References in this article:

• 1980 Jewish Almanac, p. 3
• Encyclopedia Americana (1985)
• Encyclopedia Britannica (15th edition)
• Academic American Encyclopedia (1985)
• Encyclopedia Americana (1985)
• The Encyclopedia Judaica (1972)
• The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia
• New Grolier Encyclopedia
• Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 403
• H. G. Wells' "The Outline of History" 
• Benjamin Freedman's "Facts Are Facts"
• The American People’s Encyclopedia for 1954
• The Jewish Encyclopedia for 1925
• The Encyclopedia Judaica :, Vol. 10, (1971)
• The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia
• Academic American Encyclopedia : , Deluxe Library Edition, Volume 12, page 66
• The New Encyclopedia Britannica , Volume 6, page 836
• Collier’ s Encyclopedia : Volume 14, page 65
• New Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII, page 173
• The Cadillac Modern Encyclopedia, page 822
• Arthur Koestler's "The Thirteenth Tribe"
• Alfred M. Lilienthal's "The Zionist Connection II"
• H.H. Beamish
  

"Strictly speaking it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an Israelite or a Hebrew."
(1980 Jewish Almanac, p. 3).

"Khazar, an ancient Turkic speaking people who ruled a large and powerful state in the steppes North of the Caucasus Mountains from the 7th century to their demise in the mid 11th century A.D... In the 8th Century it's political and religious head... as well as the greater part of the Khazar nobility, abandoned paganism and converted to Judaism... (The Khazars are believed to be the ancestors of most Russian and Eastern European Jews)."

"Khazars, confederation of Turkic and Iranian tribes that established a major commercial empire in the second half of the 6th century, covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia... In the middle of the 8th century the ruling classes adopted Judaism as their religion."

"Ashkenazim, the Ashkenazim are one of the two major divisions of the Jews, the other being the Shephardim."

"Ashkenazim, the Ashkenazim are the Jews whose ancestors lived in German lands...it was among Ashkenazi Jews that the idea of political Zionism emerged, leading ultimately to the establishment of the state of Israel... In the late 1960s, Ashkenazi Jews numbered some 11 million, about 84 percent of the world Jewish population."

"Khazars, a non-Semitic, Asiatic, Mongolian tribal nation who emigrated into Eastern Europe about the first century, who were converted as an entire nation to Judaism in the seventh century by the expanding Russian nation which absorbed the entire Khazar population, and who account for the presence in Eastern Europe of the great numbers of Yiddish-speaking Jews in Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Galatia, Besserabia and Rumania."

"Khazars, a national group of general Turkic type, independent and sovereign in Eastern Europe between the seventh and tenth centuries C.E. During part of this time the leading Khazars professed Judaism... In spite of the negligible information of an archaeological nature, the presence of Jewish groups and the impact of Jewish ideas in Eastern Europe are considerable during the Middle Ages. Groups have been mentioned as migrating to Central Europe from the East often have been referred to as Khazars, thus making it impossible to overlook the possibility that they originated from within the former Khazar Empire."

"The primary meaning of Ashkenaz and Ashkenazim in Hebrew is Germany and Germans. This may be due to the fact that the home of the ancient ancestors of the Germans is Media, which is the Biblical Ashkenaz... Krauss is of the opinion that in the early medieval ages the Khazars were sometimes referred to as Ashkenazim... About 92 percent of all Jews or approximately 14,500,000 are Ashkenazim."

Khazars {kah'z-ars} The Khazars, a Turkic people, created a commercial and political empire that dominated substantial parts of South Russia during much of the 7th through 10th centuries. During the 8th century the Khazar aristocracy and the kagan (king) were converted to Judaism. The Khazars established their capital at Itil (or Atil), in the Volga delta, and for four centuries thereafter this Jewish empire held the balance of power between the Christian Byzantine Empire and the Muslim Caliphate. The fortified Khazar city of Sarkil on the lower Don River was built with Byzantine help and served as a crossroads to central Asia. The Khazars controlled many of the trade routes to the Orient; some of the Radhanites (Jewish merchants from Gaul), for example, were accustomed to crossing the Khazar empire while traveling to and from China and India. During the late 10th and early 11th centuries an alliance of Byzantines and Russians broke the power of the Khazars in the Crimea. In 965, Svyatoslav I, duke of Kiev, decisively defeated the Khazar army. Further to the east new waves of Turkic invaders overran the remains of the Khazar state.

"It is highly probable that the bulk of the Jew's ancestors 'never' lived in Palestine 'at all,' which witnesses the power of historical assertion over fact."

Facts Are Facts, by Benjamin Freedman:

Following is the story of the conversion of a tribe of people in Russia to Judaism and is the origin of more than 95% of the Jews of Eastern Europe.

"Without a complete and accurate knowledge of the origin and history of the 'Jews' in Eastern Europe... it is quite impossible for [Christians] to intelligently understand the harmful influence the Jews have exerted for ten centuries...’

You will probably be astonished as many Christians were years ago when I electrified the nation with the first publication by me of the facts disclosed by my many years of research into the origin and the history of the 'Jews' in Eastern Europe. My many years of intensive research established beyond the question of any doubt, contrary to the generally accepted belief held by Christians, that the 'Jews' in Eastern Europe at any time in their history in Eastern Europe were never the legendary 'lost ten tribes' of Bible lore. That historic fact is incontrovertible.

Relentless research established as equally true that the 'Jews' in Eastern Europe at no time in their history could be correctly regarded as the direct lineal descendants of the legendary ‘lost ten tribes’ of Bible lore. The ‘Jews’ in Eastern Europe in modern history cannot legitimately point to a single ancient ancestor who ever set even a foot on the soil of Palestine in the era of Bible history.

Research also revealed that the 'Jews' in Eastern Europe were never ‘Semites,’ are not ‘Semites’ now, nor can they ever be regarded as ‘Semites’ at any future time by any stretch of the imagination. Exhaustive research also irrevocably rejects as a fantastic fabrication the generally accepted belief by Christians that the 'Jews' in Eastern Europe are the legendary 'Chosen People' so very vocally publicized by the Christian clergy from their pulpits..."

"In the year 740 A.D. the Khazars were officially converted to Judaism. A century later they were crushed by the incoming Slavic-speaking people and were scattered over central Europe where they were known as Jews.

"Chazars [Khazars]: A people of Turkish origin whose life and history are interwoven with the very beginnings of the history of the Jews of Russia. The kingdom of the Chazars was firmly established in most of South Russia long before the foundation of the Russian monarchy by the Varangians (855).

Jews have lived on the shores of the Black and Caspian seas since the first centuries of the common era [after the death of Christ]. Historical evidence points to the region of the Ural as the home of the Chazars. Among the classical writers of the Middle Ages they were known as the 'Chozars,' 'Khazirs,' 'Akatzirs,' and 'Akatirs,' and in the Russian chronicles as 'Khwalisses' and 'Ugry Byelyye.'..."

"Khazars, a national group of general Turkic type, independent and sovereign in Eastern Europe between the seventh and tenth centuries A.D. During part of this time the leading Khazars professed Judaism."
(Encyclopedia Judicia, Vol. 10, (1971))

"Khazars, a medieval people, probably related to the Volga Bulgars, whose ruling class adopted Judaism during the 8th cent. The Khazars seem to have emerged during the 6th cent., from the vast nomadic Hun (Turki) empire which stretched from the steppes of Eastern Europe and the Volga basin to the Chinese frontier. Although it is often claimed that allusions to the Khazars are found as early as 200 C.E., actually they are not mentioned until 627...Most Jewish Historians date the conversion of the Khazar King to Judaism during the first half of this century {A.D.}..."

"The Khazars, a Turkic people, created a commercial and political empire that dominated substantial parts of South Russia during much of the 7th through 10th centuries. during the 8th century the Khazar aristocracy and the Kagan (King) were converted to Judaism."

"Khazar, member of a confederation of Turkic-speaking tribes that in the late 6th century A.D. established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia...but the most striking characteristic of the Khazars was the apparent adoption of Judaism by the Kagan and the greater part of the ruling class in about 740...The fact itself, however, is undisputed and unparalleled in the history of Central Eurasia. A few scholars have asserted that the Judaized Khazars were the remote ancestors of many of the Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia."

"Khazars [kaza'rz], a semi-nomadic tribe of Turkish or Tatar origin who first appeared north of the Caucasus in the early part of the third century...in the Eighth Century Khaghan Bulan decided in favor of the Jews and accepted Judaism for himself and for his people..."

"The Khazars were an ethnic group, belonging to the Turkish peoples, who, toward the end of the 2d century of the Christian Era, had settled in the region between the Caucasus and the lower Volga and Don Rivers...At the beginning of the 8th century, dynastic ties bound the Khazars more closely to Constantinople, which led to a limited spread of Christianity among them. They also became acquainted with Judaism from the numerous Jews who lived in the Crimea and along the Bosphorus. When the Byzantine Emperor, Leo the Isaurian, persecuted the Jews in A.D. 723, many Jews found refuge in the Khazar kingdom, and their influence was so great that, around the middle of the 8th Century, the King of the Khazars and many of the Khazar nobility accepted the Jewish faith.

"Khazars (khah'-zahrz), a S Russian people of Turkic origin, who at the height of their power (during the 8th-10th cent., A.D.) controlled an empire which included Crimea, and extended along the lower Volga, as far E as the Caspian Sea. The Khazar Royal Family and aristocracy converted to Judaism during the reign of King Bulan (768-809 A.D.) and Judaism was thereafter regarded as the State Religion..."

The Jewish author, Arthur Koestler, relates the following concerning Jewish history: In his 1976 bestseller The Thirteenth Tribe, the Author of Darkness at Noon, Promise and Fulfillment, and The Roots of Coincidence dropped another bombshell by proving that today’s Jews were, for the most part, descendants of Khazars, who converted to Judaism seven centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

"This, of course, is inspired by the story of the Covenant in Genesis; and it implies that the Khazars too claimed the status of a Chosen Race, who made their own Covenant with the Lord, even though they [Khazars] were not descended from Abraham’s seed ... He cannot, and does not, claim for them [the Khazars] Semitic descent, he traces their [Khazars] ancestry not to Shem, but to Noah’s third son, Japheth or more precisely to Japheth’s grandson, Togarma, the ancestor of all Turkish tribes.

'We have found in the family registers of our fathers,' Joseph asserts boldly, 'that Togarma had ten sons, and the names of their offspring are as follows: Uigur, Dursu, Avars, Huns, Basilii, Tarniakh, Khazars, Zagora, Bulgars, Sabir. We [Khazars] are the sons of Khazar, the seventh...'"
(The Thirteenth Tribe, Arthur Koestler, pages 58-82)

The Jewish author Alfred M. Lilienthal relates the following concerning Jewish history:

"...The existence of [The State of] Israel is not founded on logic. It has no ordinary legitimacy. There is neither in its establishment nor present scope any evident justice - though there may be an utter need and wondrous fulfillment.'...

Arthur Koestler answers this question with an emphatic 'NO!' In his 1976 best seller The Thirteenth Tribe, he dropped another bombshell by proving that today’s Jews were, for the most part, descendants of Khazars, who converted to Judaism seven centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D... Therefore, the great majority of Eastern European Jews are not Semitic Jews at all, and as most Western European Jews came from East Europe, most of them also are not Semitic Jews. Thus, maintains Koestler, the veins of 45 percent of Israelis (save only the Arab and the Sephardic Jews), plus a big majority of Jews around the world, are utterly vacant of corpuscular links to the tribe of Moses and Solomon...

The Koestler thesis, however startling, is in no wise a new one. The genetic Khazar derivation of most Jews, only the Sephardic may be accounted Hebrews by blood, has been long if not widely known...The home to which Weismann, Silver, Ben-Gurion and so many other Ashkenazim Zionists have long yearned to return has most likely never been theirs... [it is an] anthropological fact, many Christians may have much more Hebrew-Israelite blood in their veins than most of their Jewish neighbors!

Ironically enough, too, Volume IV of the Jewish Encyclopedia (as of the time of research, 1952), because this publication spelled Khazars with a 'C' instead of a 'K,' is titled 'Chazars to Dreyfus.' And it was the famed trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, as interpreted by Theodore Herzl, that made the modern Jewish Khazars of Russia...forget their descent from converts to Judaism...to establish the State of Israel... and with out the hue and cry, ‘Anti-Semitism,’ pray what happens to the Zionist movement?

Khazar conversion was not unique...who can say for sure that many Christian readers of this book might not in fact have a better claim, which they do not choose to exercise, to go back ‘home’ to Palestine than Hannah Semer, Menachem Begin, or Golda Meir? Queen Victoria herself belonged to an Israelite society that traced the ancestry of its membership back to the lost tribes of Israel.

When the word 'Judaism' was born, there was no longer a Hebrew-Israelite State. The people who embraced the creed of Judaism were already a mixture of many nations, races, and strains, and this diversification was rapidly growing..."
(The Zionist Connection II, Alfred M. Lilienthal, pp. 759-768)

Anti-Semitism: The word anti-Semitism was an invention; H.H. Beamish, in a New York address, October 30 - November 1, 1937:

"In 1848 the word ‘anti-Semitic’ was invented by the Jews to prevent the use of the word ‘Jew.’ The right word for them is ‘Jew’."