Wednesday, May 02, 2012
New Test for Khazaria Royalty
Nadene Goldfoot
Israeli scientist Dr. Eran Elhaik from John Hopkins University has discovered autosomal signature of the Khazar aristocracy and royalty. Khazars were of Turkish origin, it is thought. They would be the royal family and 4,000 nobles that converted to Judaism in the Empire of Khazaria, which was very large in most of South Russia, in the lower Volga region, going as far as Kiev. which was very powerful from the 8th to the 10th centuries CE. Their King Bulan lived from 786-809 CE. The Khazars had teamed up with Attila the Hun around 452 CE. They fought in company with the Black Huns (Hungarians) and Alans. The Tartars had invaded in 1237, putting an end to the empire. Italians referred to the empire as Gazaria.
Descendants of Khazars have been found among Crimea Karaites, Krimchaks and Jews of Eastern European origin, the latter of which my family comes from. Our grandfather came from Telsiai, Lithuania.
The Jewish population in the entire Khazaria between the 7th and 10th centuries must have been considerable. Caucasian and other Oriental Jews had lived and carried on business with Khazars before the arrival of Jewish fugitives from Christian conversion from Greece in 723 by the Byzantine Emperor Leo. Two Spanish Jews, Judah ben Meir ben Nathan and Joseph Gagris lived in Khazaria. A German Jew living there was Isaac ben Eliezer. It was he who brought a letter to the king. Isaac ben Abraham moved there from Sura. Rahdanite Jewish merchants coming from Spain or France went through the land near the Caspian Sea. These merchants spoke Arabic, Persian, Greek, Spanish, French and Slavonic and traveled continuously from west to east and vice versa by sea and land. They carried with them eunuchs, serving-maids, boys, silks, furs, swords, imported musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon and other things from the Far East.
This study by Dr. Elhaik comes from Alfred Freddy Krupa. He tells me that to get involved, you need to add your own data set (autosomal raw data from FTDNA Family Finder or Relative Finder of 23 and Me). This is to check to see if you descended from Khazar aristocracy by the way of autosomal DNA.
This information is pertinent for people tested for DNA who are of the Q haplogroup and are Jewish or have Jewish connections, at least discovered through dna. We happen to be Q1b1a, and it's possible we are from this royalty. That's not to say that the E haplogroup or the R haplogroup isn't the main body of royalty there. Hopefully, this test will tell us something. Since our haplogroup makes up only 5% of the male Jewish population, being so small makes me think we could be from this special group of people.
Update: 2/24/14 The latest report is that there is no evidence that Ashkenazi Jews were from Khazaria. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/study-finds-no-evidence-of-khazar-origin-for-ashkenazi-jews/2014/02/23/
Resource: Alfred Freddy Krupa
http://www.rockethub.com/projects/7471-the-khazar-dna-project
New Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia.com 1906 edition
Books to read: The Jews of Khazaria 2nd edition by Kevin Alan Brook, published in 2006
The Thirteenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler, published in 1976
Israeli scientist Dr. Eran Elhaik from John Hopkins University has discovered autosomal signature of the Khazar aristocracy and royalty. Khazars were of Turkish origin, it is thought. They would be the royal family and 4,000 nobles that converted to Judaism in the Empire of Khazaria, which was very large in most of South Russia, in the lower Volga region, going as far as Kiev. which was very powerful from the 8th to the 10th centuries CE. Their King Bulan lived from 786-809 CE. The Khazars had teamed up with Attila the Hun around 452 CE. They fought in company with the Black Huns (Hungarians) and Alans. The Tartars had invaded in 1237, putting an end to the empire. Italians referred to the empire as Gazaria.
Descendants of Khazars have been found among Crimea Karaites, Krimchaks and Jews of Eastern European origin, the latter of which my family comes from. Our grandfather came from Telsiai, Lithuania.
The Jewish population in the entire Khazaria between the 7th and 10th centuries must have been considerable. Caucasian and other Oriental Jews had lived and carried on business with Khazars before the arrival of Jewish fugitives from Christian conversion from Greece in 723 by the Byzantine Emperor Leo. Two Spanish Jews, Judah ben Meir ben Nathan and Joseph Gagris lived in Khazaria. A German Jew living there was Isaac ben Eliezer. It was he who brought a letter to the king. Isaac ben Abraham moved there from Sura. Rahdanite Jewish merchants coming from Spain or France went through the land near the Caspian Sea. These merchants spoke Arabic, Persian, Greek, Spanish, French and Slavonic and traveled continuously from west to east and vice versa by sea and land. They carried with them eunuchs, serving-maids, boys, silks, furs, swords, imported musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon and other things from the Far East.
This study by Dr. Elhaik comes from Alfred Freddy Krupa. He tells me that to get involved, you need to add your own data set (autosomal raw data from FTDNA Family Finder or Relative Finder of 23 and Me). This is to check to see if you descended from Khazar aristocracy by the way of autosomal DNA.
This information is pertinent for people tested for DNA who are of the Q haplogroup and are Jewish or have Jewish connections, at least discovered through dna. We happen to be Q1b1a, and it's possible we are from this royalty. That's not to say that the E haplogroup or the R haplogroup isn't the main body of royalty there. Hopefully, this test will tell us something. Since our haplogroup makes up only 5% of the male Jewish population, being so small makes me think we could be from this special group of people.
Update: 2/24/14 The latest report is that there is no evidence that Ashkenazi Jews were from Khazaria. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/study-finds-no-evidence-of-khazar-origin-for-ashkenazi-jews/2014/02/23/
Resource: Alfred Freddy Krupa
http://www.rockethub.com/projects/7471-the-khazar-dna-project
New Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia.com 1906 edition
Books to read: The Jews of Khazaria 2nd edition by Kevin Alan Brook, published in 2006
The Thirteenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler, published in 1976
Labels: DNA test, Dr. Eran Elhaik, John Hopkins U., Judaism, Khazaria, Royal Family
