Is it true that the majority of modern Israeli's are askenazi jews that came from the Khazar region?

Question

Some historians, normally referred to as anti- semitic, suggest that the modern day Israelis are decendant primarily from a race called the askenazi who converted to Judaism- thus having no direct links to the area they now inhibit. Does this claim have any validity?

Answer 1

well, this is an incredibly complicated question. for starters, you refer to "modern-day israelis" now modern-day israelis, if you define israeli as a person who lives in and/or a person who claims to be decsended from someone who lived in the political entity known as israel, then modern-day israelis would encompass not only jews, but the christians and muslims that reside within the political boundaries of israel and their posterity. for the purposes of this question i will assume you are referring to the jewish population of modern-day israel, and only to those currently residing in israel.

Askenazi judaism, to simplify, refers to the yiddish variety of judaism, with most Askenazi jews hailing from northern and eastern europe, as well as the United States more recently. askenazi is the largest variety of judaism. Now, although I dont have hard data on the percentage of modern israelis that are askenazi, I would assume it to be a high percentage, due to the massive post-ww2 migrations of european jews to the nation of israel, and also due to the more or less recent wars between israel and neighboring states that forced many non-Jewish nationalities to leave the state of israel.

The next problem would be who counts as a "real" Jew. According to jewish traditon, any one who formally converts to judaism or is born of a jewish mother (convert or not) is condsidered a jew. There is a huge gray area surrounding the differences between being of Jewish faith, and Jewish race, but Jewish tradition treats both converts and those born into jewish families, as well as those born to a jewish mother who do not practice judaism to be jews, i will also.

Simply speaking, if you trace family lineages back far enough, at some point you will find a convert to the particular religion of the family. It would come down to how many generations back must the conversion be before it is considered legitimate? Because this is true for everyone and every religion, it is not a valid argument for proving the legitimacy of someone's religious claims. Not to mention, that since jewish traditon considers converts to be just as jewish as those born into the religion, this is a moot point.

In summary, the claim that most modern-day israelis are askenazi jews is more than likely true. it is also highly likely that at some point all of the askenazi jewish familys converted to judaism. However, just because at some point in the past there was a conversion would not make the decendants of said convert any less entitled to what the jews consider their right to the land in question.

of course, i am interpreting "having no direct links to the area they now inhabit" as meaning that they do not possess the historical right to the land that jews claim as their reasoning for the creation of the state of israel. As for actually, physically residing on the land, no, most european jews probably still have stronger ties to europe than they do to the middle east, but that is more a function of the relatively recent creation of the state of israel than an anciet race of converts.

Answer 2

Almost certainly not. First it isn't really clear that the Khazaris ever were Jewish - the court was, but in many countries at this time, it took centuries for a religion practiced in the court to become the dominant religion of the people, and the court didn't stay Jewish for all that long. The extent to which the Khazar population embraced Judaism has long been debated. There is no evidence for any Khazari words being adopted into Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish, or any other languages used by Jews in the medieval period, also no evidence of Khazari traditions or myths being adopted into Jewish customs. These are things you would expect if most Jews were descended from this population.

There is extensive and really undisputed evidence that Jews were living in most parts of Western and Central Europe before the Khazars converted. There's no good reason to assume that all of these communities were suddenly displaced by immigrants from central Asia, and no evidence for such an event.

It is more likely that the Khazars, and any Jewish practices they may have picked up, were absorbed into their native region. For instance, the Pashto, a major tribe of Afghanistan, are Moslems, but some follow Jewish traditions rare in the Islamic world, such as circumcision on the 8th day. This may indicate descent from Khazars, who ruled most of modern Afghanistan for an extensive period, or a practice the Pashto picked up under Khazar rule.

Lastly, DNA studies in recent years have confirmed that Ashkenazi Jews possess characteristic Middle Eastern genetic markers, as well as genetic ties to the Sephardic Jews,

The most prominent modern advocate of this theory was Arthur Koestler, a respected intellectual, but not a trained historian, archaeologist, or anthropologist. Since Koestler, the theory has intermittently been adopted for anti-Zionist political purposes. No trained scientist in the fields above that I know of currently believes this claim.

Answer 3

Nope maximum Ashkenazi Jews have been kicked out of Israel via the Romans. and then they have been kicked around in the time of Europe. those Ashekenazi Jews in simple terms like Sephardic, Mizrahi and Beta Israel, all have Semitic blood. basically some Russian Jews have Khazar Blood in them, or maybe those ones are additionally of Semitic Descent, in simple terms like numerous the different Jews you're quite grasping at straws right here, are not you seem, i'm an Ashkenazi Jew , and that i've got some quite stable Semitic effective factors. whether there is a few Khazar in me besides, i won't be in a position to deny the certainty that I honestly have Semitic effective factors (nostril, dermis shade, physique hair, etc...) which as quickly as ought to end that the my ancestors got here from the midsection East, and because i'm Jewish, those ancestors just about easily got here from Israel, in simple terms like very just about another Jew in existence.

Answer 4

DNA evidence show that ashkenazi Jews have a large fraction of their DNA of non middle eastern origin so either there was a lot of conversions or intermarriage or both. Since I live in the US I find it hard to support the Idea that having ancestors that occupied a land 2000 years ago is what gives people the right to occupy it, so I think the question of origin is irrelevant.

Answer 5

there were loads of nomadic tribes...

however the reason why "israel" is "israel" is the exile from egypt to the commune now known as jerusalem....

whether these were jewish or not (and i dont believe they were)
the laws were written in this new commune in line with their belief in monotheism.......
this might have been the torah, as moses was meant to have received instruction from god for these new laws...
but the torah also includes the first 5 books of the old testament (which the christians also believe in)

i reckon it was all a mix and match
and the jewish claim to that territory might just be as viable as muslims and christians

Answer 6

Yes , most of modern Israelis have no origin in Palestine.
To be allowed to settle in the State of Israel as a jew you only need prove that one of your grandparents was jewish

Answer 7

no idea