The Jews of Khazaria

331 Pages·2010·1.404 MB·English

by  Brook, Kevin Alan

JewsKhazariaDSRPBK.qxd 10/6/09 10:52 AM Page 1
Judaica • History
BROOK
“Far from being [merely] a romantic interlude whose brief existence sparked the
imagination of generations,Kevin Alan Brook’s volume shows that the Khazar expe-
rience is intrinsic to the narrative of Jewish history.”
—Jewish Quarterly Review
T
“The Jews of Khazariais, in essence, a compendium of information gathered from
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every available source. . . . [Brook] should be complimented on the trouble that he
has taken to assemble so much information out of so many disparate sources. He e
has provided a useful reference work.”

—Shofar, An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies
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e
“As a full exploration in English of the history and culture of the Khazars, this volume
is without equal.” —Edward J. Lazzerini, Indiana University w
The Jews of Khazariachronicles the history of the Khazars, a people who, in the s
early Middle Ages, founded a large empire in eastern Europe (located in present-day
Ukraine and Russia). The Khazars played a pivotal role in world history. Khazaria o
was one of the largest-sized political formations of its time, an economic and cul-
f
tural superpower connected to several important trade routes. It was especially
notable for its religious tolerance, and in the ninth century, a large portion of the
K
royal family converted to Judaism. Many of the nobles and commoners did likewise
shortly thereafter. After their conversion, the Khazars were ruled by a succession
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of Jewish kings who began to adopt the hallmarks of Jewish civilization, including
the Torah and Talmud, the Hebrew script, and the observance of Jewish holidays. a
T H e J e w s o f
In this thoroughly revised edition of a modern classic, The Jews of Khazaria
z
explores many exciting new discoveries about the Khazars’ religious life, economy,
military, government, and culture. It builds upon new studies of the Khazars, a
evaluating and incorporating recent theories, along with new documentary and
r
archaeological findings. The book gives a comprehensive accounting of the cities, K h a z a r i a
towns, and fortresses of Khazaria, and features a timeline summarizing key events i
in Khazar history. a
KEVIN ALAN BROOK is an historian who has researched the Khazars since 1993. He
has contributed articles about the Khazars to The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, second ES
DE S E C O N D E D I T I O N
edition, and The Turks, vol. 1. Since 1995, Brook has maintained the website of IC
T
O
the American Center of Khazar Studies (Khazaria.com). I
ON
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For orders and information please contact the publisher
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
ROWMAN &
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 LITTLEFIELD Kevin Alan Brook
Lanham, Maryland 20706
1-800-462-6420 • www.rowmanlittlefield.com
The Jews of Khazaria

The Jews of Khazaria
Second Edition
Kevin Alan Brook
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham •Boulder •New York •Toronto •Plymouth, UK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright ©2006, 1999 by Kevin Alan Brook.
First softcover edition printing 2002
First Rowman & Littlefield edition published in 2004
Second Rowman & Littlefield edition published in 2006
First Rowman & Littlefield paperback edition 2010
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brook, Kevin Alan.
The Jews of Khazaria / Kevin Alan Brook. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Khazars. 2. Jews—Russia—History. 3. Russia—Ethnic relations. I. Title.
DK34.K45B76 2006
947'.01088296—dc22 2006016939
ISBN: 978-0-7425-4981-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-7425-4982-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-1-4422-0302-0 (electronic)
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
The researchers [of Khazar history] have beautiful days in front of them
[while they explore] . . . [t]he spellbinding history of a Jewish Atlantis that
slumbered in neglect for centuries.
—Alexandra Lemasson, L’Express, June 7, 2001
Every schoolchild in the West has been told that if not for Charles Martel
and the battle of Poitiers there might be a mosque where Notre Dame now
stands. What few schoolchildren are aware of is that if not for the Khazars
. . . Eastern Europe might well have become a province of Islam.
—Peter Golden, Khazar Studies
To the oppressed Jews of the world, the Khazars were a source of pride and
hope, for their existence seemed to prove that God had not completely
abandoned His people.
—Raymond Scheindlin, The Chronicles of the Jewish People
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 no-
madic animal husbandry. The level of its agriculture and handicrafts in-
dustry matched contemporary European standards. In terms of commercial
development it even exceeded them.
—György Balázs, The Magyars

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 The Origins of the Khazars 1
2 The Cities and Towns of the Khazars 19
3 The Structure of the Khazar Government 47
4 The Khazar Way of Life 59
5 Khazarian Trade 73
6 The Khazars’Conversion to Judaism 87
7 Relations between the Khazars and Other Peoples 125
8 The Decline and Fall of the Khazar Empire 149
9 The Diaspora of the Khazars 163
10 Eastern and Central European Jews after the
Tenth Century 197
Appendix ATimeline of Khazar History 247
Appendix BGlossary 251
Appendix CNative Khazarian Personal Names 255
vii
viii Contents
Appendix DOther Instances of Conversion to Judaism in History 257
Bibliography 273
Index 293
About the Author 317
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to many people for their assistance and encouragement during
the course of my research.
Brian Michael Gottesman, moderator of our Khazar Fiction discussion
group since 2001, reviewed the manuscripts for the second edition and pro-
vided many helpful suggestions. Herbert Guy Zeiden provided valuable guid-
ance for the first edition.
I enjoyed working with my editor at Rowman & Littlefield, Brian Romer,
as well as my previous editor, Kenneth J. Silver of Jason Aronson Inc., who
had worked on the first edition.
I commissioned Bill Nelson of Bill Nelson Cartographic Services to create
the new map of Khazaria and surrounding nations and the new map of the
Crimean peninsula.
For providing reports from archaeological expeditions to Crimea and Rus-
sia, my thanks go to Jeannine Davis-Kimball (director of the Center for the
Study of Eurasian Nomads), Alexander Gendler, Menashe Goldelman, Irina
Harris, Todd Morrison, and Vladimir V. Klyutchnikov (editor of Donskaya
Arkheologiya).
For important information about Hungarian-Khazar relations, I offer many
thanks to Alfred S. Hámori and Professor Peter I. Hidas of Dawson College.
For information about the Bulgars, my gratitude goes to H. Mark Hubey
and Shawn McDermott.
S. Mats L. Philip provided information about Khazar artifacts in Sweden.
William Abram Aldacushion provided information about the Subbotniki
people.
Edgar Davidoff provided information about the Mountain Jewish people.
Bennett Greenspan, president of Family Tree DNA, assisted with the Karaite
DNAstudy and explained to me many genetics concepts.
ix