Jewish kingdom in Russia – 100 times larger than Israel

More than 1,000 years ago, there was a Jewish kingdom, which was about 100 times larger than Israel today. It was called Khazaria and was located in southern Russia, in the area of Caucasus mountains. There is still an ethnic minority in Lithuania, which is linked to that kingdom – namely the Karaims.

In the 7th century a Turkish tribe conquered the area between the Caspian and Black Seas. Within a few years the people group became known as the Khazars. Their kingdom blossomed more than 1,000 years ago and became the largest Jewish state in history. From the 700s to the 900s, kings with Hebrew names such as Menasheh and Hanukkah ruled the country. They considered themselves descended from the biblical tribe of Simeon.

It is likely that Jews had already lived in the Caucasus before that period of time, as historical documents confirm that they had sought out the area after the time of the Babylonian captivity. It is claimed that Jews from the Caucasus during their visits to the Passover festivals in Jerusalem, met with the first Christian congregation. Some of them came to faith and likely invited the disciples Andrew, Bartholomew, and Thaddaeus to come over and do missionary work in the region. These were sent by the congregation in Jerusalem, where Jacob, then served as the senior pastor. 

The church planting activities in Caucasus were successful and resulted in the adoption of the Christian faith as the state religion in Armenia (301), present-day Azerbaijan (325) and in Georgia (326).

In the 7th century, the Khazars conquered the territory, which stretched across the entire Volga region, the North Caucasus and parts of southern Russia. Their capital was called Ityl and was located on the Volga Delta, not far from today’s Astrachan.

The Khazars converted to Judaism

In the first part of the 8th century, the king of the Khazars decided to abandon his pagan faith and adopt Judaism as the state religion. According to the historical documents, this happened in the year 740 AD. This is an interesting example of how Jewish societies at different times influenced the surrounding world in different contexts.

The king who converted to Judaism was called Bulan. To give the faith a more practical and religious foundation, he invited rabbis and teachers of the Talmud from Babylonia and the Crimean peninsula to teach the new faith. They founded synagogues and religious schools and taught the Torah to the Khazarian people, who thus gained a solid foundation in Judaism for several generations to come. 

For several decades, the king ruled over southern Russia. In its most prosperous time, the country covered a territory that was about 100 times larger than Israel today. It is however supposed that the population of the ethnic Jews in the state never exceeded 35 000. From the 700s onwards, the Khazar kingdom was able to act as a buffer zone between Byzantium and the increasingly strong Islamic kingdoms in the border zones between Europe and Asia.

The historic Atlantis?

In the 10th century, the Abbasid Empire expanded its influence and Byzantium also grew so strong, that they began to threaten the Khazar monarchy. According to the Soviet explorer and geographer Lev Gumiljov, the water level in the Caspian Sea rose at the same time, so that almost 2/3 of the Khazar Empire was flooded.

The important cities of Ityl and Belendjer became an Atlantis of the Caspian Sea, weakening the empire to the point that Russia was able to invade it. Despite the defeat of the Khazars, the Khazar Empire remained a Jewish state until the Mongols invaded Russia in the mid-13th century.

Many Khazars fled after the defeat to Eastern and Central Europe. The majority were scattered in the Slavic areas, where they participated in the developing of Jewish centers in Eastern Europe. The Turkish-related language Karaic (Cagataish) was the language of the Jewish Khazars. It is still spoken by a people group called Karaims in parts of Poland, Hungary and Lithuania. In the Lithuanians’ old capital Trakai, one of their old synagogues is still preserved and can be visited even by tourists.

The history of the Karaim in Lithuania began with King Vytautas the Great. His portrait can be found in almost every Karaimi home. After a war against the Mongol Golden Horde in the Crimea 1397, he brought 380 Karaimic families to Trakai and gave them a better future. There are still over 200 ethnic Karaims in Lithuania, of whom almost 100 still claim to be fluent in the language. Their official number in Poland is just over 100 people.

Several of those who migrated from Eastern to Central Europe to avoid forced baptism – among  other things – are still called Khazars or Karaims. They are probably direct descendants of the inhabitants from the Khazar Empire. Some of them also fled to northern Hungary, where you can find villages, which have preserved their Khazarian names, such as Kozar and Kozardie.

Ashkenazi Jews

There are also unconfirmed theories about historical connections between the so-called Ashkenazi Jews and the Khazar Empire. Several well-known Jewish people, such as Golda Meir, Menachem Begin and Chaim Weizmann, are usually counted among the Ashkenasi Jews, as they had their roots in Belarus. The Khazar Empire did however not extend quite that far northwest, but it cannot be ruled out that several of the ancestors of Eastern Jews may still originate from the areas of historical Khazaria.

The greatness of the Khazars coincided with the Viking Age in Scandinavia. The Khazar Empire was then – between the 700s and 900s – an influential political power. It competed with the Muslim Caliphate and Byzantium for greatness. 

Historical evidence

Archaeology has revealed many signs between the Khazars, Byzantium and the North. In the written chronicles of the North, the name ”Rus” first appeared in 839. In the quoted accounts it was written, how many Northerners tried to get home from Byzantium through the Frankish Empire.

A Swedish daily newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, recently wrote, how a discovery of 471 coins was made 2008 in Sigtuna, Sweden, with the youngest coins dating back to the Khazar Empire. Gert Rispling, the best expert on Arabic coins in the Nordic countries, considered the discovery a sensation.

Rispling also discovered in 2002 the first tangible evidence of the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism. Among the 14,000 coins in a huge cache of tax money found on the Swedish island called Gotland, Rispling found a coin with the inscription: ”Moses is God’s messenger.” Arabic coins, on the other hand, read: ”Muhammad is the messenger of God.” The reverse side of the former coin can be clearly associated with the Khazars.

(AI-translation from Swedish version)

Rauli Lehtonen

The article about the Jewish kingdom of Khazaria by Rauli Lehtonen has earlier been published in the newspapers Världen Idag (The World Today), Israels Vänner (Friends of Israel) and on the website of the Israeli Embassy in Sweden. It has also been published in Lähetysviesti (Message of Missions) and Uusi Yhteys (New Unity) in Finnish and on the Finnish and Swedish blog www.raulilehtonen.com and already read by more than 3000 readers.

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