince and to the inner aristocracy. Later most of the Khazars-proper appear to have converted along with some of the Alans and some of the other subject peoples, most of whom however remained pagan, Christian, or moslem. The conversion was also done in stages (Polak). At first they accepted a kind of monotheism with Hebraic-type ceremonies. Later they accepted full-fledged Rabbinical Orthodoxy. The first Khazar king to accept Judaism was named Bulan whose name means “unicorn” or “elk” (Altheim, GDH vol.1 p.239). The unicorn was an emblem known from the Sakae region east of the Caspian Sea. The conversion of the Khazars to Judaism was preceded by a Disputation amongst members of different religions. The Jewish poet and philosopher Yehuda HaLevi (1074-1141), in Spain, wrote a Classical work in defence of Judaism using this Disputation as a framework. The book is called “The Kuzari”.
The Khazars conquer Hungary, Poland, and Austria
In 862 the Khazars conquered Kiev on the Dneiper River. They also ruled over the Magyar people who at that time appeared in southern Russia. About 869 a group of Chazars called Chabars rebelled against the main body and led their Magyar subjects westward to Hungary where they settled. The Khazars pursued them and subdued them in their new land. The Magyars of Hungary dominated Hungary up to 955 CE (Koestler p.171). Austrian tradition related that Austria was once ruled by a line of Jewish kings followed by a line of pagan ones, then came Christianity. The time given for these kings, (707 bce -227 ce), actually coincides roughly with the period of Celtic dominance in the area and is discussed in the book “Lost Israelite Identity” by Yair Davidiy (1996). The names however of these mythical Jewish kings bear Altaic (i.e. from the eastern Scythian steppe region),- type names, and the first of them is described as a local convert to Judaism. It has therefore been suggested (by Koestler) that Khazar control over the Magyars was responsible for this legend or at least for certain details of it. I would suggest that the bare structure of the legend has an historical basis and is connected with the Celts while some of the subsidiary details (such as the names, etc) were influenced by direct, or indirect, Khazar influence in the area. A Polish legend says that the Khazars conquered Poland and were led by an “Abraham Pey”. Another legend says that Poland was once ruled by a Jewish king called Abraham Pierkovnik (Polak p.187, Koestler p.147). The two figures, named Abraham “Pey” or “Pierkovnok” are apparently one and the same. A portion of the Agathyrsi (Khazars) were once in Poland and the said legends may be connected with them.
The Khazars and The Vikings
Around the 700s Viking “Varangians” began to penetrate the interior of Russia. The Varangians were mainly Swedish, though the term (in Russian Chronicles) could also be used to encompass anybody from Scandinavia, as well as Englishman (E.B. 1955, “Russia”, Vernadsky). Varangians were confederated with the Khazars and may have been the Khazar entity referred to as the Varach’an (Warathan) Huns. The Varangians were variously referred to as “Varegos”, “Barragos”, and “Variag” (Polak p.187, Koestler p.147, Minorsky p.432). Their name may be derived from the Hebrew “Beriah” [pronounceable as “Veri-a-g”], which name was given to a son of Asher (Genesis 46;17), a son of Ephraim (1-Chronicles 7;23), and a son of Benjamin(1-Chronicles 8;16).
In ca.800 CE a group of Varangians appeared at the Byzantium court. They called their king “Chakan”, which title is considered to have been that of the King of Khazaria (Vernadsky, “The Origins of Russia”, p.244ff). The title “Chakan”, or “Cagan”, was originally the Hebrew “COHEN” and means “priest” or “officiate”. More information concerning the Khazars comes from a letter sent some time between 954-961 to Ibn Hasdai who was the Jewish physician and foreign minister to the muslim king of Cordoba in Spain. The letter is from a King Joseph of Khazaria. There are two versions of this letter but both contain important information from early sources. From the letter(s) we learn that: King Joseph was the 13th king of Khazaria; Previously, in the time of the 11th monarch, King Benjamin, all the surrounding kings had been at war against the Khazars except for the King of the Cossacks and the King of the Alans.
By “King of the Cossacks”, the Don Cossacks are intended. The Don Cossacks were a mixed people amongst whom in historical times were a few isolated families who practiced Judaic customs and some of whom converted to Judaism. These individuals had the notion that they were descended from Dan, son of Israel, after whom the Don River was named. The Alans were a people who had lived to the north of the Caspian Sea then moved to the Caucasus area and north of it. Previously in the time of Attilla, and before then (i.e. in the 400s CE), a section of the Alans had gone westward. They settled in areas of Gaul, especially in Brittany, and may have Norman military tactics (Bachrach). There were also Alans amongst the Allemans in Alsace and in Suebia. In addition, the name “Alan” is found in Scotland both as a personal name and as the name of a Tribe in the north. In “The Tribes” the Alans are traced to Elon son of Zebulon.
The letter continues to relate that the Alan monarch marched against the enemies of the Khazars and routed them. The King of the Alans had rendered assistance since “some of them observed the Torah of the Jews”. King Joseph himself was married to a daughter of the Alan ruler. Bar Hebraeus had reported that the Khazars came from the east and settled in “the country of the Alans now called Barsalia” meaning an area on the northern shores of the Black Sea.
The Khazars proper were a small group who obtained a loose uncertain control over many other nations. The Khazar power was probably always in frequent fluctuation. The Varangians established themselves in and around Kiev where they ruled over the natives. The local inhabitants said that Kiev had been founded by Ku and two of his brothers. These were foreigners (kinsmen of the Khazars), and ruled over the Polanians. The Polonian natives of Kiev told the Varangians that originally “there were three brothers...they built this town and perished. We are sitting [here] and pay tribute to their kinsmen the Khazars.....” This is interesting since originally Kiev had been known as Sambat (according to Constantine Porphyrogenitus) which name links it to the Lost Ten Tribes. The people of Asgard (from whom descended many of the Scandinavians) had lived in this area. The Varangians at first acknowledged Khazar suzerainty and as mentioned it seems that the Khazar “Huns of Warathan” were Varangian. The Varangians were either also known as the Rus or the Rus were another group whom the Varangians absorbed and who became identified with them. In ca. 912-913 the Varangian Rus with Khazar connivance attacked muslim and Christian settlements on the shores of the Black sea. When the Varangians were returning from their raids they were attacked by a band of 150,000 non-Khazar muslim and Christian subjects of the Khazar king. The attackers were acting against the will of the Khazar ruler who tried to stop them and sent a message to warn the Varangians against them. The Varangians lost 30,000 men in this encounter which meant the loss of 2/3 of their forces. This incident is symptomatic of the Khazars weakening position. Their kingdom had begun to disintegrate and they were overly dependent on Christian and muslim mercenaries. Their subjects were asserting themselves. The Khazars were perhaps too liberally-disposed for that age and region. In the meantime amongst the Varangians of Kiev Christianity had been spreading. The Varangians were intermarrying with the Slavs and Slavonic elements were entering Varangian ranks as equals. Abraham Polak was a foremost scholar of Khazar history. He wrote an authoritative work (in Hebrew) about them and considered them essentially an offshoot of the Goths. According to Polak the Scandinavian element amongst the Varangians was basically pro-Khazar, whereas the Slavonic one was not. The more Christian and Slavonicised the Varangians became the more distance they kept from Khazar alliance. Saksin (Atil) one of the Khazar capitals was attacked by the Varangian-Rus in 962-963 and again by the Turks in 965. After these attacks the steppes became dominated by Turks and Mongolians. Khazaria was never the same after the Rus and Turkish attacks but some degree of partial recovery may have been achieved. Rubruques in the 1200s mentioned a “Civitas Saxorum”, (i.e. City of the Saxons), and is presumed to be referring to the Khazar capital of Saksin. A German record says that in 1410 the Prince of Lithuania attacked lands by the Caspian Sea, “In the place where, as it is known, live the Red Jews”. The expression “Red Jews” is a term employed by medieval Jews and applied to the Lost Tribes of Israel with whom the Khazars appear to have been identified.
The Physical Appearance of the Khazars
Three different types of Khazar are described by Arab writers who apparently, through trade and diplomacy, had had direct contact with them. The Arab Geographer Istakhri (Koestler p.20) said: “The Khazars do not resemble the Turks. They are black-haired and of two kinds, one called the Kara [i.e. “Black”] - Khazars who are swarthy verging on deep black as if they were a kind of Hindu, and a white kind [Ak-Khazars], who are strikingly handsome”. Note the above description says that both kinds of Khazars had black hair though regarding countenance, etc. one was white and the other very dark.
Al Maghribi said: “As to the Khazars, they are to the north of the inhabited earth towards the 7th clime, having over their heads the constellation of the plough. Their land is cold and wet, their eyes blue, their hair flowing and predominantly reddish, their bodies large and their natures cold. Their general aspect is wild”. Al-Maghribi is here apparently speaking of another section of the Khazars who lived more to the north. These had “predominantly reddish” hair and blue eyes. It was remarked above that the Khazar White Ugrians were described by the Chinese as red-haired, pale-skinned,and green-eyed. The Alans who were closely associated with the Khazars were described by the Roman historian Ammianus Marcelinus as being blonde-haired like all the Scythians according to him. Ammianus includes the Agathysoi (Khazars) amongst the Alans. From the above it follows that different Khazar and Khazar-linked groups were of different types.
The Khazars and Israel
One version of the letter of King Joseph quoted above said that the Khazars had a tradition that they were descended from the Tribe of Simeon. Eldad HaDani, (ca.850 CE), wrote that they came from Simeon and Menasseh. The Cochin Scroll also says that the Khazars were descended from Simeon and Menasseh. At the peak of their history the Khazars controlled the area of the Don and Danaper Rivers and these rivers were referred to in Khazar times as “Sambation” and as “River of Sabt (i.e. “Shabat”), and in Jewish legend both terms are connected with the Lost Ten Tribes. The Khazars had emerged from areas to which the Lost Ten Tribes were exiled or had moved to after their exile. The Khazars were related to other groups for whom independent proofs show an Israelite origin and so what is pertinent to them is pertinent also to the Khazars and vice-versa. The Khazars were linked especially with the Tribes of Simeon and Menasseh. They were identical with the Agathyrsi-proper who derived from the Clan of "Jeezer" son of Gilead son of Menasseh (Numbers 26;30). The name transliterated as "Jeezer" ( ????? in Hebrew), was probably pronounceable "Ay-(g)a-zar", and the Agathyrsi were also known as "Acatzari", Khazari, and Gazari. Those of the Agathyrsi (Acatzari), who remained in Scythia, eventually formed the nucleus of the Khazar nation and a tradition exists, (related by Eldad HaDani in ca.800 CE and by the Cochin Scroll), that the Khazars came from the Tribes of Simeon and Menasseh. The Picts of Scotland also came from the Agathyrsi. Amongst the pre-Christian Picts and Scottish existed a taboo on pig meat and on other unclean animals prohibited by the Mosaic code (MacKenzie). Later in Christian times the tradition existed that "Jews", or a "Type of Jew", had settled in Scotland. Similarly the Khazars, before their conversion, had had some kind of notion that they were of Israelite descent and had had some exposure to Mosaic lore. The "Jeezer" (i.e. "Ay-g-azar" of Gilead) origin of the Picts is consistent with the neighboring Caledonians, (with whom the Picts united), being also descended from Gilead and the very name Caledonian is derived from Gilead. Elements (such as those of Gilead) connected with Menasseh dominated Scotland and the west of Britain. From these areas later came an overwhelming proportion of the early British settlers of North America in its beginnings.
Havila
Another name for the Khazars was “Kwalisse”, or rather in Old Russian the terms, “Khazar”, “White Ugrian”, “Kwalisse” were synonymous, though these names actually refer to separate parts of the Khazar confederacy. “Kwalisse” is derived from Persian and means “Man of Kwala”. “Kwala” is another name for the land of Chorasmia which was east of the Caspian. “Kwala”, or Choresmia, in Hebrew writings (such as those of Eldad HaDani) is referred to as “Havila”. In the History of Holland by Jean Francoise Le Petit (1601), [discussed in the first issue of “Tribesman”], “Havila” was possessed by the three brothers Saxo, Frisso, and Bruno who represented the Saxon, Frissian, and Anglian peoples. {These three brothers in other Frisian legends came from the Land of Israel and are to be identified with former inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom}. “Havila”, according to Le Petit, was in the “East Indies” near the Eumodian Mountains of which the three brothers were made guardians. According to Ptolemy the “Eumodian Mountains” were the Altai Mountain Range or near it. It follows from the above that “Havila” in effect equalled “Kwala” or Chorasmia. Within the region of Chorasmia-Havila Ptolemy recalled the presence of various Scythian peoples who, in “The Tribes”, were traced to Israelite entities. Examples include the Aspassi (Menasseh of Joseph), the Massaei (Menasseh), Machetegi (Maacha in Menasseh), Suobeni (Jospeh), Samnites (Simeon), Zaratae (Zarathites of Simeon), Namastae (Namuel of Simeon), and so on. It will be noticed that the mentioned groups are predominantly from Menasseh, or from Joseph, (father of Menasseh), or from Simeon and the Khazars are recorded as belonging to the Tribes of Simeon and Menasseh. Most of the peoples listed by Ptolemy had migrated westward at the time of the Hun invasions of Europe or before then. Nevertheless, remnants evidently stayed behind and these became part of the peoples comprising the Khazar nations. From this region emerged the Parthians, (who will be discussed in another issue of “Tribesman”), many of whom converted to Judaism and who may be linked with the Khazars. In their own time the Arsacid rulers of the Parthia were accredited Israelite origins. An Arab source (Yakut) (Ben-Zvi p.247), says: “Isaac son of Abraham was the father of Khazar, and Bazar, and Bursul, and Horesm [i.e. Chorasmia-Havila] and Peel”, - all of which peoples appear to have been members of the Khazar confederation.
The Khazars and Scandinavia
The Persians considered the Khazars a Scythian people. Herodotus (4;2) said that the Agathyrsoi (Khazars) were brothers to the Royal Scythians and Gelones. The Royal Scythians (Scuthae Basiloi) gave their name to Scandinavia which was known as “Basilia” and “Scatanavia” (Pliny N.H. 37;11). A portion of the Khazars were known as “Basilians” and their land, (by the Danaper River Mouth west of the Crimea in a former Royal Scyth region), as “Bartsula”.
KHAZARS AND FINNS
The Khazars spoke a Finnish language as did many Steppe peoples of different origins. There used to exist an opinion that most of the Finns did not enter Finland (from Scythia) until the 700s and 800s CE, though nowadays this notion appears to have been dismissed. There may be a connection between the Khazars and the Finnish people. The Finns of Finland in the 17th and 18th centuries believed themselves to be descended from the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. The Finnish national hero and one-time leader, Marshall Mannerheim, believed that the Finns were descended from the Tribe of Issachar. The Finns call themselves Suomi (“Shuomi”) which is said to mean “people of the marshes” or something. Nevertheless the name is not dissimilar to that of Simeon (“Shimeon”) in Hebrew, and the Khazars were traditionally descended from Menasseh and Simeon. I personally believe that the Finns are descended from the Iyrcae (or “Turcae”) former neighbours of the Nephtalite Huns and in “The Tribes” the Finns are traced to the Tribes of Gad, Issachar, and Simeon.
The Israelite Origins of the Khazars
We have seen that the “Sambation” was in Khazar territory. The Arabs linked the Khazars with Isaac; names of groups in the Khazar area bore Israelite Tribal and clan names; Jewish and Khazar traditions link them with Israel. They had familial links with peoples who moved to Western Europe and whom other proofs show to have been of Israelite descent. Also indicative of Hebrew ancestry is the fact that they converted to Judaism despite the hostility expressed to this religion by other peoples in the region.
1. New information, (posted previously), has noted a colony of Khazars that existed in Birka in Central Sweden. These Khazars may have been linked with the early Angles and Saxons since the Baltic port of Hedeby was linked with Birka in Sweden. Hedeby had been a center of the Angles before they moved to Britain. Hedeby was the place were Sheaf Saxnot the mythical ancestor of the Anglo-Saxons arrived. Sheaf had come from an unknown land in a boat without oars. He taught his people agriculture and the arts of civilization. Geofrrey of Monmouth noted the presence of Picts in Scandinavia and he may have been referring to the Khazars who were also known as Agathyrsi and ancestors to part of the Picts. A Swedish scholar has claimed Khazar intermarriages with the Swedish aristocracy in Sweden.
We believe that the Khazars were mainly the descendants of Jews and of Israelites from the Lost Ten Tribes. We have evidence for this belief. There were also numerous Rabbanical Jews who fled to the Land of the Khazars and settled there. Many have claimed that many European Jews are descended from Khazars - this may be. If it were so it would strengthen our position rather than weaken it. HOWEVER there is NO evidence. NOT that there is evidence that can be dismissed BUT that there is none APART, (perhaps) from the names of a few villages in Poland. The Khazars emerged into history at a time when Turkish culture was dominant in their area. Jews had many contacts with the Khazars and with the Turks and many Jews had dwelt in the Khazar Kingdom. If we were to find traces of the Khazars or Turkish-influences in Jewish culture etc it would not necessarily prove anything since such things can be absorbed by historical contact.
BUT EVEN THIS WE DO NOT FIND
No names, no family traditions, no customs, no words, no nothing. So-called "Identity" People who dedicate energy and time to "proving" (in their minds) that the Jews are Khazars etc are actually enemies of Identity truth. They are knowing or unknowing agents of anti-semitic interests that are against the "Anglo-Saxon" existence.
Additional EVIDENCE strengthens the case that the Khazars were of Israelite descent in so far as the proofs in question show that the Khazars really did consider themselves on the whole to be of Israelite origin and so were regarded by most Jewish authorities who were familiar with them. The evidence in question consists of Hebrew documents, copies of which are in our possession. The documents in question are easily available and verifiable.
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Henning, W.B. “A Farewell to the Khazars of the Aq-Aqataran”, BSOAS, 1952, pp.501ff
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372 A.H. -982 A.d. Translated and Explained by V. Minorsky, edited by CE Bosworth,
London, 1970.
Montgomery, “The Early Empires of Central Asia”, New York, 1939.
Kasdoi, Zvi. “The Tribes of Jacob and the Preserved of Israel” (Hebrew), Haifa,
1928. Kasdoi, Zvi. “HaMityahadim”.
Koestler, Arthur. “The Thirteenth Tribe. The Khazar Empire and Its Heritage”, New York, 1967.
Polak, Abraham. “Kazaria” (Hebrew), Tel-Aviv, Israel, 1951.
Vernadsky, George. “The Origins of Russia”, 1959, Oxford, U.K.
Vernadsky, George. “Ancient Russia”, Yale, U.S.A., 1943. |
| Quote: | THE KHAZARS AND THE MODERN JEWS
By Steven M. Collins
Let us consider an aspect of Jewish history which is sometimes controversial. This is the history of the Khazar kingdom , whose later monarchs adopted Judaism.
Some maintain that the Khazars were non-Israelites who, en masse, accepted Judaism and became the forebears of the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe. This viewpoint tends to disenfranchise Ashkenazi Jews as "legitimate" Jews from the tribe of Judah, and it is historically inaccurate. This viewpoint assumes: (A) all Khazars were gentile, (B) all Khazars accepted Judaism and (C) no members of the house of Judah were already living among the Khazars.
All three assumptions are incorrect.
It is well-documented that numerous Jews lived in the Parthian Empire and many of them accompanied the migrating Parthians toward Europe through the Caucasus Mountains and into territory north of the Black Sea. Other Jewish migrations to the region of Khazaria occurred in the centuries prior to the fall of Parthia, as we shall soon document. This region (the Transcaucasus and north of the Black Sea), through which hordes of Israelites and Jews passed on their way to Europe, was the homeland of the Khazars. How could the Khazars all be gentiles when their homeland had been the main expressway for the tribes of Israel as they left Parthia and Scythia? The Khazar region also included the former kingdom of Iberia, which had borne a Hebrew name since its founding soon after the fall of the Israelite capital of Samaria. Iberia had also been ruled by kings with the root-word "Phares" in their names, confirming their descent from King David of Israel. Surely, there were still Israelites left in this region when the Khazars came to power there in later centuries.
There is considerable evidence that the Khazars were a mixture of races and ethnic groups. The Encyclopaedia Britannica records that some "Khazars" were first noticed in Armenia in 198 A.D.1 This was 28 years before Parthia fell. When Parthia collapsed, millions of Semitic people from Parthia poured through the region later to be called "Khazaria" like a tidal wave on their way to Europe. During the centuries of the great migrations of Parthian and Scythian refugees through the Transcaucasian region, the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel were dominant in the region which later became Khazaria. The Khazar rulers did not adopt Judaism until the year 740 A.D. or even later. Let us consider how many waves of Jewish refugees entered Khazaria before that event occurred.
Large numbers of Jewish refugees had settled in what became Khazaria long before the Khazars were even a recognizable people. It is recorded in The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia that:
"Vakhushti's History of Georgia informs us that permission was granted to a Jewish legation which had appealed to the prince of Mtskhet, after the destruction of the First Temple at Jerusalem (586 B.C.E.), to settle on the outskirts of Mtskhet."2 Jews from the tribe of Judah began settling in the Transcaucasus from the time Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians! The same source records many more waves of Jewish migration to this region:
"Another influx of Jewish refugees into various Trans- Caucasian regions took place after the destruction of the Second Temple at Jerusalem (70 C.E.). The height of the influx during the first centuries of Christianity is confirmed by the chronicler Faustus of Byzantium (4th cent. C.E.),
who reports that the Persians, under King Sapor II (360 C.E.), invaded Armenia, and took with them to South Persia more than 75,000 Jewish captives, the progeny of those who had previously come to the Transcaucasus from Palestine." 3 (Emphasis added.)
The Jews had seen the Caucasus region as a hospitable refuge for centuries, and they went there in large numbers. Why shouldn't they? From 700 B.C, until at least the 5th century A.D., it was inhabited by many descendants of the ten tribes of Israel (called Scythians, Iberians, Sacae, Goths, etc.), and many of the Israelite kings were Jewish, descendants of King David's dynasty. The Persian King, Sapor II, was from the Persian Sassanian kingdom that had driven the Parthians out of Asia. There had to be an immense number of Jews in the Transcaucasus region for him to take over 75,000 Jews captive in a single raid in that area! That they were descended from Jews who had originally migrated there from Palestine confirms they
were racial members of the tribe of Judah! The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia continues:
"Subsequently they [Transcaucasian Jews] were joined by other Jews from more westerly regions; from Asia Minor, the Crimean Peninsula, and especially from Byzantium (to escape from the severe persecutions which they had been suffering at the hand of Emperor Justinian in the 6th cent. C.E.). It is evident...that Jewish immigration into the Caucasus took Place not only at different times but also from different directions." (Emphasis added.)4
We're not done yet. Many Jews, whose forefathers had lived peacefully under the Parthians, finally migrated out of Persia centuries after the Parthians had done so. Consider this account:
"From Arabic and other sources, primarily the Old Persian chronicle Derbend-Nameh...we may conclude that many Jews migrated from North Persia and Mesopotamia to the Northeast Caucasus during the 5th and 6th centuries (under the Sassanids). Other groups of immigrants followed...When, in the 8th century, the Arabs conquered part of Daghestan, they found a large Jewish population there." 5 (Emphasis added.)
Many people from the tribe of Judah migrated to the Caucasus from the former region of Parthia because of Sassanian persecution. By the time the final waves of "Parthian" Jews entered the Transcaucasus, the descendants of the Parthians and Scythians were already occupying new homelands in Europe. For many centuries before Khazar rulers adopted Judaism, there had
been numerous migrations of the tribe of Judah (Jews) into the region later called Khazaria. There would have been some remnants of the ten tribes of Israel in that region as well. Indeed, Jewish sources claim that there were identifiable remnants from the tribes of Issachar, Manasseh, and Simeon living in Khazar regions, and that their archaic Hebrew names and the lack of any Levites among them supported the conclusion that they were not Jews, but Israelites from the ten tribes of Israel.6 Since huge numbers of people from the ten tribes of Israel had lived in or passed through this region from the 8th century B.C. until at least the 5th century A.D., some remnants of Israel's ten tribes should be expected there. However, this region had many non-Israelites as well. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that:
"...the Khazars had reappeared in Armenia, though it was not till 625 that they appear as Khazars in the Byzantine annals...described as "Turks from the East."7
The Transcaucasus were getting crowded. Not only had numerous Jews lived in this region for centuries (coming from Palestine and Parthia), but there were Turks, other races and even residual Israelites from the ten tribes whose main body had migrated through this region on the way to Europe. Khazaria came to include not only portions of the Transcaucasus, but also
part of the steppes north of the Black Sea.
There is evidence that most Khazars were of the Caucasian race. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the Khazars were part of the "white race of the steppe,"8 and adds that the Khazars, in response to being threatened by other Turkic tribes (such as the Petchenegs), built a stone fortress with the help of the Byzantines. The Britannica adds:
"Famous as the one stone structure in that stoneless region, [the fortress] became known far and wide amongst the hordes of the steppe as Sar-kel or the White Abode. Merchants from every nation found protection and good faith in the Khazar cities...The dynasty accepted Judaism, but there was equal tolerance for all, and each man was held amenable...to the official judges of his own faith." 9
The Khazars were known by their contemporaries as a white Caucasian race, and they built a great fortress to protect themselves from marauding Turkic tribes. Yet some of the Khazars were, themselves, called Turks. They were capitalists known for "good faith," and practiced religious tolerance. In doing so, they perpetuated Parthian traditions, for the Parthians were famous for honest dealings and religious tolerance. It is also evident that the entire nation of the Khazars did not adopt Judaism. The "dynasty" (the ruling class) adopted Judaism while the commoners still practiced their own faiths of Judaism, Christianity or Islam. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia adds this comment on the Khazar conversion:
"...it was chiefly due to the cultural superiority of the Daghestan Jews that the 'Kahan' (king) of the mighty state of the Khazars was converted to Judaism together with his court and part of the Khazar population between the 8th and 9th centuries." 10
This account indicates that, besides the ruling class, only a "part" of the Khazar population adopted Judaism over the next century. Notice the title of the Khazar King: Kahan. The Hebrew word for "priest" is "kohen."11 The consonants of the Khazar king's title with the Hebrew word for "priest" are identical (K-H-N). This argues that the king of the Khazars, who already had a Hebrew title at the time of his conversion to Judaism, may have already been a racial member of the house of Judah. Why else would he already be known by the Hebrew word for "priest?"
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia also states that the conversion of the Khazar "Kahan" and his court may not have occurred until between 786 and 809 A.D.12 It further records how few people actually converted to Judaism as a result of their monarch's conversion. It states regarding the Khazar King's conversion:
"...he and about 4,000 Khazars were circumcised; it was only by degrees that the Jewish teachings gained a foothold among the population...the Jews were greatly outnumbered by the pagan masses, by Moslem and Christian inhabitants of the cities." 13
The Khazars were not a majority Jewish state. They had leaders of the Jewish faith, but only a sizeable minority of Jews among their numbers. A total of only 4,000 new conversions to Judaism in a large nation was actually a small number of converts. The requirement of circumcision was likely a disincentive for most Khazar men to convert to Judaism. Most Khazars remained in pagan or Christian religions. In the later centuries of the Khazar kingdom, many adopted Islam. The Encyclopaedia Britannica records that one of the major Khazar cities, Itil, had 30 mosques around 924 A.D.14
The Khazars also included Turks (descended from Esau, also called Edom). The Edomites were fellow-Semites as their forefather, Esau, was a son of Isaac. The Israelites had been commanded by God in Deuteronomy 23:7:
"Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother ...the children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation." (KJV)
God called the Edomites "brothers" of the Israelites because Esau, the father of the Edomites, was the brother of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites. The above commandment required full admittance of Edomites into the congregation of Israel "in the third generation." The Edomites (Turks) living in Khazaria who became Jews were regarded by divine law to be fully assimilated into the tribe of Judah by the time the third generation was born. This assimilation would have been accomplished prior to the fall of the Khazar Empire.
There isn't space to fully discuss the Edomites, but Esau gave birth to many tribes of his own, each headed by a "Duke" (see Genesis 36). Genesis 36:15 lists the first (and likely foremost) "duke" of Edom as "Duke Teman." The consonants of Teman are T-M-N, which were the same consonants of the Ottoman Empire, which eventually came to be called "Turkey." The second Edomite Duke was named "Omar," and another name for the famous "Dome of the Rock" in Jerusalem is "the mosque of Omar," named after a powerful Islamic Caliph.
When word spread on the trade routes that Khazaria had adopted Judaism, Jews from the diaspora would surely have migrated to Khazaria to seek refuge there. According to The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia:
"the report of the marvelous conversion [of the Khazar rulers] spread throughout the Jewish world."15
This would have steadily increased the number of people from the tribe of Judah among the Khazars as more Jews migrated there for sanctuary and freedom of religion. When Khazaria fell, its people, including the Jews, would have been pushed toward eastern Europe to seek refuge and new homelands. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia records that the Jews of Khazaria migrated to Kiev and parts of Russia, while the remaining Khazars joined the Magyars and migrated to modern Hungary, becoming Christians.16
Khazaria's Jews eventually became known as "Ashkenazi" Jews. Some mistakenly link this name to a son of Gomer (Genesis 10:3). The name actually has Parthian origins. The Encyclopedia Britannica (1943 Ed., Vol. 17, pp. 576-577) records that the name "Ashkanians" was a Persian/Arabic name for the Parthians. The derivation of "Ashken-azi" from "Ashkan-ian"
is easy to see. Therefore, the term "Ashkenazi Jews" actually proclaims and ancestry among the "Parthian Jews." This is very consistent with the historical record which confirms many Jews lived in Parthia and that they migrated out of Parthia into the Transcaucasus and the Black Sea regions.
In conclusion, the historical record indicates that the Khazarian Jews were, for the most part, refugees from the tribe of Judah who had settled in that region. There were converts to Judaism from other races as well, but God's assimilation laws defined their offspring to be "fully Jewish"
within a few generations. The Ashkenazi Jews are part of the modern Tribe of Judah. God himself has made that clear in our modern time as he directed many Ashkenazi Jews to help found and settle the modern Israeli state, fulfilling the prophecy in Zephaniah 2 that "Judah" would again inhabit its old homeland in the Mideast.
Submitted by: Steve Collins
ENDNOTES
1.Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1943 Ed., Vol. 13, see Khazars, p. 362
2The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, see "Mountain Jews," p. 26
3. Ibid, p. 26
4. Ibid, p. 26
5. Ibid, p.26
6. Ibid, pp. 26-27
7. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1943 Ed., Vol. 13, see "Khazars," p. 362
8. Ibid, p. 362
9. Ibid, p. 363
10. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, see "Mountain Jews," p. 27
11. Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible, see word "Priest," p. 772
12. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 6, see "Khazars," p. 376
13. Ibid, p. 376
14. Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 13, see "Khazars," p. 363
15. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 6, see "Khazars," p. 377
16. Ibid, pp. 377-378 |
The Russian city of Kazan may have originally been Khazan.
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markhagelin
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Posts: 208
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 12:25 am Post subject: |
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Excerpt from the book THE JEWS OF KHAZARIA by Kevin A. Brook
The Khazars were a Turkic people who founded a vast empire in eastern Europe in the early-medieval period. They held back the Arabs from invading Europe and Byzantium (similar to the role of the Franks in the West); hosted traders from all over Europe and Asia; influenced the language and government of early Rus; and impacted many other aspects of the medieval world. The Khazar kingdom was the only nation in its region with a permanent standing army and a supreme court consisting of representatives of multiple religions. In the 9th century the Khazars converted to Judaism.
SPELLING VARIANTS FOR THE KHAZAR KAGANATE AND ITS PEOPLE
English: Khazaria, Khazar, Khazars, Khazarian; Chazaria, Chazar, Chazars, Chazarian; Chozaria, Chozar, Chozars, Chozarian
Hungarian: kazár, kazárok, Kazár birodalom, türkök kazáriában; kabar, kabarok, kavar, kavarok
Finnish: kasaarit, Kasaarien
Estonian: kasaarid, kasaaride, Kasaari kaganaat, Kasaaria
Lithuanian: Chazarai
Spanish: jázaro, jázaros, Jazaria; kazaro, kazaros
Italian: kazar, kazari; cazar, cazari; Khàzaro, Khàzari; Chazary, chazaro, chazara
Portuguese: jazaro; Khazares
Catalan: khàzar, khàzars, Khazària
French: Khazarie, Khazar, Khazars; Khazare, Khazares
Romanian: kazar, kazare, Kazari, Kazarii, Kazaria, imperiul khazarilor
Russian: Xazar, Xazarii, Xazary, Xazariya; Khazarii, Khazary, Khazarskaia, Khazarskaja, Khazarskaya, Khazarskom, Khazarsko, Khazarskoj, Khazarskago, Khazarskogo kaganata, Khazarskii kaganat
Bulgarian: Xazari, Xazariya, Xazarskata, Xazarskiya xaganat; Khazari, Khazarskata
Serbo-Croatian: Hazarski, Hazarskog; Kazari
Czech: Chazari (Chazaøi), Chazarská, Chazarský, Chazaru, chazarské
Polish: Chazar, Chazarskim, Chazarow, Chazarowie, chazarskich, chazarskiej, Chazarom, Kaganat Chazarski
Greek: Chazaroi
Turkish: Hazar, Hazarlar
Icelandic: Khazara, Khazarar, Khazaría, Khazaríu, Khazarskar; Khazörum
Norwegian: Khasar, khasarer, khasarene, Khasarriket, Khasaria; Khazar, Khazarer, Khazarene, Khazar-riket, Khazaria
Swedish: khazariska, khazariskt, khazarer; Kazariska riket, kazarisk, kazarerna, kazarernas, kazariskt, Kazarien, judiska kazarer
Danish: Kazarisk
Dutch: Chazar, Chazaren; Khazar, Khazaren
German: Chasar, Chasaren; Khasar, Khasaren; Chazar, Chazaren, Chazarisch, Chazarische
Yiddish: Kazar, Kazarn
Hebrew: Kuzar, Kuzari, Kuzarim; Kazariya, Kazariyah; Khazarim
Circassian: X'eser, X'ese, Qese
Georgian: Xazar, Xazarni
Armenian: Xazir, Xazirk`
Korean: K`ajaru, K`ajaru-indul
Japanese: Hazaaru, kazaaru
Chinese: K'o-sa
"The Khazars originated from the distant East, from the border areas of China. In the seventh century, they were swept by the Great Migrations to the mouth of the River Volga and the shores of the Caspian Sea. Here the Khazars conquered Onogur and Bulgar-Turkic tribes who spoke another Turkic dialect. In the seventh and eighth centuries, this new empire halted Arab expansionism, established contact with Byzantium, and became a decisive force between the Caspian Sea and the River Don up to the middle of the tenth century. Land cultivation, animal husbandry and handicrafts flourished in the empire. Merchants traded not only with Byzantium, but also with the Arab-Persian world and the distant East. The kagans did not prohibit the activities of Christian and Moslem missionaries. Both religions maintained places or worship and schools on Khazar land. Out of political considerations, however, the kagans and their retinues embraced a third great monotheist religion, Judaism. This was to avoid pressure on them from the Byzantine Empire and the various Arab emirates. The peoples of the Khazar Khanate had a more advanced way of life than those of the Central Asian Turkic tribes, whose chief occupation was nomadic animal husbandry. The level of its agriculture and handicrafts industry matched contemporary European standards. In terms of commercial development it even exceeded them. However, the empire was a loosely organized entity, with the fluctuating numbers of subjugated peoples rather than fixed boundaries determining its size. The Magyar tribal alliance constituted one such subjugated people."
- György Balázs, The Magyars. Budapest: Corvina, 1989
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Anyone familiar with Hebrew would be aware that the vowels are not written down such that Khazar could become khzr.
Looking at the Polish or Czech for example, Chazar or Chazari would become chzr which is close to czr the root for czar.
This suggests the the first Russian czars may have actually been Khazars.
This is a very simple liguistic comparison.
There is a fascinating article:
Are Russian Jews Descended from the Khazars?
A Reassessment Based upon the Latest Historical, Archaeological, Linguistic, and Genetic Evidence
by Kevin Alan Brook
http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-diaspora.html
| Quote: | | In summary, I argue in this essay that Eastern European Jews descend both from Khazarian Jews AND from Israelite Jews. |
| Quote: | | It seems that after the fall of their kingdom, the Khazars adopted the Cyrillic script in place of Hebrew and began to speak East Slavic (sometimes called "Canaanic" because Benjamin of Tudela called Kievan Rus the "Land of Canaan"). These Slavic-speaking Jews are documented to have lived in Kievan Rus during the 11th-13th centuries. However, Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from the west (especially Germany, Bohemia, and other areas of Central Europe) soon began to flood into Eastern Europe, and it is believed that these newer immigrants eventually outnumbered the Khazars. Thus, Eastern European Jews predominantly have ancestors who came from Central Europe rather than from the Khazar kingdom. The two groups (eastern and western Jews) intermarried over the centuries. |
The work by Yair Davidy. Stephen Collins and others goes one step beyond Brook's work and suggests that, as with other Jewish refugees form the Babylonian and Assyrian captivities, the Khazars were a mix of Jewish and Turkish nomads who migrated northwards.
They offer this as an expanation of how/why the Khazars would have been willing to adopt Judaism, it was part of the Jewish heritage.
See also:
Some parallels between Khazar Hebrew names and ancestral names in contemporary Jewish communities,
http://2pic.20m.com/Jewish_Names.html
While the origins of the ancient kossacks may be lost, could they have been Khazars? Using the Chinese for Khazar, K'o-sa as the root?
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markhagelin
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Posts: 208
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:25 am Post subject: |
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http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-history-khazaria-shorthistory.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg10816.html
From PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE by Nathan Ausubel
| Quote: | Pages 130 and 131
“The noted Arab geographer and traveller, Ibn Khordadbeh, wrote, circa 850, concerning the unusual linguistic abilities of the Jewish merchants of Khazaria, "that they speak Persian, Roumanian, Arabic, Frankish, Spanish, and Slavonic…”
“Apparently nothing the Jews of Khazaria did was sufficient to restrain the emerging power of the Russians. Only several years after the khagan Joseph had written his letter, the Russian princes succeeded in overrunning Ityl, the Khazar capital of the Volga. Under Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev, the Russians raged thru all the Jewish towns and cities on the Volga, ravaging and slaughtering their hated enemies and overlords. In 969, the Khazars were driven out of the entire Caspian Sea region and retreated into the Bosporus region of the Black Sea where, in a smaller and more compact area, they were able to stem the advance of the invaders. But even that limited power of Khazaria was fated not to endure for long. The Russians, with the help of Byzantium, finally crushed it in 1016 and thus the Jewish kingdom of Khazaria came to an end. What happened to the Khazar Jews is an intriguing historic mystery. It is, however, certian that of those who remained in Khazaria most were baptized by force. The rest were dispersed: some of them fled into northern Hungary where in time they, too, were absorbed by the local Christian population. To this very day there are villages in northern Hungary that bear such names as Kozar and Kozardie. It is also widely believed that many Khazar Jews, escaping from baptism, found their way into Poland. There, by inter-group blending, they soon became indistinguishable from other Jews. It is also significant that Tshagataish, the language of the Khazar Jews, a Turkish dialect, is still spoken in Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania by the Karaites, the Jewish sectarians whose homeland was originally in the Crimea. Even more significant is the fact that Tshagataish is spoken by the few surviving Jewish Krimtchaki of the Crimea."
Page 133
"The circumstances surrounding the beginnings of Jewish settlement in
Poland remain nebulous, tho it is more than a surmise that the first
Jews must have come from the Crimea. After the fall of the Jewish
kingdom of Khazaria, they continued to arrive, fleeing from the
Russian boyars of Kiev who after several centuries of vassalage to
the Jewish kings had finally risen in revolt and conquered them. In
time, these Khazar Jews blended with the other Jewish elements in
Poland and ultimately lost their ethnic group identity
Page 138
"When, exactly, the Jews of Poland first began to build wooden
synagogues is unknown... There are many theories about the origins
and the architectural influences that entered into their building...
A third and more plausible conjecture is that the Middle Eastern
refugees from the Jewish kingdom of Khazaria introduced them during
the Middle Ages when they settled en masse in Poland. The Asiatic
characteristics are obvious in the wooden synagogues. Byzantine
elements are artfully mingled with Mongolian. The roofs, pagoda
style, arranged one upon another and surmounted by vaulted ceilings
and cupolas, sometimes create the illusion that one is in central
Asia rather than Poland."
Page 178
"It is thought that ever since the fall of the Jewish kingdom of
Khazaria in 970 C.E., when the Jews from that country sought refuge
in the north of Hungary, there has been an unbroken continuity of
Jewish life in Hungary... During the Crusades and after the Black
Death, there were [supposedly] many emigrants to Hungary from Germany
and Bohemia."
Page 204
"There are some historians who even assert that during the eighth
century C.E., Moldavia and Wallachia, which were then separate
kingdoms but which later constituted Roumania, were vassals of the
Jewish kingdom of Khazaria. The history of the Jews in Roumania is
indeed nebulous until the fifteenth century when the Turkish sultans
became their overlords."
Pages 205 and 206
"Upon the collapse of the Jewish Kingdom of Khazaria during the tenth
century C.E., many Jews fled for refuge to Bulgaria. When the latter
country was absorbed by the Byzantine Empire in 967, there was an
additional influx of new Jewish arrivals from the other parts of the
empire... [by 1492, one of the 'strains' in Bulgaria was 'Khazarian',
along with Crimean, Austrian, German, Polish, Italian, French,
Turkish, Russian, Crimean, Roumanian, Spanish, Bohemian, and
Portuguese]. |
Research on the accounts of Ibn Fadlan on the Khazars and the Rus can be found here:
http://www.tamu.edu/chr/agora/summer03/Clouser.PDF
http://idrisi.narod.ru/montgo1.htm
http://www.uib.no/jais/v003/montgo1.pdf
Tshagataish
http://www.davidsconsultants.com/jewishhistory/history.php?anchor=700Khazar
Tshagataish was the language of the Khazar Jews. Tshagataish is now called Krimchak after the people with the same name. Krimchak is the language of the Krimchak Jews, a very small Jewish group on the Crimean peninsula.
The Krimchak Jews settled in Crimea probably in the 16th century and spoke a variant of Crimean Tatar but used the Hebrew alphabet. Their origins are unclear. Some think they were converted to Judaism during the Khazar Empire. Others think they are the remaining descendants of the Khazars.
Krimchak is considered to be a form of Judeo-Crimean Tatar
Linguistic Lineage for Judeo-Crimean Tatar
Altaic
Turkic
Western(NorthWestern)
Ponto-Caspian
Judeo-Crimean Tatar
Judeo-Crimean Tatar is or was spoken in Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
Judeo-Crimean Tatar is similar to other Ponto-Caspian languages. Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Karaim, Pecheneg (extinct), Cuman (extinct). Cuman has been identified in what has been called the Codex Cumanicus.
The Khazar language is said to belong to the group Bolgar languages (considered to be a division of Western(North Western): Chuvash, Bolgar (extinct). But research indicates that the Khazar language is what has been called Tshagataish also called Krimchak.
Karaim is a close language to the original Khazar language and is still spoken by Karaite Jews in Lithuania and Ukraine.
http://www.e-paranoids.com/k/ka/karaite_judaism.html
| Quote: |
“Russian Karaites
During the 18th century, Russian Karaites spread many myths externally which freed them from various anti-Semitic laws that affected other Jews. Avraham Firkovitch helped establish these ideas by forging tombstones in Crimea which bear inscriptions stating that those buried were of the "lost tribes" of Israel. Other myths included the invention of the Khazar origin, or that they were not Jewish, among others. These actions were intended to convince the Russian Czar that they could not have killed Jesus, which was an underlying reason for the anti-semetic laws.
Intermarriages between Karaite and Rabbinic Jews, however, still took place. Russian Karaites relate that because they were prohibited from learning their ancestors' beliefs under communism, many were taught and believed these myths. Because of the above, and a ruling by Orthodox Rabbis intended to save the Karaites, the Nazis of the World War II generally left the Karaites alone during the holocaust.
Crimean Karaites
In 1392 the Grand Duke of Lithuania relocated the Crimean Karaites to Lithuania where they continued to speak their own language, Karaim, in private life as the sect's own internal language, while old Hebrew remained in the spiritual use. The Karaites have practiced their own ceremonies of belief as well. The Crimean Karaites faced the same problems the Russian Karaites did, due to Communism. A small number of Karaites still reside in Lithuania today.” |
It is impossible to tell, given the forced conversions of Khazars from Judaism to Christianity, how many of Khazar descent are still alive
What is interesting to note is that none of the writings of the people who had met the Khazars indicate a recognition of their language as Turkic. They supposedly spoke Turk, used Turk words, but used a Hebrew alphabet. Actually the alphabet probably was Aramaic, the root for both the Hebrew and Arabic languages.
We have limited writing of the Khazars using Hebrew. Perhaps with the forced conversion to Christianity also came a forced conversion to the Old Slavic or Cyrillic alphabet.
http://www.orbilat.com/General_References/Alphabets/The_Old_Slavic_Alphabet_and_Pronunciation.html
| Quote: | “The Old Slavic or Cyrillic alphabet is traditionally ascribed to St. Cyril (827-869) who was was sent together with his brother Methodius on a mission by the Byzantine empire to evangelize the Slavs of Great Moravia in their own language.
The script created by St. Cyril was one called glagolitic, used till the end of the 13th c. in Czechia, Croatia and Western Macedonia, while the Cyrillic alphabet appeared in the chancellery of the Bulgarian kingdom short after 865 AD. At this time the Bulgars, who were a people of Turkic origin, converted to Christianity and were gradually assimilated to the Slavic majority of their empire (thus being formed the modern Slavic-speaking Bulgarian nation). The Byzantine Greek was used for more than 150 years in the official documents of the government and finally in the second half of the 9th c. the Byzantine uncial alphabet was adapted to the Slavic speech in the Bulgarian kingdom by adding to its 24 pronounceable letters some 13 to represent sounds that were specific to the Slavic tongue.
From Bulgaria the Cyrillic alphabet spread to Serbia, Russia and the Rumanian principalities (Wallachia and Moldova); in the latter two countries it was used till 1861, when the Latin alphabet was introduced. |
Slavonic alphabet (Glagolitic and Cyrillic)”
http://www.soros.org.mk/konkurs/076/angver/slovensko_pismo.html
| Quote: | “In their old motherland the Slavs did not have their alphabet and, as Crnorizec Hrabar says in his work "O pismeneh" (About the Letters), for a long time "with dashes and notches they were reading and telling fortunes". They had a sort of a tally board. When they came to the Balkans and were Christened, they wrote their Slavonic words with Roman and Greek letters, without any rules. However, those letters did not allow for the accurate spelling of many Slavonic words. The Greek alphabet had no letters for numerous Slavonic phonemes. "Then Saint Constantine the Philosopher named Cyril, a righteous and veracious man, created them 38 letters, one according to the Greek letters, and the other by Slavonic language."
This is how it happened: in 862 the duke of Velika Morava, Rastislav, trying to protect his duchy from the German political and cultural enslavement, sent a letter to the Byzantine Emperor Michailo III, offering him military alliance. At the same time, he requested for some scholars to be sent to him, who would disseminate education and culture in Slavonic language in Moldavia.
The Byzantine Emperor Michailo appreciated the proposal, since he foreseen the benefits of a country from the western sphere of influence on its own initiative to become subjugated to the Byzantine domination. Therefore, he summoned two scholarly brothers, Cyril and Methodius, and entrusted them a mission in Velika Moravia. The mission included the translation of the Christian books for religious service from Greek into Slavonic language, in an alphabet yet to be compiled. After that, and thus prepared, they were supposed to convert the Slavs from Moravia into Christianity.
Before long, Cyril made up a 38 letters alphabet - the Glagolitic. With it he and his brother Methodius translated the first church books from Greek into Slavonic, and in spring 863 A.D. set out to Velika Moravia.
It was found out that Cyril created the Glagolitic alphabet by using the Greek minuscule (cursive) alphabet, already in use in the VIII - IX centuries. He borrowed the letters that existed in the Greek alphabet, and for the non-existing ones, he invented new symbols.
Nevertheless, the Slavs used two alphabets and at approximately same time - Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Since the earliest records written in the Slavonic alphabet do not date from the time when Ss. Cyril and Methodius were alive and writing, but as late as the X and XI centuries, the scientists long argued which alphabet was created by Cyril - the Glagolitic or the Cyrillic that bears his name.
Now that issue has been cleared out - the Glagolitic is the alphabet created by Cyril. It is older than the Cyrillic. This is proved by the following facts:
1. The earliest Slavonic written records, the mid- X century Kiev Missal, was written in the Glagolitic and contains Moravisms (Czech language features), which suggests that it was written in Moravia, certainly by Cyril and Methodius's disciples.
2. Majority of the older preserved Old Slavonic records were written in the Glagolitic and have more archaic language features than the ones in the Cyrillic. They do not have the merging of the semi-sounds - "ers", which is not the case with the Cyrillic records.
3. The Glagolitic was in use in Moravia, in the Croatian territories, whereas the Cyrillic in the Eastern Bulgaria, which is obvious from the origin of the records.
4. On the palimpsests (parchments with traces of both alphabets), below there are visible traces of incompletely erased Glagolitic letters, and above are the overwritten Cyrillic letters.
It is believed that the Cyrillic was created by Clement (some attach it to either Methodius, Bishop Constantine or Crnorizec Hrabar) who named it Cyrillic in honour of his teacher. This alphabet was compiled by the example of the Greek constitutional (initial) alphabet and emerged in Eastern Bulgaria about fifty years after the Glagolitic.
Shortly after the Cyrillic pushed the Glagolitic out of use. It spreaded not only to the Balkans, but also to Russia. During Peter the Great it suffered certain changes and through the Russian church books spreaded among the Balkan Slavs. With certain amendments and alterations, the Cyrillic is still used today.”
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While informative, the above gives no insight as to the change from Khazarian/Tshagataish/Krimchak to Cyrillic.
Mark |
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