Why do many Jews find it so threatening to accept the historical fact that the Khazar Kingdom adopted Judaism?

Question

In the 10th century Khazaria (located near present day Russia) adopted Judaism as their religion and followed the rabbinical faith.

Khazaria was later destroyed by the Christians which led the Khazar Jews to be dispersed throughout Europe.

Why are so many Jews afraid of accepting the history of these Jewish converts ?

Is it threatening to them to admit that a huge number of European Jews are more closely related to Atila the Hun than to Abraham and Isaac ?


http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=slv1-&p=khazar+kingdom


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Answer 1

Nah- we all lknow very well that the Khazars converted, and the disputation between the Jews, Muslims and Christians which resulted in the Khazars converting was recorded in a book called Sefer Khuzari.

What we get irritated by are the ignorant (and frequnetly neo-Nazis) who somehow think that a bunch of Mongols (alternatively Turks- the exact racial heritage of the ancient Khazars is subject to conjecture) converting somehow means that every Jew from Europe is descended form them. It is a bizaare and blatantly incorrect theory from the historical, geographical and, more recently, the genetic data available- but anti-Semites seem to like and trot this out as if suddenly invalidates the Jewishness of Ashkenazi Jews.

Answer 2

As far as I know, most Jews aren't threatened by this information. I don't think that the fact that many of the Khazars converted (following the lead of their king) means that the majority of Jews today are their descendants -- there's just too much evidence to the contrary. And the only people I see throwing this theory around seem to be white supremacist groups; not exactly the most impartial source on information about Jews!

In any event, we don't hide the story of the Khazars. On the contrary, one of the most popular philosophical texts among religious Jews today is the Kuzari, written by Rabbi Yehuda Helevi, and it recounts the discussions that that king of the Khazars had with several different clergymen over which was the correct religion. Being more persuaded by the Rabbi than by the Imam or the Philosopher (feel free to make your own joke about the four of them walking into a bar), he converted to Judaism. And many of his subjects followed his lead.

In any event, there have always been converts to Judaism, including Ruth (great grandmother to King David), Onkelos (a famed biblical commentator), and the parents of the sage Rabbi Akiva, to name a few. Their conversions don't make them any less Jewish, because being Jewish isn't in your blood, it's in your soul. It can be imparted by a Jewish mother, or by a proper conversion.

I hope this helps clear things up.

Answer 3

Jews have no problem accepting that Khazars converted. Why do you Jew haters keep claiming they do?

European Jews look nothing like the Khazars who were a Turkish people and if you knew anything about other cultures you would know Turks look like Chinese people. So how many Jews look Chinese?

Anyways Judaism is a religion, not a race, anyone can be a Jew. When Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt, he also took thousands of Egyptians with him who converted to Judaism along with the Israelites. In the Tanakh(Old Testament) people from the surrounding nations converted as did thousands of Greeks.

Answer 4

I don't know a single Jew who finds this threatening. A convert is a Jew and a descendant of Abraham regardless of his anticedents. Khazars were Jews. Get over it. The only people getting worked up about this are anti-Semites.

Belzebot: Jews did not "appropriate" the term "anti-Semitism". It is Arabs who are trying to appropriate it now to promote the lie that Jews were never persecuted. "Anti-Semitism" was a term invented by German anti-Semites as a more "scientific" code word for the hatred of Jews. They used it in reference to Jews, not Arabs or other Semites. If you think it's historically inaccurate, that's certainly not our problem.

Answer 5

those are the most important variations between Judaism and Xianity: Jews have self assurance that one human being can not die for the sins of yet another human being. Jews have self assurance that we do not pick a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Jews have self assurance that Jesus changed into no longer the messiah. Jews have self assurance that God hates human sacrifices. Who died on the go? changed into it Jesus-the-god, or changed into it Jesus-the-human? If it changed into Jesus-the-god, Jews don't have self assurance that God can die. If it changed into Jesus-the-human, then all Christians have contained in the inability of life of Jesus turned right into a human lack of life, a human sacrifice. Jews have self assurance that God hates the very concept of human sacrifice. Jews have self assurance that one is born into the international with unique purity, and by no skill with unique sin. Jews do no longer have self assurance in unique sin. Jews have self assurance that God is one and indivisible. Jews do no longer have self assurance in a trinity. Jews have self assurance contained in the devil, yet no longer in a devil. there's a distinction between The devil and the devil. Jews have self assurance that God is God, and people are people. God does no longer grow to be human nor do people grow to be God.

Answer 6

Because they want to believe that they're descended from Abraham, not some Central Asian Turk.

The ultimate irony is that even though most Jews aren't Semites, they have appropriated the term "anti-semitism" to refer only to the hatred of Jews, and not people like Arabs or Babylonians.

Answer 7

Oh please. Threatened? Hardly. Bored out of my mind? Now there you go. This theory has been around for a long time and, like crabgrass, keeps coming up even when it's been thoroughly trashed.

And in any event, no one cares. We're Jewish, we're here, and Israel will be around forever. Am Yisrael Chai!!

Answer 8

Do I find it threating?

Nope, not in the slightest. Dose that mean I a Khazar? Not a chance.

Modern DNA analysis has already dispelled the Khazar theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazars#Alleged_Khazar_ancestry_of_Ashkenazim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews#DNA_clues
I always find it funny that it is the anti-zionist Muslims that constantly use this line. Then again they are good at convincing themselves to believe lies.

Answer 9

many people forget/ignore or do not know this information, but you are correct. Most eastern European Jews are in all likelihood their descendants, whether or not they are also descendant from ancient Israel Jews.