WHO ARE THE JEWS, REALLY?: PART ONE

Who are these guys and how did they end up in Israel anyhow? Thisparticular group is offended by the presence of a female news reporter.

ED Noor: They sneeringly refer to themselves as “the Tribe” but accuse all non Jews of anti semitism should they dare to do so. In the past I have done work on the Khazars but today I present a review of Chapter Eight, THE KHAZARIAN CONNECTION, THE SEARCH FOR ASHKENAZI ORIGINS, from Harrell Rhome’s 2011 book, From The Temple To The Talmud, Exploring Judaic Origins, History, Folklore and Tribal Traditions.

What I have done is added videos, images, notes, links, and just enhanced the original piece.

An excellent opener is to listen to the esteemed educator Sheik Imran Hosein speak on the Khazars.

These Khazars will be pushing humanity towards destruction at an even faster and more frenetic pace in the coming year; all indications otherwise are not encouraging.

Every once in awhile it is a good idea to study anew the mindset of those who wish to eliminate us from the planet, or enslave us. Getting another insight into their origins always helps. Especially when you can see how those ancient and hidden techniques are now being applied today using modern methodologies as well as the ancient ones, driven by the ancient systems that have basically remained unchained over the millenia whilst wreaking havoc on all others.

Arthur Koestler’s review of the above is an enlightening, educational reminder of just what we are dealing with ~ the Tribe, and yes, they are all members and they all know, on some level, just what is what.

For those of you still learning about the Jewish people, this is an excellent start. For many it is a reminder.... and for others just plain history that they would rather the rest of us never learn about. Chinese Jews? Japanese Jews? Yemini and Ethiopian Jews?

And then there is the simple question that begs to be asked:

Should the proper and politically (in)correct name for the upstart state Israel actually be "New Khazaria"?

Lastly I apologize for it taking so long to get this out but…. There was bad code in the original work and it has taken me seven attempts to post … each attempt taking at least an hour to load images etc. Hopefully if I divide this in two it might work.

THE CURIOUSLY CAMOUFLAGED

AND CONVENIENTLY CONVOLUTED CHRONICLE

OF THE PEOPLE CALLED JEWS.

By Arthur Koestler

GNOSTIC LIBERATION FRONT

The Jews of our times fall into two main divisions: Sephardim and Ashkenazim.

The Sephardim are descendants of the Jews who since antiquity had lived in Spain (in Hebrew Sepharad) until they were expelled at the end of the fifteenth century and settled in the countries bordering the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and to a lesser extent in Western Europe. They spoke a Spanish-Hebrew dialect, Ladino, and preserved their own traditions and religious rites. In the 1960s, the number of Sephardim was estimated at 500,000.

The Ashkenazim, at the same period, numbered about eleven million. Thus, in common parlance, Jew is practically synonymous with Ashkenazi Jew." (Page 181).

In Mr. Koestler's own words,

"The story of the Khazar Empire, as it slowly emerges from the past, begins to look like the cruelest hoax which history has ever perpetrated."

The history of the Ashkenazi Jews was widely known and appreciated in the former Soviet Union. Ashkenazi militants traced the area where the Turkic Khazars originated before their migration to Southern Russia to Birobidjan, an Eastern Siberian area as big as Switzerland bordered by the Amur River, by China and Mongolia. Around 1928 they started building settlements with the Soviet government's help and in 1934 the Autonomous Republic (Okrug) of Birobidjan Yevrei came into being with official languages of Yiddish and Russian. It is still there as an Autonomous Republic to this day, offering the only historically legitimate settlement area for Ashkenazi Jews willing to exercise their "right to return".

Make the primary Khazarian connection.

A significantly large number of the folk called Jews are not Semitic in origin, and their ancestors never set foot in old Palestine.

For over a millennium, an originally Asiatic tribe has had considerable, some say undue, influence on the course of world affairs, perhaps more than any other ethnic group. Who are they? Few, if any other cultures have impacted the world through the ages like this people. Their real name almost faded away along with their once mighty empire of Khazaria.
 

In contrast, the people called Khazars did not disappear at all..

They underwent a convenient identity change,

creating a unique designation for themselves.

They became the “Jews of Eastern Europe”, the so-called and self-styled Ashkenazim, adopting and adapting a Semitic Hebrew heritage that was never really theirs. It was under this new name that they entered Europe.

“Jews are the most intelligent people in the world, so if it benefits them to change their names, they do so. That’s all there is to it. They mix in your society which is plenty corrupt....” ~ Harold Rosenthal Interview.

FOLLOWING THE TRAIL CAN BE DIFFICULT.

Quite naturally, one of the first questions some readers ask is why there are so few books on Khazarian culture and history?

In addition to being ignored and somewhat suppressed, there are reasons of a more scholarly nature. Douglas M. Dunlop, whose study preceded Arthur Koestler’s, was one of the first modern scholars to directly address this little-known saga.

ED Noor: I suggest another reason for the clandestine nature of this group being so well kept from the eyes of the world is ownership of media and the historical revisionism by those who rewrote or recorded it as the case may be. In most cases, the reviled historical revisionists of today are doing no more than correcting what was already corrupted.

“A continuous account of the Khazars was in fact given by the Cambridge historian J. B. Bury, in a chapter of his History of the Eastern Roman Empire [London, 1912]. This may be taken as the best account available, though there are others, besides a great number of monographs on various aspects of the subject and incidental references in modern books.

“The chief reason why we are not more familiar with the Khazars appears to be neither the lack of intrinsic interest presented by their story nor the absence of material, but rather the difficulty of dealing with the existing sources ~ partly because they are written in a variety of languages, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Russian, Persian, Turkish, and even Chinese, with which no one can be expected to be conversant at first hand; and partly because of the contradiction and obscurity of the data thus afforded.” ~ Dunlop, History of the Jewish Khazars, p. x.

THE GENESIS OF A STRATEGIC TERM

This term is our second Khazarian connection.

A few points must be made about the word, Jew. It was originally spelled and pronounced very differently than today. The meaning was Judean, i.e., someone from Judea, a small subsection of ancient Palestine. In its beginning, this meant nothing necessarily religious. It was a simple geographical designation, but things have changed.

The modern word Jew is a “secondary usage”, and did not take on its current meaning or pronunciation until the 1700s.

Through this adaptation and misusage, the Khazars took on the special mantle and alleged heritage (in truth, mostly mythological anyway) of an ancient coalition of Semitic tribes, sometimes called Habiru Sagaz (“raiders from across the river”), Hebrews or Israelites.

Israel means “chosen of El” (one of several deities mentioned in Genesis), though some say its roots come from Egypt, denoting Isis, Ra and El, the same place they borrowed and adapted their Yahu/Yahweh ethnocentric deity. Whatever the case may be, Israelite, like Judean, was used at one time or another by several tribes who migrated around the area.

But wherever the alleged bloodline rights to any purportedly “promised lands” may lead, they never lead to non-Semitic Khazaria.

Khazars are neither the “Chosen Ones” nor the “Children of Israel” except in their own fantasies and desires!

The real roots of the ancient Semitic Middle Eastern tribes are quite hard to follow. In practical and provable historical terms, there are no pure and distinct bloodlines back to Old Testament times.

How can we follow bloodlines when we hardly know who some of those ancient folk really were? One need not explore too far into ancient history to realize how very little we actually know.

“Historical sequences are convoluted at best. The players are manifold and the events themselves become lost in the obscurity of antiquity.” ~ The Phoenix Journals.

JESUS AND THE JEWS OF HIS TIME, PARALLELS WITH TODAY?

For those who follow New Testament teachings, here is what Jesus said to the Talmudic cult of Pharisees over twenty centuries ago. There is a theme here, one of lies and deception. Modern “Judeo-Christians” (what an ultra misnomer!) seem obsessed with prophecies of one kind or another, but can they connect what is below with current events? 

Sadly, few seem willing or able to do so, choosing to believe “Jesus was a Jew” and that today’s Judaic Zionists are the “chosen people”.

No, that is not what your Bible says. There’s more if you want to find it, but these verses should really be enough. Make the connection.

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” John 8:44-45.

“I know… the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan … which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie…. Revelation 2:9-10, 3:9.

Who is spoken of?

Who fits this profile today?

Is Jesus talking about the Khazar convert Jews who entered Europe a thousand years after he spoke?

.

If so, we could say this young Palestinian prophet, leading a resistance movement against the Pharisaic cult and conspiracy that ultimately killed him, provided a prescient look ahead.

While the Khazars are surely not the people of the New Testament, having merely appropriated this supposed heritage and mythos, they certainly match the Talmudists of old Palestine in cunning and guile. For hundreds of years, the Khazar Judaics have excelled in the teachings of the Talmud.

Unfortunately, their Talmudic schemes and machinations have largely succeeded.

For example,

a lot of modern Christianity

is little more

than Judaism for the goyim.

ED Noor: Please read my recent posts on the Scofield Bible and Christian Zionism for information on this and how they managed to take over American Christianity..

They say it best themselves.

“Judaism is not only the teaching of the synagogue, but also the doctrine of every ‘Christian Church’ in America. Through our propaganda the Church has become our most avid supporter. This has even given us a special place in society, their believing the lie that we are the ‘Chosen People’ and they, ‘Gentiles’.” ~ Harold Rosenthal Interview.

MAKING KHAZARIAN CONNECTIONS IN OUR WORLD TODAY.

“History is always written generations after the event, when clouded fact and memory have all fused into what can be accepted as truth, whether it be so or not.” ~ Theodore White.

The authentic history of this obscure tribal group is imperative. Not only is the USA, indeed almost every western government, committed financially and militarily to defend the unjustly established State of Israel, as we painfully see, almost every Christian church in America promotes this Khazar Zionist nightmare regime.

The present-day reality of the Israeli ministate and its myriad of problems take on an entirely different meaning when seen in proper context, but first, we must lift the veil of obfuscation.

When the Khazarian connection is made, it truly begs the question.

Why do the American people support patently false land claims from a racial/tribal lineage that was never remotely from Palestine or anywhere else in the Mideast?

This is crucial in reviewing what are otherwise just little known facts about an obscure ancient Central Asian tribe.

As a result of media suppression and a dumbed-down educational system even at the university level, few Americans make the Khazarian connection.

American Muslims know the truth through their own news services such as Radio Islam, but most other Americans, especially Christians, seem either to know nothing or don’t care to know anything as it contradicts their religious beliefs.

Not only that,

many Jews

know or understand very little of this tale.

What force is powerful enough, not so much to rewrite history, but to write around it, virtually erasing significant traces or comments about the ferocious Khazar tribes, and their early impact on western culture and world history?

“God cannot alter the past,

but historians can" ~ Samuel Butler.

At its height, Khazaria consisted of a territory in West Central Asia and Eastern Europe encompassing over one million square miles, located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (which was once called the Chasarian Sea), and northwest to Kiev.

Why the historical blackout? Who are they? What happened to them? This is the subject of our paper.

Two maps show the Khazar Empire at the height of its power.

The Khazars were fierce and ferocious warriors. Both a well armed and armored heavy cavalryman and foot soldier are shown below.

The word, Hussar, for cavalryman, may have come from Khazar since the Turkish word for Khazar is Hazar.

ED Noor: Note that even back then they wore the payot or sidelocks that are still supposed to be worn by all Jews, not just the orthodox. For acceptance and immersion into other cultures, many do not grow them.

Khazar Jewish soldier today

AN OVERVIEW OF KHAZARIAN HISTORY.

Here are the facts as set forth, not only by the historians and books of the past, but by those in modern times. The works of Arthur Koestler, Benjamin Freedman, Douglas M. Dunlop, Kevin Brook, and more than a few others speak to these matters.

We see below what some present day Khazar descendants, called the Karay Turks, say about the origin of the name. They too are Khazar convert Jews, but do not follow the Talmud. Not just that; the Karay are very proud of their Turko-Asian heritage.

“Khazar is a Turkish word derived from the root, ‘kaz’, with the meaning of ‘gez’ (wander). In Anatolian Turkish, the term ‘khazar’ means ‘gezer’ (wanderer), and coincides with the meaning of a nomad who freely wanders around without any connection to one place.

Probably, this word took its final shape through an etymological transformation in the forms of ‘gezer’, ‘gazar’, ‘kazar’ and ‘hazar’. The word is ‘el-Hazar’ in Arabic, ‘Huzari’, ‘Kozar’ in Hebrew, ‘Gazari’, ‘Chazari’ in Latin, ‘Hazari’ in Georgian, ‘Huszar’ in Hungarian and ‘Ko-sa’, ‘ka-sat’ in Chinese.”

http://ozturkler.com/data_english/0008/0008_07.htm

The Khazars, a migratory folk originating in eastern Asia and close kinsmen of the Huns and Mongols, trekked westward. In c.138, the Khazar tribe’s folk arrived in the area between the Caspian and the Black Seas, near several great rivers. There they established a tribal kingdom that grew in power and influence.

For well over four hundred years they ruled over an immense and lucrative empire south of the Russian territories, between the Black Sea and the Chasarian/Caspian Sea, reaching as far northwest as Kiev.

In its day, the Khaghanate (kingdom, empire, khanate) was larger and richer than any other country in Europe. Yes, Khazaria (Khazaran; Khuzaran; Arabic al-Kazara, Kusari; Hebrew Kuzarim), like later Russia, was both an Asian and a European nation. Their location was of key geopolitical importance. Europe was on the west, the Rus Verangians, descendents of the Vikings, on the north, all of Asia and the Silk Road to the east (but, from whence came the Mongols, their later downfall), plus Greek Christian Byzantium and the newly ascendant Islamic Arabs to the south.

Khazaria was a powerful regional military and trade power. They were commercial wizards of the first order, although those who had to pay the tolls on their seas, rivers and overland trade routes might rather have called them extortionists. Truth be known, the Khazars lived almost solely off this revenue. They produced nothing for export except Isinglass. Clothes, tools and virtually everything else came from outside the country.

ED Noor: Isinglass is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification of wine and beer. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialized gluing purposes. Originally made exclusively from sturgeon, especially Beluga sturgeon, until the 1795 invention by William Murdoch of a cheap substitute using cod. This was extensively used in Britain in place of Russian isinglass. The bladders, once removed from the fish, processed and dried, are formed into various shapes for use

Over time they created additional loot by conquering, oppressing and extorting taxes from over twenty-five nearby peaceful agricultural tribes. Khazaria produced very little. It was an empire almost solely supported by trade-related revenues. Of course, this mercantile mindset came with them into Europe, but it began a long time before that.

Exhibit at the Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv ~ en:Beit Hatefutsot. The museum note says "A Jewish slave trader being presented to Boleslas of Bohemia". Circa 972 AD.

TRADERS AND MERCHANTS OF A HIGH ORDER.

Khazars were heavily involved in all kinds of international barter, including the slave trade ~ hence, the sex trade too, just as they are today. They were one of the better-known procurers and suppliers of Slavs, a people so exploited in this fashion that their very name came to mean slave. The Rus routinely sold Slav captives to the Khazars. This continued in their later migrations and machinations.

In the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, Khazar descendents, along with Sephardic co-religionists, are the dominant players in shipping the black slaves from Africa to the Americas. In his History of the Jews, Solomon Grayzel clearly lays this out.

“One type of business carried on in the early Middle Ages by the Jews of Europe, namely the slave trade, requires a special word of explanation. The Jews were among the most important slave-dealers.

As inhabitants of western Germany pushed their way deeper and deeper into Central Europe, driving the Slavic inhabitants farther eastward and taking away their land, they brought back captives whom they sold to Jewish traders. The Jews, in turn, transported these slaves to other lands to be sold to Christian and Mohammedan masters.”

Another trade learned as Khazars and continued as Jews was that of the furrier. Marten, Sable and other fine furs (in addition to many other valuable products) came down the Volga via the Bulgars, and goods flowed all the way from Novgorod via the Dnieper, not to mention other centers via the Don and several more major waterways. Some main commodities were furs, hides, honey, flax, tar, cloth, grains, gold, silver, jewels and silks.

The Khazars made almost no cloth or clothes, getting them all through the mercantile networks. Old descriptions of Khazar clothing sound something like the Hasidim and others, featuring fur hats and long coats. Trade in many of these items continued to be dominated by the Khazars even after they migrated into Europe. For example, the fur business is often a Judaic enterprise even today.

How many species of fur bearing creatures are extinct or facing extinction so these men can wear these extremely expensive antiquated hats?
Of course, the dominant international diamond and jewel traders (thus they are involved with “blood diamonds”) are the Khazar Ashkenazi Hasidic Jews. While dominant in more than a few industries today, back in Khazaria and later in Europe, they were the chief players, sometimes the only players, in commercial enterprises such as brewing, and, of course, later in distilling. The early pioneers in manufacturing and marketing of alcoholic beverages were often Khazar Jews.

“In the ‘dark age,’ the commerce of Western Europe was largely in Jewish hands, not excluding the slave trade, and in the Carolingian cartularies Jew and Merchant are used as almost interchangeable terms.” Dr. Cecil Roth, World History of the Jewish People.

Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam were lambasted and criticized by the Zionist dominated media for daring to publish, with heavy documentation, the history of Jews and the African slave trade. The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews (by an anonymous writer or group of writers) is quite well researched and very difficult to refute.

ED Noor: When I visited Jewtown in Kochi, Kerala, India, several years ago I found it deserted. and was told that the traders had left once Israel was founded but had lived there, in the heart; of Indian spice growing land for a thousand years. I was also informed that many Jews had moved up into the Western Mountains were they took over the lucrative spice, sandalwood and tea plantations.

Bene Israel Family at Bombay, circa 1900. Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906

Cochin (Kochi) Jews, circa 1900. Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.

Ezra Joseph Gubbay

The Sephardic Jews were among the earliest sea traders, sailors, shippers and ship owners, as were their Semitic cousins, the Phoenicians. With co-religionists in almost every port in the world, they got the goods reliably delivered when international shipping was an extremely risky business, and before the modern insurance industry began.

ED Noor: Please note that, per agenda of divide and conquer utilized so effectively by today's Khazars Zionists, little or no mention is ever made of the white slave trade, primarily Irish, to America!

Above, Irish sugar slaves were usually simply worked to death as part of the Irish genocide.. Most information found on slavery pertains to black slaves only, or, in m,ore modern incidences white sexual slavery.

heir involvement in the profitable human cargo trade was a natural development of their extensive trade and shipping connections. Both Sephardis and Ashkenazis were prominent in the slave trade. Today, it is the lucrative and despicable sex slave trade that holds their interest.

Make the Khazarian connection.

Some of their main families, exemplified by the Rothschilds as well as other Illuminati bloodlines, consisted of slavers, war profiteers and exploiters, then as now.

White sex slaves

.

HOW THE KHAGHANATE WAS GOVERNED.

Before moving on, we say a few words about the Khazar monarchy. Its ruler was the Khaghan, an emperor or high king (related to Khan, also rendered as khakhan, khaqan, etc.). He was a ceremonial figure of sorts, and a spiritual leader as well. Curiously, this old Khazar title may still be with us in the Judaic name, Kagan. The Khaghan was head of state, but not head of government.

Another important character was the Begh, a Shogun-like grand vizier or generalissimo figure. This is a curious job. As would a Prime Minister, along with a council of ministers, the Begh conducted everyday business, yet was also the military commander-in-chief. But at other times, he seems more like a co-monarch, sometimes styled as the Khaghan Begh. Of course, this “begs” the question and makes the relationship even harder to fathom. In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and other places, the old title is still used for some tribal leaders. Koestler tells us more.

“All this does not explain the startling division of divine and secular power, apparently unique in that period and region. As Bury wrote: ‘We have no information at what time the active authority of the Chagan was exchanged for his divine nullity, or why he was exalted to a position resembling that of the Emperor of Japan, in which his existence, and not his government, was considered essential to the prosperity of the State.’ A speculative answer to this question has recently been proposed by Artamonov.

“He suggests that the acceptance of Judaism as the state religion was the result of a coup d'état, which at the same time reduced the Kagan, descendant of a pagan dynasty whose allegiance to Mosaic Law could not really be trusted, to a mere figurehead.

“This is a hypothesis as good as any other ~ and with as little evidence to support it. Yet it seems probable that the two events ~ the adoption of Judaism and the establishment of the double kingship ~ were somehow connected. Before the conversion the Kagan was still reported to play an active role ~ as, for instance, in his dealings with Justinian. To complicate matters further, the Arab sources sometimes refer to the ‘Kagan’ when they clearly mean the ‘Bek’ (as ‘kagan’ was the generic term for ‘ruler’ among many tribes), and they also use different names for the Bek….”

In some ways, the supreme monarch’s role seems ceremonial and minimal, but this is not consistent, and may have varied, depending on the personality and goals of those who came to the throne. As we shall see, some played the dominant role in diplomatic affairs. We also know that the Khaghan made a required ceremonial appearance before the people every four months, but the record is vague about other functions.

When he appeared before the people, did he grant audiences? Did he make proclamations? Alas, we do not know.

We might assume he had some sort of veto power if the Begh failed in his tasks. This curious relationship was not always consistent. The Begh was the supreme military leader, but some Khaghans were known to take the field at the head of their troops. Other than the curious “co-rulers”, Khazaria was, more or less, a traditional monarchy. It also had a shamanistic priesthood, a warrior caste (probably the Begh came from this class) and an aristocracy (the “White Khazars” or Aq Khazars), but we know little more.

HISTORICAL SIDEBAR: DID THE ANCIENT KHAZARS RITUALLY SLAY THEIR KING?

As the Khaghan was also a spiritual leader, some strange rituals grew up around him and his role. Koestler tells the tale.

“There is no evidence of the Khazars engaging in religious persecution, either before or after the conversion to Judaism. In this respect they may be called more tolerant and enlightened than the East Roman Empire or Islam in its early stages.

“On the other hand, they seem to have preserved some barbaric rituals from their tribal past. We have heard Ibn Fadlan on the killings of the royal gravediggers. He also has something to say about another archaic custom regicide: ‘The period of the king's rule is forty years. If he exceeds this time by a single day, his subjects and attendants kill him, saying ‘His reasoning is already dimmed, and his insight confused’.

"...Istakhri has a different version of it: When they wish to enthrone this Kagan, they put a silken cord round his neck and tighten it until he begins to choke. Then they ask him: ‘How long doest thou intend to rule?’ If he does not die before that year, he is killed when he reaches it.”

“Bury is doubtful whether to believe this kind of Arab traveler’s lore, and one would indeed be inclined to dismiss it, if ritual regicide had not been such a widespread phenomenon among primitive (and not-so-primitive) people. Frazer laid great emphasis on the connection between the concept of the King's divinity, and the sacred obligation to kill him after a fixed period, or when his vitality is on the wane, so that the divine power may find a more youthful and vigorous incarnation.

Sir James Frazer wrote a special treatise on these lines on "The Killing of the Khazar Kings" (Folklore, XXVIII, 1917). It speaks in Istakhri's favour that the bizarre ceremony of ‘choking’ the future King has been reported in existence apparently not so long ago among another people, the Kok-Turks. Zeki Validi quotes a French anthropologist, St Julien, writing in 1864.”

“When the new Chief has been elected, his officers and attendants ... make him mount his horse. They tighten a ribbon of silk round his neck, without quite strangling him; then they loosen the ribbon and ask him with great insistence: "For how many years canst thou be our Khan?" The king, in his troubled mind, being unable to name a figure, his subjects decide, on the strength of the words that have escaped him, whether his rule will be long or brief.”

“We do not know whether the Khazar rite of slaying the King (if it ever existed) fell into abeyance when they adopted Judaism, in which case the Arab writers were confusing past with present practices as they did all the time, compiling earlier travelers’ reports, and attributing them to contemporaries.

However that may be, the point to be retained, and which seems beyond dispute, is the divine role attributed to the Kagan, regardless whether or not it implied his ultimate sacrifice. We have heard before that he was venerated, but virtually kept in seclusion, cut off from the people, until he was buried with enormous ceremony. The affairs of state, including leadership of the army, were managed by the Bek (sometimes also called the Kagan Bek), who wielded all effective power.”

As previously observed, this is all a bit frustrating due to its inconsistency. Some Khaghans not only led their troops, but presided over sensitive diplomatic negotiations and treaties. The Khazar king was also a spiritual leader, so we examine this dimension next.

THE KHAZARS AND RELIGION.

“The Chasars professed a coarse religion, which was combined with sensuality and lewdness.” ~ Heinrich Graetz, History Of The Jews, 1892.

Like kindred tribes, their old religion was primitive shamanism sometimes even involving human sacrifice. But, change was in the air. History records that in the middle of the Eighth Century (c.740), the Khaghan, along with the Begh, their ministers and close advisors, made a carefully calculated geopolitical decision about a state religion.

This had become a sticking point in foreign affairs.

While fighting Muslims in crucial battles at certain times, the Khazars also had many of the Islamic faith, not only within their borders, but as mercenaries in their multicultural army. Bulan even have made a half-hearted conversion from shamanism to Islam (c.737), making the religious situation even more confusing. Apparently, if it happened at all, it was largely symbolic, involving only the Khagan, who was said to have quarreled with the Imams about their strict dietary rules.

“At first sight, the statements that the Khaghan became a Muslim in A.D. 737 and Judaized three years later are, to say the least, remarkable.” Dunlop, p. 86.

CHRISTIAN KHAZARS?

There was apparently an ongoing Christian presence. Certainly they must have interacted with Christian merchants and maybe missionaries and other travelers on their trade routes.

An Armenian bishop is said to have preached in the area around 682. While he likely converted a few, there is no record of a diocese being established or priests coming to start mission churches. However, this was right in the middle of two Khazar-Arab wars, so the timing was not ideal. As to how deep the Christian roots were planted is a wide-open question. But, apparently, some did get baptized, and there are ongoing references to Christian Khazars.

“The Khazars evidently had the qualities of a Jack-in-the-Box, derived from their Turkish origin, or Mosaic faith, or both. Cedrenus [the chronicler] also says the name of [a] defeated Khazar leader was Georgius Tzul. Georgius is a Christian name; we know from an earlier report that there were Christians as well as Muslims in the Khaghan’s army”. Koestler, pp. 129-130.

Essentially, all of Europe owes an unacknowledged debt to Khazaria. The Khazars repelled two massive Islamic jihads from the powerful and aggressive Abbasid Caliphate. Without a doubt, in due course, they would have continued into Europe.

If you have not realized it yet, Europe has always been and still is the target of the global Islamic world jihad, bringing about a whole planet in submission to Islam, Allah, the Koran and Shariah Law.

ED Noor: The above sentiment is from the author and does show the more international and ancient aspects of the Khazar/Jew struggle with the Arab and Christian peoples.

The first Khazar-Arab war lasted from 642 until 653; the second from 732 to 737. In both endeavors, they repelled the Muslim invaders, and the Abbasid Caliphate turned its eyes elsewhere.

 

THE KHAZAR CONVERSION.

So as we see, the Judaic conversion came in a time of war and upheaval as Khazaria was surely and certainly beset by the Muslim armies.

Turning Christian was out of the question. Not only would this have put them in a compromising position with both the Vatican and Byzantium, but more importantly, would have insulted the Muslims. What were they to do?

Bulan, the Begh and their ministers set out to remedy the situation. While some writers say it never really happened, they reportedly brought in Greek philosophers, Christian Bishops and evangelists, Islamic Mullahs and Faqihs, and rabbis from Baghdad and Babylon for debates and dissertations about their respective faiths.

Whatever the facts may be, the decision was already made. Indeed, we must opine that Judaism did not just suddenly appear right before the great debate.

According to several sources, a rabbi was already resident at the Khaghan’s court. This may reflect an earlier date (c.721), for the beginning of Judaic influence at the top levels of power. This was through oriental Jews, from already existing communities like those in Persia, Baghdad and Byzantium.

While the decision to convert was made behind the scenes, for the sake of appearances, the other religions were brought in for the famous theological dispute.

So, after an appropriate deliberation period, the Khaghan, and thus his nation, converted to Judaic Talmudism. Rabbis were imported for the appropriate rites. Hundreds, maybe thousands of the pagan shamans and members of the elite classes were mass ordained (some then, some later) as Cohens or Levites (Hebrew priestly caste and sub-caste).

It is to be expected that some of the rabbis, as well as other oriental Judaics and their families, stayed on to nurture the faith, training lay teachers and rabbis from among the Khazars. And, of course, they must have intermarried, at least to some degree.

While this could mean that a drop or two of semi-Semitic blood entered the gene pool, it was minimal.

Moreover, oriental Judaic Sephardic bloodlines were already mixed and mottled, e.g., with Canaanites, Edomites, Idumeans and a host of other regional tribes from there to Egypt and up and down the Arabian Peninsula.

Essentially, the Sephardim

are Arab Jews

or Judaized Arabs,

whichever you prefer.

While neither ethnic group really wants to hear about it, Jews and Arabs are intermixed. Did you know that Yemen, like old Khazaria, once had a monarch and upper classes that converted?

Beginning c.390, it became a Judaic kingdom for a time, called Himayar. Like in other parts of ancient Arabia, there were already Judaic tribes of one kind or another living there. Some of Muhammad’s early jihads were against Arab Jews since most of them refused to follow the new prophet.

John Tiffany had some interesting quotations and comments in his Barnes Review article on the Khazars, including an account by an Arab historian which contains some interesting information.

“According to a Moslem account found in al-Bakri’s Book of Kingdoms and Roads, written in the 11th. Century, it [the conversion] happened in this way:

“‘The reason for the conversion to Judaism of the king of the Khazars, who had previously been a pagan, is as follows. He had adopted Christianity. Then he recognized its falsehood and discussed this matter, which greatly worried him, with one of his high officials. The latter said to him,

“‘Oh king, those in possession of sacred scriptures fall into three groups. Summon them and ask them to state their case, then follow the one who is in possession of the truth.’

“So he sent to the Christians for a bishop. Now there was with the king a Jew, skilled in argument, who engaged him (the bishop) in disputation. He asked the bishop: ‘What do you say of Moses, the son of Amran, and the torah which was revealed to him?’

“The bishop replied: ‘Moses is a prophet and the torah speaks the truth.’ Then the Jew said to the king: ‘He has already admitted the truth of my creed. Ask him now what he believes in.’

“So the king asked him and he replied, ‘I say that Jesus the Messiah is the son of Mary, he is the Word, and he has revealed the mysteries in the name of God.’

“Then the Jew said to the king of the Khazars: ‘He preaches a doctrine which I know not, while he accepts my propositions.’ But the bishop was not strong in producing evidence.

“Then the king asked for a Muslim, and they sent him a scholarly, clever man who was good at arguments. But the Jew hired someone who poisoned him on the journey, and he died. And the Jew succeeded in winning the king for his faith, so that the embraced Judaism.’ ~ Tiffany, John, “The Khazars ~ Non-Semitic Jews,” The Barnes Review, Vol. III, No. 7, July 1997.

talmudic.

The coming of the Talmudic religion to Khazaria began with the upper classes. It took time for the faith to spread among the common people. While it eventually did grow and flourish, in the beginning it was still in a multicultural milieu. For example, in a stance befitting its status at an international trade crossroads, and since mercenaries of many religions served in the Khazar military, a tolerance for Christianity and Islam continued. Perhaps the folk in more remote locations continued on with their shamanism, or as is done with most new religions, blended and incorporated the old beliefs with the new.

Dr. Koestler tells us a bit about the beginning of the decline of the empire in the mid to late 900s. But their new religion did not really decline at all. By that time, their Khazarian brand of Judaism was well entrenched. Even when the Kievan Rus were asserting their own sovereignty, and just before they stopped paying tribute to the Khaghan, the Khazars tried to prevent this by religiously recruiting the ruler. As history shows, this sometimes does the trick, but in the case of the Kievan Rus, it was not to be.

“The first non-Arab mention of Khazaria after the fatal year 965 seems to occur in a travel report by Ibrahim Ibn Jakub, the Spanish-Jewish ambassador to Otto the Great, who, writing probably in 973, describes the Khazars as still flourishing during his time. Next in chronological order is the account of the Russian Chronicle of Jews from Khazaria arriving in Kiev AD986 in their misfired attempt to convert Vladimir to their faith.” Koestler.

As we see, while Kiev was essentially treated as a fiefdom from which to extort tribute, many Khazars settled and lived there, long before the coming of the Rus. And even after the decline of their empire, there was still a significant presence. Kiev was commonly called the “City of the Jews”.

PART TWO

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!