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I would also like to have your views on the 13rd Tribe by Arthur Koestler,if you have read it.
I have been reading a book which deals with Khazars and the
Jewish impact on Anatolian culture. My grand parents are originally from the region formerly called Khazaria.I am a Turk.Please don't get me wrong,I have no any racist motives.

2007-06-09 23:16:20 · 9 answers · asked by edd 3 in Travel Africa & Middle East Israel

9 answers

It all depends on your perspective. Judaism can be viewed in terms of a religion, a race, and also a cultural group. The Khazars converted to Judaism, as a religion, but they would not otherwise fall within the confines of being either Ashkanazi or Sephardic. If you practice Judaism and trace your lineage back to the Jewish Khazars, then you would be considered Jewish in Israel (though there might be some Zionist hardliners who would debate the issue).

2007-06-09 23:49:47 · answer #1 · answered by Curious1usa 7 · 2 0

That book has been thoughroghly dismissed by any reputable historian who has any sort of expertise in Jewish history.
The book postulates that all Ashkenazi Jews currently in the world (about 80% of all Jewry) are mostly descended from Khazar converts to Judaism. This is not true.
As is the case, even though Koestler did not intend on it, his work has been appropriated by anti semites who wish to further their anti semetism by claiming that Jews today are not "really Jews" (which is illogical, but then again, since when are they?).

As is the case with any person who may have Jewish lineage... if there is no concrete proof that that person has Jewish lineage (namely, one is Jewish through one's mother and they'd have to prove that that was the case up their line) then one has to conclude that they are not Jewish. They can convert to Judaism regardless.

Another interesting thing is that many historians beleive that only the nobility of the Khazars converted to Judaism and not the general population.

Another thing to note is that the legal policies of the State of Israel do not determine who is a Jew, that is left for Jewish religious law.

2007-06-10 03:43:22 · answer #2 · answered by BMCR 7 · 1 0

First off the Khazar link as a significant portion of Ashkenazim has been absolutely decimated by modern genetic evidence that links The vast majority of those Jews with Middle Eastern heritage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/science/14gene.html?ex=1294894800&en=d17eda8e09ca32a4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html

Secondly, Yes even a Jewish convert who has no Israelite heritage is accepted under the law of return as a full Jew in Israel. Provided that it was a certified convertion.

2007-06-10 17:19:12 · answer #3 · answered by Gamla Joe 7 · 0 0

Khazarian Jews (if they still exist) would be accepted as Jews in today's Israel.

However, Koestler's book has proven to be incorrect by DNA analysis of modern day Ashkenazim, they share more mitochondrial DNA (which doesn't change down the centuries) with Sephardi Jews and other Middle Eastern people than any non-related group.

2007-06-11 05:49:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

I have read the book of Arthur Koestler. Many Rabbis admit about the Khazar tribe, and are ok with it. Judaism is a religion and it doesn't matter who were your ancestors, as long as you convert they have no problem in Israel.

2007-06-10 06:43:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3 0

Not all Jews of today are descedants of the Khazar tribe, many Jews today are converts to the religion of Judaism from many different backgrounds. Sephardic Jews don't come from the Khazar tribe, but if you are refering to Biblical times, most of the Jews (Israelites) of today have no relation to them. Infact many were forced to convert to either the Catholic religion or to Moslem.

Yes Jewish Khazars are regarded as genuine Jews in Israel. But not all modern Jews are from Khazar. Look at the falashas as ivri_anochi points out there are white, black and oriental including Latin American Jews today who probably don't trace back to Khazars.

2007-06-10 05:29:28 · answer #6 · answered by Kane 4 · 2 0

I believe you that you have no racist moves, but you are alluding to a line used by rabid anti-Semites.

The Jewish people are not a race, but rather an religio-ethnic group.

As such, they accept members who meet certain criteria, involved with religious belief ad commitment. One becomes Jewish by studying and undergoing a religious conversion.

There are white Jews, black Jews and oriental Jews. There are Jews who trace their ancestry to Russia, Yemen, Germany, Libya, America, and just about every place in the world you can think of.

.

2007-06-10 01:31:36 · answer #7 · answered by Ivri_Anokhi 6 · 3 1

you're so ignorant. that's an previous study that makes use of purely 17 (i think of that is 17) str markers. Even informal amateur on line admixture analyses use extra suitable than one hundred markers! in any case, Ashkenazim in all probability have some Roman ancestry, yet roman does not compromise all of their ancestry. there is not any organic race- no ethnicity descends entirely from one inhabitants. we are all mixed, alongside with Jews. however the main ancestral component in Ashkenazim is center eastern, it is going to be unable to be denied. you would be unable to deny technological know-how.

2016-11-09 23:55:28 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

Sure they are regarded as genuine Jews.

2007-06-10 08:21:43 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

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