The Jews had their own empire?

Kek

...

>muslim population
>with jewish monarchs
No wonder they didn't last.

you meant pagan population, right?

Especially considering the majority was Pagan. Not even 5% of the Khazars were Jewish, and most of the population that was Jewish were from all over Europe because it was a haven for Jews. Only the nobility of Khazar even converted, this whole "Jews are Khazar" meme is old at this point. It started from some 19th century eugenicist

Yeah but it didn't last long with no one to leech off of.

a story I've heard went like this

both the byzantines and the caliphate wanted the khazars to convert, the khazar leader didn't want to insult the 2 big empires on his front door so he asked both representatives a question: "which is the best judaism or islam/christianity (he asked about the religion of the other) and since both answered judaism he declared that he and his nation would convert to judaism

also the khazars are a touchy subject for jews worldwide because there have been theories that all modern jews aren't descendants of the original tribes but rather descendants of the khazars and thus not "true" jews

>also the khazars are a touchy subject for jews worldwide because there have been theories that all modern jews aren't descendants of the original tribes but rather descendants of the khazars and thus not "true" jews

It's a stupid theory considering the half the sources we have on the Khazars being Jewish were forged by Spanish Jews. People who hate Jews yet source this forged letter from a "Khazarian King" who somehow wrote in perfect Sephardic Hebrew is used as evidence even though it has proven to be a fraud. This is why people can't take it seriously.

Huh...just like the black irish.

>t all modern jews aren't descendants of the original tribes
European """jews""" certainly aren't. Some Jews who remained in the Levant probably are.

You're both idiots. DNA analysis shows that Ashkenazi Jews are basically 50/50 West Asian/European (Mostly Italian, Central European, and Northern European) and are closely related to Sephardic Jews.

You would literally have to deny massive amounts of DNA evidence to advance the Khazar hypothesis or deny the relationship between Ashkenazis and Sephardis.

>European """jews""" certainly aren't

This. I see these white people claiming to be Jewish when there is no way they just look white. A Russian Jew is just a russian, a British Jew is just British. It's simple. They have no links to the middle east they are just British people who practice Judaism, etc.

Fucking 5 star post

>You would literally have to deny massive amounts of DNA evidence to advance the Khazar hypothesis or deny the relationship between Ashkenazis and Sephardis.

From where, (((geneticists)))?

Shlomo Sand already exposed and blew those theories out the water. Eran Elhaik's evidence is irrefutable. They are confirmed to be the descendants of the Khazars, whom converted en masse.

So are the Khazars remnants of the Gökturks, similar to how the Oghuz tribes split from them and made their own thing in Transoxiana?

A Russian Jew and a British Jew are genetically speaking more similar to each other than to Russians and Brits respectivly

>Shlomo Sand already exposed and blew those theories out the water. Eran Elhaik's evidence is irrefutable.
Actually both were heavily criticized for their flawed methodology. There are other studies and the majority of them proves that Khazar hypothesis is false.

Theodoro

>c. 650–c. 1048
actually it is breddy gud in steppenigger standards.

Khazars were on the verge of extinction by being wiped out by Mongols, so they converted to Judaism to avoid persecution.

Khazars were Turkics and spoke a Turkic language "Ak" and "Kara" are both Turkic words.

Yiddish is a Turkish language?

Yiddish is Germanic, and Slavic, AND Romantic, with Semitics elements. There are numerous types of Yiddish, from Czech Yiddish, to Slavic Yiddish, to German Yiddish. In the end the Yiddish languages coalesced more-or-less, and created the language we have today. Furthermore they all wrote in a Hebraic script.

user, I think you need to stop being edgy and actually do your (((research))) instead of regurgitate a single (((geneticist's))) already debunked hypothesis.

They converted so they could Mercenary themselves to both Christians and Mooselimbs.

The elite of the Khazar state may have converted to Judaism - the sources are thin, so it's not really clear - but most of the population was of varying religions, and Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Paganism/Shamanism were apparently all practiced openly. Like many nomadic empires, the elite for whom the state was named was probably fairly small, ruling over a population composed of various peoples of different languages and religions (i.e. Turkic peoples, Magyars, Alans, etc.).

We don't really know why the Khazar elite decided to convert, but IMO it probably has something to do with the fact that they bordered and were threatened by both the (Christian) Byzantines and the (Muslim) Caliphate. To convert to either Christianity or Islam would have made them permanent enemies with one of those two empires. Judaism presumably offered a "middle ground," an Abrahamic religion which was recognized (at least in the sense of being "better than paganism") by both the Emperor and the Caliph. Alternately, "official Judaism" may have been a means to be seen as neutral by the khanate's own subject peoples, who were mostly Christians, Pagans, and Muslims.

they also converted to islam and orthodox christianity, pretty much at the same time

they didnt realy get, or maybe, they got it perfectly, how the conversion game works, and the khaganate didnt impose religion on the population so 90% of the population remained whatever they were, the elite also didnt seem to show much actual conversion, they seem to have done that stuff as a token diplomatic thing, like when they would have to deal with constantinopole some nobles would agree to get baptized, when they would ally with some muslim tribes some noble would agree to loose his foreskin

the khagan himself was mostly a placeholder, a official figure whos function was mostly ceremonial or religious, the real rulers were the warrior caste nobles, so as long as the khagan declares himself a something thats enough, simbolicaly the entire khaganat is '''''converted'''''

there was a large ashkenazi population there tho, they settled in costal areas mostly, then as the whole thing fell apart they moved on to eastern and central europe

Another factor might have been the influence of Radhanite Jews, due to their role on the Silk Road:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhanite

>khagan was a place holder
So they prevented their empire collapsing by making weak khagans as useless as strong khagans

Good points.

Basically, Khazaria wasn't a "Jewish Empire" so much as "A poly-ethnic, poly-religious pastoral/nomadic confederation which had some of its nobles/elites convert to Judaism for reasons that were probably strategic."

Ironically the medieval era was probably the one time African kings could look without much envy upon Europe and MENA.

well it was a formal function, noble families ruled the thing they just had some process by which certain political functions were distributed and the role of the actual khan or whatever was realy just to ceremonialy fill that place and maybe do some diplomacy and serve as a legal institution or something, while the actual power was in the hands of the military commander which was one of the nobles

the whole setup was probably a way to prevent wars of succesion

its similar to most modern parlamentary democracies, the president is the head of state, but the premier suposedly runs shit

IS this from user's Benin expedition?

>WE

>Bronze plaque of Benin Warriors with ceremonial swords. 16th–18th centuries, Nigeria.
>16th–18th centuries,

Not impressive desu

yeah it's called the USA

Basically UK