Customer Reviews

The Jews of Khazaria

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3 star:		(4)
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Brook does an excellent job in broaching this topic that many have attempted before him, and I'm sure many will attempt after. Considering how little is known about Khazaria, how much history has been either censored or re-written by the former Soviet Union, and the relatively sparse amount of archaelogical work that has been conducted in the region, Brook brings much information to light, detailing the tribal and linguistic origins of the Khazars. In comparison with Koestler's "The Thirteenth Tribe," Brook's work is more about presenting facts than coming to conclusions.

I would encourage everyone interested in this book, this subject and in modern Judaism in general to remember that 'conclusions' are based on current and past knowledge, not on future discoveries. Sarkel is still under water and will continue to be for the foreseeable future -- who knows what information it holds? People have been twisting the ideas and findings discussed in "The Thirteenth Tribe" and "The Jews of Khazaria" to promote hatred for Jews for quite some time. That's not the purpose of these works, as Arthur Koestler himself addressed at the end of "The Thirteenth Tribe."

I've also used the bibliography to further my own knowledge, although I have found that many of the sources are out-of-print.

I look forward to learning more about the Khazars, who they were and who they became -- for today, I highly recommend Brook's "The Jews of Khazaria." It is excellently written, a fascinating work and will open it's readers eyes to some lesser known history.

Savor it, but don't rush to judgement!

The book not only traces the history of the people of Khazaria, brings the latest archeological data and links between Khazars and East European peoples it highlights every detail of their conversion to Judaism, their political and religious influence, their military might. Indeed everything is supported by a comprehensive set of documents and articles. Very rich bibliography although it'd be good to see more visual material (maps, etc.). Great effort to deliver an exciting aspect of our history.

The book aims to capture the history of Khazaria, a Jewish state near the Caspian sea that reigned between the 7th to 11th centuries, starting as a small tribe and growing in size and in power. The book is primarily based on archival and linguistic discoveries. The author starts in 650 AD when migration patterns westward and wars with the Muslim forces from the south brought to the fore of history the Khazar empire. Khazaria was located roughly between of present day Hungary from its east and Persia in its west. The Khazars, originally nomads known for their fierce fighting tradition, defended their region and became a loose state about mid 6thcentury.

The controversy about Khazar Jews and their intermingle with Jews in Lithuania, Poland and Rumania is discussed at the conclusion of the book. First, the author describes other incidents when non-Jewish tribes converted and became "children of Moses". Examples are brought from the Avars and Cumans in Europe, Edmoites in the middle east, and the "Children of Moses" in Ethopia, sometimes known as the Falshas.) Then author then contends that it is quite possible that Khazar Jews, now disbursed amongst several nations, intermarried with "local" or "genuine" jews, most notably in Lithuania as well as in Poland.

The book is somewhat `academic' in its discussion, but very readable. The book boasts in using "archeological" finds in its discussion; in fact, it mentions only a few such finds. It further fails to include maps, documents and other images that would have made it more interesting and `real'. Nonetheless, the writing is not `heavy' and the organization is intuitive. Each chapter can be read separately and the footnotes are worth gleaning over. Although some maps appear at the end of chapter 2, and some tables appear at the ends of chapters 3, 4 and 7, they hardly help illustrate the rich history narrated within the chapters.

For genealogists who are interested in the controversial around the origins of dark-hair or red-hair jews in Lithuania and Poland, I recommend reading a couple of introductory chapters and then skimming through to the end. For history buffs, I recommend reading the whole book and perhaps use a map to aid in the reading as there are numerous references to battles, invasions and travel routes that would be much easier to understand with a map at hand.

This is not an intro-to-genealogy or a how-to-start-genealogy book. I found the subject of Khazaria and the Jewish diaspora, and the narrative in The Jews of Khazaria enriching and expanding my 15 years of family history work. Therefor, I mostly recommend this book for genealogists with at least 5 years experience, with some idea about the origins of the families that arrived from the Pale of Settlement; Of course, independently, the subject of the empire of Khazraia is a rich with history and glamour. I find that the narrative of Khazaria and its place in Jewish history well narrated by Brook.

Being turkish myself, I have always found the friendship between jews and turks very warm and interesting (and many of my friends are jewish). I knew the Ottoman Empire accepted 150.000 jews during Sultan Suleyman (Solomon) II in 1492 - when Spain chose to expel them - and that modern Turkey has close military ties with Israel; but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought than an entire Turkish kingdom converted to Judaism and allowed jews from all over the world to settle and build a strong kingdom. What a fascinating and extraordinary positive event!

Kevin Brooks has written a very valuable book on not only the origins of some of the Eastern European Jews, but also on Turkish history. Anybody with an interest in Jewish and turkish history needs to read this "first encounter" between jews and turks, which has cemented a friendship that existed in many different forms since then.

Türker Kara (Denmark)

While I believe that this book is a must-read insofar as gaining an understanding of Khazaria goes, I do not believe, as the author contends, that this population survived in the numbers that he suggests. Most recent Mitochondrial and Y-Chromosome mapping work that has been done on Ashkenazi Jews suggests that the overwhelming majority of the progenitors of this population were middle-eastern in origin. The rest of the genome suggests that an intermarriage and conversion rate that could not have been more than one percent per generation. A mass influx of survivors from the fall of the Khazarian empire just doesn't fit into the genetic picture.

The other big problem is that when Mr. Brook traces various customs of modern Ashkenazi Jews to Khazaria, even when explicit evidence exists that these customs existed hundreds of years earlier. One such example is the Mezuzah (a small parchment that is rolled up and affixed to the doorpost of Jewish homes).

Even the linguistic evidence is sometimes wanting. The Turkic, or Ugric words that are traced to Khasarian origins could have come into the Yiddish vocabulary from any number of outlets. The Turkic language family was quite wide-spread across Asia well into the sixteenth century, and is still quite large. Jews were and continue to be in contact with dozens of members of this language group.

Lest I sound overly harsh, while some evidence is wanting, this book has enormous assets. The exploration of Khazarian culture, and the fact that this Jewish population existed are well presented. There are no apologetics and it is an honest investigation into a difficult topic. I believe that anybody would be well served by reading it, even though I disagree with the conclusions that are drawn.

Brook has accomplished what no-one since D.M. Dunlop (in his 1954 "History of the Jewish Khazars") has been able to do: He has written a comprehensive, up-to-date, scrupulously researched and scholarly account of the amazing history of the Khazars. Better still, he has done so in a manner that is accessible to the layman as well as to historians.

Brook, a layman himself (albeit a lay expert), has meticulously collected thousands of tidbits of historical knowledge and lore from a myriad of primary and secondary sources

Brook's first edition (published by Jason Aaronson in 1999) was a masterpiece in and of itself, but it was flawed by the certainty of certain controversial assertions (such as that the conversion of the Khazars took place in 861) which have, over the course of only a few years, become outdated by dramatic new discoveries in numismatics and archaeology. This second edition of Brook's magnum opus corrects many errors and also includes information on new discoveries, organized into convenient, intuitive and well-cited sections (including "The Origins of the Khazars", "The Khazars' Conversion to Judaism", and "Relations between the Khazars and other People".)

Khazar history is brought to life through discussions of trade, religion, daily life, language, and many other issues. Anyone interested in Jewish, Eastern European or Eurasian history, or anyone who fancies themselves a polymath, would be remiss if they failed to purchase and read this book.

Histories of peoples with little about them in the historical record and few artifacts uncovered, are of course difficult to compile and risky to make absolute assertions about. The most important previous book about the Khazarians, The Thirteenth Tribe, was published in 1976 by the novelist Arthur Koestler. It's a good read, and has the novelist's enthusiastic engagement with the subject matter. However, Koestler had an ax to grind, the thesis that all or most eastern European Ashkenazic Jews were descended not from the Jews of Palestine but from the Khazarians, and as often as he could he bent, misunderstood and apparently occasionally fudged the historical record to fit his thesis, which current DNA testing has disproven. Kevin Alan Brooks' book is a work of solid research, layered with sources, quite readable for an academic study, and like most academic works very careful in its assertions. I recommend it for anyone interested in the period, from about the eighth century to the 11th, and the place, between the southern Caucasus Mountains and the Volga River, between the Black Sea and the Crimean, in the steppes just east of what we consider "Europe," in the "-stans." Among other things, we learn about the Khazarians' origins, their character as nomads, traders, and fierce horsemen warriors, their conversion to Judaism, their politics and wars with the Arabs the Christian church, and with surrounding tribespeople (Bulgars, Magyars, Alans, et cetera), and their eventual fall to the Rus. The book was of particular interest to me because my DNA shows the Khazarian stamp, a Q haplotype, which is relatively rare among Ashkenazi Jews. After reading this book, I was ready to buy a horse and select an armorer.

Most histories of Eastern European/Western Asian Jewry begin, essentially, in the 1200's or 1300's. Kevin Brooks argues that a very large portion of Ukranian and (to a lesser degree) Russian/Lithuanian/Hungarian Jewry descends from converts to Judaism among the Khazars, a Turkic tribe of the 8th to 11th Centuries. The book is a real tour de force and demostrates a mastery of the material along w/ a love for it.The thesis of the book, that a large portion of Ashkenazic Jewry is descended from 9th Century Turkic converts, will offend many traditionalist Jews. They will attempt alternate explanations to avoid Brooks' conclusion. For example, they might argue that the (apparently) large numbers of Khazar Jews resulted from an influx of Byzantine and other 9th Century Jews who took refuge with the Khazars and blended w/ them. This could help avoid the "descent from converts" emphasis.In private correspondence w/ Brooks, he acknowledges that other hypotheses than his are feasible and suggests that DNA testing might be the only way to settle the issue.The discussion of the Khazar diaspora after the late 10th Century, from its base in the Crimea and far north Caucusus to north Russia, Lithuania, Hungary and the Balkans is fascinating. Further work in this area is sure to follow.Brooks has indicated to me that he intends to follow up this masterwork with further insights. I am certainly anxious for that.Again, this book provides a look at some aspects of Jewish history that are usually skipped over very lightly. READ IT and profit therefrom!

There are those who write history and those whom make it. Kevin Allen Brook is both. This long awaited book was worth the wait. I myself have been researching the Khazars for a few years on the Internet, books and many other sources. This book is a must for any researcher or even one that just loves history.

I received my copy only a few nights ago and have now completed it. I was amazed on how well this book read. There was so much to learn it was incredible. I know I will be referring to this book more and more as I continue my own research. Kevin, it was worth every ounce of energy that you have given this book. The one part of the book that I was very happy to see was the Turik words and definitions in the back of the book. Also it references whether the word is Turik, Rus, and Magyar.

So what have I learned for my own research. I have learned that many Khazars fled to Spain and till this day there still might be some living there. This opens a new avenue for me to look at. One side of my family is German but they came from Spain. The other side of the family is from the Odessa region in what was Khazaria. Thank you Kevin for opening my eyes.

The Jews of Khazaria recounts the history of the kingdom of Khazaria,
located in Eastern Europe, examining its status as a world power from
650-1016. Students of early Jewish history will appreciate this college-level survey, which considers not only the Khazaria state but the rise of Jewish communities in the eastern European region.