One of the most ignoble examples of the institutionalized obfuscation of history is that applied to the history of the Khazars by the Byzantines, the Islamic Muhammadans, the pan-Arabists, and the Russian/Stalinist ethnocentrists. Each in turn went to great lengths to expunge whatever records endured the destruction of the Khazar kingdom, and to put a self-serving spin on the surviving elements.

One reason for the extraordinary effort to distort history was the unique relationship that developed between the Khazars and the Jews. The two peoples, whose languages had different roots, one illiterate and the other highly literate, one shamanist and the other monotheistic, one nomadic and the other urban, peacefully merged to share a common destiny. How, indeed, did such a strange union evolve?

The association of the two peoples begins early on. The Jews encountered the Turkic tribes, including the Khazars, in the fifth century BCE in Asia, when Judaic entrepreneurs from Persia passed over the Pamir mountains to blaze a new trade route to Kaifeng, then the capital of China.1 Trading centers sprang up along the trail to serve the passing traders and their heavily laden beasts. The caravansaries became bustling commercial towns in which Jews were prominent. Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Balkh, Kabul, and other posts along the tortuous route through the central Asian deserts and mountains burgeoned with the passing centuries. The Jews and the Turkic nomads enjoyed a peaceful exchange of goods in these strategic centers throughout that long period.

Many Turkic tribes began to infiltrate into Europe about the fifth century CE. The Magyars moved into what is now Finland; The Avars, Sabirs and Bulgars occupied the Danube basin; the Khazars followed the Kok Turks and spread out along the northern flanks of the Caucacus Mountains, skirting the Aral, Caspian and Black Seas. The tent-dwelling, horse-riding, Khazar herdsmen absorbed some peoples of that hilly area, allied themselves with others, and became transformed into a sedentary nation.

The Khazars were brought into contact with other communities of Jews already functioning around the Caspian Sea from the time Sidonese Israelites had been deported in 351 BCE. Documentary evidence shows that, likewise, both Karaite and Rabbinate Jews had been in continuous habitation in the Crimea at least as far back as the first century CE.

The Judaic communities around the Caspian Sea burgeoned with refugees after Roman legions crushed the Bar Khochba revolt and proceeded to destroy the Judaic state in 135 CE. The expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem and the enslavement and exportation of scores of thousands of Jews spurred the exodus to the east.

A few centuries later the Khazars moved into the area and evolved into a vigorous civilization. They became self-sufficient enough to become independent of the sovereignty of the Khagans who ruled over the vast eastern Turkic empire. They conducted affairs under their own Khans, warrior kings who derived from the same roots which produced the much-feared Genghis Khan.

New waves of Judaic immigrants again joined those established in the region as a result of recurrent problems with the Byzantines, the Persian Sassanians, and finally with the Arabs. Jews crossed the Caucasus and found respite among the Khazars. Jews became the technological and commercial advisors to the Khazar Khans. The Khazars were duly impressed with the technical sagacity and cultural acumen of the Jews. Abba Eban notes that:

“As elsewhere, the Jews engaged in pioneering pursuits. They taught their rather primitive neighbors more advanced ways of cultivating the soil, and means of exchanging goods among themselves and with foreign nations. They taught the art of writing. A tenth century Arab author states, ‘The Khazars use the Hebrew script.”

The Jews of Khazaria, by Kevin Alan Brook published by Jason Aronson Inc. in 1999

The summary from the book’s purview is adequately covered on its fly-leaf:

The Jews of Khazaria recounts the eventful story of the kingdom of Khazaria, which was located in eastern Europe and flourished as an independent stat from about 650 to 1016. In the ninth century, the Khazarian royalty and nobility as well as a significant portion of the Khazarian population embraced the Jewish religion. As a major world power, Khazaria enjoyed diplomatic and trade3 relations with many peoples and nations and changed the course of medieval history in many ways. After their conversion, the Khazars were ruled by a succession of Jewish kings and began to adopt the hallmarks of Jewish civilization, including the Torah and Talmud, the Hebrew script, and the observance of Jewish holidays. A portion of the empire’s population adopted Christianity and Islam. This volume traces the development of the Khazars from their early beginnings as a tribe to the decline and fall of their kingdom. It also examines the many migrations of the Khazar people into Hungary, the Ukraine, and other areas of Europe and their subsequent assimilation, providing the most comprehensive treatment of this complex issue to date. The final chapter enumerates the Jewish communities of eastern Europe which sprung up after the fall of Khazaria and proposes that the Jews from the former Russian Empoire are descended from a mixture of Khazar Jews, German Jews, Greek Jews and Slavs. The Jews of Khazaria draws upon the latest archival, linguistic and archaeological discoveries. Ashkenazic Jews who wish to explore their distant ancestry in eastern Europe will greatly benefit from reading this book. Additionally, Hungarians, Slavs, Turks, Arabs and Ossetians will find a wealth of information concerning the historical interactions between their peoples and the Khazars. Students of history who desire a thorough yet easy-to-read account of the Khazar kingdom will gain in their understanding of this important but previously obscure topic.

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Tag: The Khazar Empire