The Thirteenth Tribe

Author: Arthur Koestler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781939438188
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
This book traces the history of the ancient Khazar Empire, a major but almost forgotten power in Eastern Europe, which in the Dark Ages became converted to Judaism. Khazaria was finally wiped out by the forces of Genghis Khan, but evidence indicates that the Khazars themselves migrated to Poland and formed the cradle of Western Jewry. To the general reader the Khazars, who flourished from the 7th to 11th century, may seem infinitely remote today. Yet they have a close and unexpected bearing on our world, which emerges as Koestler recounts the fascinating history of the ancient Khazar Empire. At about the time that Charlemagne was Emperor in the West. The Khazars' sway extended from the Black Sea to the Caspian, from the Caucasus to the Volga, and they were instrumental in stopping the Muslim onslaught against Byzantium, the eastern jaw of the gigantic pincer movement that in the West swept across northern Africa and into Spain. Thereafter the Khazars found themselves in a precarious position between the two major world powers: the Eastern Roman Empire in Byzantium and the triumphant followers of Mohammed. As Koestler points out, the Khazars were the Third World of their day. They chose a surprising method of resisting both the Western pressure to become Christian and the Eastern to adopt Islam. Rejecting both, they converted to Judaism. Mr Koestler speculates about the ultimate faith of the Khazars and their impact on the racial composition and social heritage of modern Jewry. He produces a large body of meticulously detailed research.

The Khazars

Author: Mikhail Zhirohov
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472830113
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 50

Book Description
The Khazars were one of the most important Turkic peoples in European history, dominating vast areas of southeastern Europe and the western reaches of the Central Asian steppes from the 4th to the 11th centuries AD. They were also unique in that their aristocratic and military elites converted to Judaism, creating what would be territorially the largest Jewish-ruled state in world history. They became significant allies of the Byzantine Empire, blocking the advance of Islam north of the Caucasus Mountains for several hundred years. They also achieved a remarkable level of metal-working technology, and their military elite wore forms of iron plate armour that would not be seen in Western Europe until the 14th century. The Khazar state provided the foundations upon which medieval Russia and modern Ukraine were built. Fully illustrated with detailed colour plates, this is a fascinating study into the armies, organisation, armour, weapons and fortifications of the Khazars.

The Invention of the Jewish People

Author: Shlomo Sand
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 178168362X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
A historical tour de force, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a groundbreaking account of Jewish and Israeli history. Exploding the myth that there was a forced Jewish exile in the first century at the hands of the Romans, Israeli historian Shlomo Sand argues that most modern Jews descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In this iconoclastic work, which spent nineteen weeks on the Israeli bestseller list and won the coveted Aujourd'hui Award in France, Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel's future.

The Jews of Khazaria

Author: Kevin Alan Brook
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1442203021
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Book Description
The Jews of Khazaria chronicles the history of the Khazars, a people who, in the early Middle Ages, founded a large empire in eastern Europe (located in present-day Ukraine and Russia). The Khazars played a pivotal role in world history. Khazaria was one of the largest-sized political formations of its time, an economic and cultural superpower connected to several important trade routes. It was especially notable for its religious tolerance, and in the 9th century, a large portion of the royal family converted to Judaism. Many of the nobles and commoners did likewise shortly thereafter. After their conversion, the Khazars were ruled by a succession of Jewish kings that began to adopt the hallmarks of Jewish civilization, including the Torah and Talmud, the Hebrew script, and the observance of Jewish holidays. In this thoroughly revised edition of a modern classic, The Jews of Khazaria explores many exciting new discoveries about the Khazars' religious life, economy, military, government, and culture. It builds upon new studies of the Khazars, evaluating and incorporating recent theories, along with new documentary and archaeological findings. The book gives a comprehensive accounting of the cities, towns, and fortresses of Khazaria, and features a timeline summarizing key events in Khazar history.

Darkness at Noon

Author: Arthur Koestler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Moscow Trials, Moscow, Russia, 1936-1937
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Book Description

The Origin of Ashkenazi Jewry

Author: Jits van Straten
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110236060
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Book Description
Where do East European Jews – about 90 percent of Ashkenazi Jewry – descend from? This book conveys new insights into a century-old controversy. Jits van Straten argues that there is no evidence for the most common assumption that German Jews fled en masse to Eastern Europe to constitute East European Jewry. Dealing with another much debated theory, van Straten points to the fact that there is no way to identify the descendants of the Khazars in the Ashkenazi population. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the author draws heavily on demographic findings which are vital to evaluate the conclusions of modern DNA research. Finally, it is suggested that East European Jews are mainly descendants of Ukrainians and Belarussians. UPDATE: The article “The origin of East European Ashkenazim via a southern route” (Aschkenas 2017; 27(1): 239-270) is intended to clarify the origin of East European Jewry between roughly 300 BCE and 1000 CE. It is a supplement to this book.

From Babylon to Timbuktu

Author: Rudolph Windsor
Publisher: Windsor Golden Series Publication
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description

The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel

Author: Andrew Tobolowsky
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009089137
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Book Description
The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel is the first study to treat the history of claims to an Israelite identity as an ongoing historical phenomenon from biblical times to the present. By treating the Hebrew Bible's accounts of Israel as one of many efforts to construct an Israelite history, rather than source material for later legends, Andrew Tobolowsky brings a long-term comparative approach to biblical and nonbiblical “Israelite” histories. In the process, he sheds new light on how the structure of the twelve tribes tradition enables the creation of so many different visions of Israel, and generates new questions: How can we explain the enduring power of the myth of the twelve tribes of Israel? How does “becoming Israel” work, why has it proven so popular, and how did it change over time? Finally, what can the changing shape of Israel itself reveal about those who claimed it?

THE BOOK OF EPHRAIM

Author: Yahoshuah Israel
Publisher: Booklocker.com
ISBN: 9781647183943
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Book Description
The book of Ephraim is about the thirteen tribes of ancient Israel and, particularly, the 10 lost tribes that went into Assyrian slavery 131 years before the better known Babylonian captivity of the Southern kingdom called the Kingdom of Judah. The northern 10 tribes where known as the Kingdom of Israel. Unknown to most the Nation of ancient Israel split into two kingdoms after King Solomon's death and for hundreds of years quarreled and warred with each other. Although the southern kingdom of Judah returned from Babylonian captivity after 70 years, the 10 tribes of which Christ Yeshua (Jesus) refers to in the New Testament as the "lost sheep of the House of Israel", never returned to the holy land. The Book of Ephraim follows the biblical narrative as the tribes led by Moses develop from a mass of newly freed slaves into a loose assembly of Houses mostly governed by their own Princes. Under King David they are molded into a strong powerful nation. Under King Solomon Israel finally flourishes. It illustrates how the one nation eventually breaks up into two warring kingdoms and both kingdoms lose their way and descend into idolatry and finally are brutally scattered to the four winds, as prophet after prophet prophesied to the people would happen. It shows the connections to them and the historic and current day persecutions of western hemispheric descendants of Africa and particularly the birthright tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim was the second born twin of Joseph of the bible. He was born in Egypt, the land that his father was sold into slavery by his brethren but rose up to be a ruler in the land second only to Pharaoh. It explains that this little known tribe has always been the birthright tribe yet has been lost to history and forgotten and not unintentionally. The Book of Ephraim also speaks to the sacredness of name of the Almighty which every prophet testified to yet this ancient memorial name has been purposely pushed aside and the word "god" exalted in its place. It magnifies the memorial covenants established between the Ancient Nation of Israel and Yahovah their deliverer and how these covenants were violated and brought about the wrath of the Almighty until He removed them out of his sight. Among other things the Book of Ephraim quotes many of the holy books like the Muslim Holy Quran, the Ethiopian Kebra Negast and the Bible of Christianity in its search for answers to the age old questions that haunt every black man and woman in their quest for justice and equality. And finally it delivers the reader to a controversial conclusion that is impossible to dispute. REVIEWS Mr. Israel's book is the evidence of a remarkable awareness of Ethiopian ancient history and our historical legends that are the foundation of the church. The Kebra Negast and the prophecies of the bible records these legends that are not known to the world as yet but with his book I am sure they will come in to prominence. -- Abuna Paulos, Patriarch of Ethiopia The Book of Ephraim highlights biblical passages and prophecies that before now were unknown. It reveals many mysteries that have gone unknown until now. -- Girma Wolde-Giorgis President of Ethiopia

Who is Esau-Edom?

Author: Charles A. Weisman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Anglo-Israelism
Languages : en
Pages : 136

Book Description