False Narratives: "The Khazarian Mafia"
The Khazarian theory, although centuries old, was brought into modern mainstream consciousness by Arthur Koestler’s 1976 book “The Thirteenth Tribe”.
In his book, “Koestler advances the thesis that Ashkenazi Jews are not descended from the historical Israelites of antiquity, but from Khazars, a Turkic people originating in and populating an empire north of and between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Koestler's hypothesis is that the Khazars - who converted to Judaism in the 8th century - migrated westwards into current Eastern Europe (primarily Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Hungary and Germany) in the 12th and 13th centuries when the Khazar Empire was collapsing.”1
Koestler’s motive for writing the book is revealed in his authorized biography:
"[Koestler ('Thirteenth Tribe')] was convinced that if he could prove that the bulk of Eastern European Jews (the ancestors of today’s Ashkenazim) were descended from the Khazars, the racial basis for anti-Semitism would be removed and anti-Semitism itself could disappear."2
Additionally, the evidence his book is based on is debatable:
"The theory was almost entirely hypothetical and based on the slenderest of circumstantial evidence, but swept away by its iconoclastic and subversive potential, and influenced by the work of the Russian-born Israeli historian Abraham Poliak, Koestler transformed possibility into probability, arguing that the Khazar contribution to the genetic makeup of modern Jews was “substantial, and in all likelihood dominant.”3
Further data calling the evidence into question, the Encyclopedia Britannica states:
“Textual witnesses dating from the 9th and 10th centuries claim the Khazars adopted Judaism in the 8th century. These texts are not without problems, however, and lack of archaeological or other physical evidence indicating a mass conversion has called both the extent and historicity of this conversion into doubt.”4
Another issue regarding the conversion, is that of timing:
“The khakan and his chieftains were captured and compelled to embrace Islam (737), and till the decay of the Mahommedan empire Khazaria with all the other countries of the Caucasus paid an annual tribute of children and of corn (737- 861).”5
“The dynasty accepted Judaism {c. 740), but there was equal tolerance for all, and each man was held amenable to the authorized code and to the official judges of his own faith."6
It strikes me that the Mahommedan empire would not take kindly to a defeated enemy converting to another religion just three years after conquering and forcing their conversion to Islam.
Khazaria was a trading hub between many nations:
The merchants of Byzantium, Armenia and Bagdad met in the Khazarian markets of Itil, and traded for the wax, furs, leather and honey that came down the Volga.
It is stated that Jews, expelled from Constantinople developed the Khazar trade. This appears to have occurred in the reign of Leo III (717–741) during his persecution of Jews, but I have not been able to find any specific mention of the “expulsion” of Jews.
Not long after the Varangians united the scattered Slavs and formed a new nation (Russia-862), Oleg, the Russ prince of Kiev, passed through the Slav tribes of the Dnieper basin with the cry "Pay nothing to the Khazars" (884).7
The principality of Tmutarakan, founded by Mstislav (988), replaced the kingdom of Khazaria, the last trace of which was extinguished by a joint expedition of Russians and Byzantines. (1016).8
Another modern source supporting the Khazarian theory, is a series of articles on the website “Veterans Today”. These articles assert a number of “facts” and references to information (when given) which I would consider questionable.
Some assertions are:
It’s a well-established historical fact that Khazaria was destroyed by both Russia and Persia (now Iran) in approximately 1250 AD, and with good reason.9
This contradicts both the year Khazaria was destroyed and the forces that did it according to Britannica - by some 230 years. Dr. James gives no reference or citation for his assertion. If it was such a “well-established historical fact”, why is there such a disparity between Dr. James assertion and the Britannica entry?
In my opinion, the use of the “well-established (historical) fact” without any references reeks of propaganda.
“It is now known for certain from peer-reviewed genetic studies done at Johns Hopkins that Khazarians carry absolutely no ancient Hebrew blood and are not Semites at all, and never were.”10
The study referred to is a 2012 study, “The missing link of Jewish European ancestry: contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian hypotheses” by Eran Elhaik.
Less than a year later, in 2013, a massive study of the Jewish genome, a worldwide effort of geneticists, both Gentile and Jewish - “No evidence from genome-wide data of a Khazar origin for the Ashkenazi Jews” concludes:
“No particular similarity of Ashkenazi Jews with populations from the Caucasus is evident, particularly with the populations that most closely represent the Khazar region. Thus, analysis of Ashkenazi Jews together with a large sample from the region of the Khazar Khaganate corroborates the earlier results that Ashkenazi Jews derive their ancestry primarily from populations of the Middle East and Europe, that they possess considerable shared ancestry with other Jewish populations, and that there is no indication of a significant genetic contribution either from within or from north of the Caucasus region.”11
This study confirmed the findings of studies that were done prior to Elhaik’s.
Here are a few of them:
“Admixture estimates suggested low levels of European Y-chromosome gene flow into Ashkenazi and Roman Jewish communities . . . Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations were not statistically different. The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities during and after the Diaspora.”
The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East
The study found that Ashkenazi Jews in particular “share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in Eastern Europe, Germany and the French Rhine Valley. This is consistent with Jewish traditions in placing most Jewish paternal origins in the region of the Middle East.”
"We find that the Jewish populations show a high level of genetic similarity to each other, clustering together in several types of analysis of population structure. Further, Bayesian clustering, neighbor-joining trees, and multidimensional scaling place the Jewish populations as intermediate between the non-Jewish Middle Eastern and European populations."
The conclusions of these studies speak for themselves, and in my opinion should put the Khazarian origin theory to rest.
That is not to say that some Khazar Jews didn’t escape into Eastern and Western Europe, but the histories of Cicero (106BC-43BC), Josephus (37AD-100AD), and Socrates of Constantinople (c.380AD-439AD) pre-date the Khazarian story, and detail the actions and behaviors of Hebrews/Pharisees/Jews in Europe and the Middle East which are similar to the stories told about the so-called “Khazarian Mafia”.
Most of the “Khazarian Mafia” tales appear to be historically accurate, and have documentation to back them up - they’re just misattributed to an entity, that, in my opinion, doesn’t exist.
“The Thirteenth Tribe: Arthur Koestler”, Amazon Editors, amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/Thirteenth-Tribe-Arthur-Koestler/dp/0945001428
Scammell, Michael. Koestler (p. 546). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Ibid., 546
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Khazar". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khazar
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Khazars". Encyclopedia Britannica, ELEVENTH EDITION, Vol. 15 p.775, 1911
Ibid., 775
Ibid., 775
Ibid., 775
“Khazarians Then, Khazarians Now”, Preston James, Ph.D, Veterans Today, https://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/09/05/khazarians-then-khazarians-now/
Ibid.
Behar, Doron M et al. “No evidence from genome-wide data of a Khazar origin for the Ashkenazi Jews.” Human biology vol. 85,6 (2013): 859-900. doi:10.3378/027.085.0604