Dear members of the medieval-religion list:
It is a little-known fact that during early medieval times the
rabbinical Jewish religion flourished in the eastern edge of eastern
Europe, in a Turkic kingdom called Khazaria.
If you would like to learn more about the Khazar kingdom's adoption of
Judaism, there are many good articles and books available. For a
bibliography of sources, visit
"Section 6: Religious Practices and Influences in Khazaria"
http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-biblio/sec6.html
Some contemporary quotes about the conversion are reproduced at
http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-quotes.html
A detailed discussion of the Khazar adoption to Judaism is discussed in
chapter 6 of my new book "The Jews of Khazaria" (published by Jason
Aronson Inc. Publishers of Northvale, New Jersey, United States). There
is even a peculiar archaeological site in northern Serbia, known as
Chelarevo, that includes burials of Avars and/or Khazars in which many
Jewish engravings were found. Additionally, Judaism was found among
segments of the Alani people and possibly also among small numbers of
Kipchak Turks and Seljuks. Judaism had already for many centuries existed
in the region, in places like Bulgaria, the Crimea, and the Caucasus.
Khazaria is also notable for its religious tolerance and for keeping a
general "pax chazarica" in a turbulent era. The fate of the religious
composition of the East seems to have been determined by the conversion of
Prince Vladimir of Kievan Rus to Christianity in 988, and the similar
adoption of Christianity by Hungarians and Poles. But we should not
neglect the lesser-known religious experiences in medieval Europe.
Kevin Brook
[log in to unmask]
Author, "The Jews of Khazaria" (ISBN 0-7657-6032-0), 1999;
Compiler, "Bibliography of Khazar Studies 1895-1999",
http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-biblio/toc.html
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