- What happens when someone tries
to revise the history of your people?
This is something that Ashkenazi Jews face
due to a false, but
oft-repeated academic theory
about their ancestral origin.
What is this debunked origin story?
Why are some people sharing it?
And what does it say about Ashkenazi Jews
and more importantly,
those who are spreading
disinformation about them?
First, some necessary background info.
The two largest communities
or denominations
within Judaism are
Sephardim and Ashkenazim.
Today's Sephardim, or Sephardic Jews,
are the descendants of
the Jews who arrived
on the Iberian Peninsula
after the Babylonian
and Roman exiles, before fleeing
to Southern Europe, the Balkans,
and North Africa after
the Alhambra Decree,
a record that is not contested.
Ashkenazim, or Ashkenazi Jews,
are those whose ancestors
arrived in the Danube Valley
and Rhineland areas after the Roman exile,
with some accounts dating
as far back as 321 CE,
but there are some who call
these historical events into question.
A hypothesis dating back
to the late 1800s states
that Ashkenazi Jews are all
descendants of the Khazars.
In the 600s CE in southeast Russia,
a multi-ethnic conglomerate
of Turkic people
founded a powerful state made up
of people from many different ethnicities.
This was the kingdom of Khazaria.
The theory goes that
in the eighth century,
the Khazar ruling class converted en masse
to Judaism on the
instruction of their ruler.
According to this line of reasoning,
these Jews didn't migrate from Jerusalem
and Babylonia into France
and Germany, but rather migrated
from modern Russia and Ukraine.
The lack of proof for the
theory hasn't prevented it
from catching on with a
number of geneticists,
historians, linguists, and laypeople.
It even has support from academics
at universities in Tel Aviv,
and Sheffield, England.
The problem is that
the kingdom of Khazaria
was destroyed sometime in
the late first millennium
and the next time we have
records of Jews in that area,
today's Western Ukraine
and Belarus, is over 400 years later.
Additionally, DNA tests have shown
a close relationship between Ashkenazi
and Sephardic Jews, as
well as a connection
to other Middle Eastern people,
but no connection between
Ashkenazi Jews and the Khazars.
The Khazar theory is also dead on arrival
from a linguistic perspective.
The main language of the Ashkenazi Jews,
Yiddish, shows no trace of Turkic origin.
Yiddish is considered a Germanic language
with Hebrew and Aramaic words thrown in.
As the Yiddish linguist
and author, Alexander Beider,
puts it, "The personal names
"and surnames borne by
Jews in Eastern Europe
"during the last six centuries,
"as well as the Yiddish
language as a whole,
"do not contain any link to Khazaria."
So who's pushing this theory?
Well, certain academics, for one.
Their hypothesis got a big
bump in 1976 when a writer
and amateur anthropologist
named Arthur Koestler
published the now-debunked
book, "The Thirteenth Tribe."
Koestler thought that by
proving Ashkenazi Jews
were actually more European than Semitic,
it would upend the foundations
of European antisemitism.
Ironically, Koestler's claims only served
to feed antisemitism by
accidentally resurrecting
a theory that would only go on to serve
the interests of bigots
and the uninformed.
After its publication, supporters
expounded upon his claims
ever further, while detractors
called it anti-Semitic.
But why would the
hypothesis be anti-Semitic
instead of just another scholarly theory?
It makes more sense when you look
at some of the recent
supporters of the theory,
especially those outside of academia.
These include online commenters who use it
to delegitimize the Jewish
people by classifying them
as a "fake nation"
and even political leaders
like the Palestinian Authority
leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
In a 2018 speech delivered
to the Palestine Liberation
Organization's legislative body,
Abbas quoted Koestler
and his theory that
Ashkenazi Jews are descended
from the Khazars, not
the biblical Israelites.
The allure of the hypothesis
to someone like Abbas is clear.
It delegitimizes Jewish
claims on the land of Israel.
If Ashkenazim came from what's now Russia,
then their assertions of
an ancestral nationhood
in the ancient land of
Israel are easily dismissed.
Too bad for Abbas that the
science is not on his side
and that the genetic
findings of Ashkenazi Jews
point to people of Middle Eastern origin,
not Turkic or Russian.
It's also worth stating that the theory
and the subsequent not-your-land
accusations thrown at Jews
completely discounts Sephardi
and the other Jewish communities,
and makes it seem as if Ashkenazim
and Ashkenazim alone are the only Jews,
which is of course preposterous.
It's not a stretch to say
that throughout the centuries,
anti-Semitic, xenophobic,
and racist tropes have
followed a similar path,
unfounded ideas that gain a foothold
because they serve the interests
of anti-religious bigotry,
claims of genetic superiority,
and political ostracism.
It's always fun to learn
about conspiracy theories.
Sure, everyone loves believing
that Tupac is still alive,
that there was a second
shooter on the grassy knoll,
or that the moon landing was nothing
but a Stanley Kubrick short
film, but let's remember
that they are just that,
conspiracy theories.
They're an entertaining showcase
of the human imagination,
but to take them seriously
without doing some research,
not a good look.
Ashkenazi Jews are definitely Jews
despite any debunked hypotheses
that claim otherwise.
In a world with limitless
information at our fingertips,
it's our responsibility
to be informed consumers
and to make an effort to
sort out fact from fiction.
Thanks for watching.
If you like what we're doing
here, consider subscribing,
and if there's something you want to see us
tackle in an upcoming video,
be sure to let us know
in the comments below.
