Under an alternate spelling of Khazars, The Jewish Encyclopedia states the following:
CHAZARS:
A people of Turkish origin whose life and history are interwoven with the very beginnings of the history of the Jews of Russia.... It was probably about the time that the chaghan of the Chazars and his grandees, together with a large number of his heathen people, embraced the Jewish religion [Judiasm/Talmudism - an adulterated religion brought back from Babylon]. According to A. [Albert] Harkavy ("Meassef Niddahim," i.), the conversion took place in 620; according to others, in 740. King Jospeh, in his letter to [C]Hasdai ibn Shaprut (about 960), gives the following account of the conversion: "Some centuries ago King Bulan reign over the Chazars. To him God appeared in a dream and promised him might and glory. Encouraged by this dream, Bulan went by the road of Darian to the country of Ardebil, where he gained great victories (over the Arabs). The Byzantine emperor adn the caliph of the Ishmaelites sent to him envoys with presents, and sages to convert him to their repective religions. Bulan invited also wise men of Israel, and proceeded to examine them all. As each of the champions believed his religion to be the best, Bulan separately questioned the Mohammedans and the Christians as to which of the other two religions they considered to be better. When both gave preference to that of the Jews, that king perceived that it must be the true religion. He therefore adopted it." (see Harkavy, "Soobshchenija o Chazarakh" in "Yevreishaya Biblioteka," vii. 153). This account of the conversatino was considered to be og a legendary nature. Harkavy, however, (in "Bilbasov" and "Yevreiskaya Bibliotek"), proved from Arabic and Slavonian sources that the religious disputation a thte Chazarian court is a historical fact. Even the name of [Isaac] Sangari has been found in a liturgy of Constatine the Philosopher (Cyrill). It was one of the successors of Bulan, named [King] Obadiah, who regenerated the kingdom and strengthened the Jewish religion. He invited Jewish scholars to settle in his dominions, and founded synagogues and schools....From the work "Kitab as-Buldan," written about the ninth century (p. 121; cited by [Daniel] Chwolson in "Izvyestiya o Chazarakh," etc., p. 57), it appears as if all of the Chazars were Jews and that they had been converted to Judiasm only a short time before that book was written.
KHAZARS: entry From The Jewish Encyclopedia
A Turkish or Finnish tribe which settled in the lower Volga region....In the 8th century, a powerful Judaizing movement manifested itself among the K.[Khazars]. Ultimately, about 786-809, their king BULAN and 4,000 of his nobles accepted Judaism, the prince Obadiah being active in securing their Judaization.
PROSELYTES: entry from The Jewish Encyclopedia
...in the 8th - 9th cents., there was a widespread conversion movement among the Khazars, led by the king and embracing other classes, and in W. Europe too, numerous persons continued to enter Judiasm.... |
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KHAZARS: entry from The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia
a medieval people, probably related to the Volga Bulgars, whose ruling class adopted Judaism during the 8th cent.
From Antisemitism: Its History and Causes, by Bernard Lazare
About 620 the [the Jews] converted there a whole tribe, the Khazars, whose territory was in the neighborhood of Astrakhan. Legend seized upon this fact, which greatly stirred up the Jews of the West, but...[in spite] of this, there can be no doubt about it. Isidore of Seville [Spain], a contemporary of the even, mentions it, and afterwars Chasdai Ibn-Shaprut, minister of the Khalif Abd-er-Rahman, corresponded with Joseph, the last Khagan of the Khazars, whose kingdom was destroyed by Svyatoslav, prince of Kieff [Kiev, Russia]....The [Judiazed] Khazars exercised a great influence over the neighboring Slav tribes, the Polyane, Syeveryane and Vyatichi, and made numerous proselytes among them.
please continue on to part 2 of Khazars
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