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The "Schechter Letter" (also called the "Cambridge Document") was discovered in the Cairo Geniza by Solomon Schechter. The Cairo Geniza is an accumulation of Jewish manuscripts written from about 870 to as late as 1880 CE, that were found in the geniza of the synagogue of Fustat (Old Cairo), Egypt (built 882), the Busatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and a number of old documents that were...
Solomon Schechter (1847-1915) was a Romanian Jewish rabbi, academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement. ...
The Letter
The Schechter Letter is a communique from an unnamed Khazar author to an unidentified Jewish dignitary. Many believe that the Schechter Letter was addressed to Hasdai ibn Shaprut by a Constantinopolitan Khazar after his first, unsuccessful attempt to correspond with the Khazar king Joseph (see Khazar Correspondence). The Khazars were a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia who adopted Judaism. ...
The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...
Hasdai (Abu Yusuf ben Yitzhak ben Ezra) ibn Shaprut born about 915 at Jaen; died 970 or 990 at Cordova in Spain, was a Jewish physician, diplomat, and patron of science. ...
Map of Constantinople. ...
An exchange of letters in the 950s or 960s between Hasdai ibn Shaprut, foreign secretary to the Caliph of Cordoba, and Joseph, King of the Khazars. ...
The Letter was included in the Genizah Collection donated by Schechter to Cambridge University in 1898. Sadly, most of the folio is unreadable and only two surviving blocs of text exist. A Genizah or Geniza (Hebrew burial; according to S.D. Goitein, from the Persian word ganj storehouse, treasure; plural: genizot) is the storeroom or depository in a synagogue, usually specifically for worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics that were stored there before they could receive a...
The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ...
The conversion text The Schechter Letter contains an account of the Khazar conversion that differs from that of the Khazar Correspondence and the Kuzari. In the Schechter Letter account, Jews from Persia and Armenia migrated to Khazaria to flee persecution, where they mingled with the nomadic Khazars, eventually assimilating almost totally. Then a strong war-leader arose (in the Schechter Letter, he is named Sabriel), who succeeded in having himself named ruler of the Khazars. Sabriel happened to be remotely descended from the early Jewish settlers, and his wife Serakh convinced him to adopt Judaism, in which his people followed him. The Kuzari is the most famous work by the medieval Spanish Jewish writer Yehuda Halevi. ...
The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the old Persian homeland, and beyond in Western Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. ...
Bulan can refer to: Bulan, a Khazar ruler of the eighth or ninth century, who converted to Judaism. ...
Serakh bat Asher ben Yisrael haAvraham was, in the Tanakh, a daughter of Asher, the son of Jacob. ...
What follows in the Letter is largely lost except for a few fragments.
HLGW and Romanus The next substantial section of the Letter to survive tells of a recent (to the author) event - an invasion of Khazaria by HLGW (most probably Oleg), prince (knyaz) of Rus, instigated by the Byzantine Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus. Romanus, a persecutor of the Jews, may have been seeking to counter Khazar retaliation for his policies. According to the Letter, HLGW was defeated by the Khazar general Pesakh in the Taman region. Faced with execution by the Khazars, HLGW agreed to attack Constantinople (indeed, such an attack took place in 941), where he was defeated and fled to Persia, where he died. Prince Oleg ( Norse name Helgu) was the East Slavic ruler who moved the capital of Rus from Novgorod the Great to Kiev. ...
Kniaz’ or knyaz is a word found in some Slavic languages, denoting a nobility rank. ...
The word Rus or Rus (Русь in Cyrillic Alphabet) may refer to: the Rus (people) of disputed origin who were at the roots of the statehood of Eastern Slavic peoples; the territories they ruled, also known by the Latinized name, Ruthenia; Kievan Rus, the most powerful of...
Romanus I Lecapenus (Romanos I Lakapenos, 870 - 948), who shared the throne of the Byzantine Empire with Constantine VII and exercised all the real power from 919 to 944, was admiral of the Byzantine fleet on the Danube River when, hearing of the defeat of the army at the Battle...
A Khazar Jewish general mentioned in the Schechter Letter. ...
Map of Constantinople. ...
Implications of the text The Letter challenges a number of long-held assumptions. Firstly, its version of the conversion posits a partially Judean descent for Khazar contemporaries of the author. Whether or not this is an accurate account, it indicates that the Khazars saw themselves as fully-integrated members of world Jewry.
The letter states that in the early days after Khazars' conversion to Judaism, some Alanians already practised Judaism, to a degree that Alania came to save Khazaria from its enemies (lines 52–53). This is the only corroborating evidence to the record of Benjamin of Tudela about Judaism in Alania. The Alans, Alani, Alauni or Halani were an Iranian nomadic group among the Sarmatian people, warlike nomadic pastoralists of varied backgrounds, who spoke an Iranian language and to a large extent shared a common culture. ...
Map of the route Benjamin of Tudela (flourished 12th century) was a medieval Spanish Jewish Rabbi, traveler and explorer. ...
In addition, the text refers to Oleg. According to the Primary Chronicle, Oleg died in 913 and his successor, the prince Igor, ruled from then until his murder in 944. For years scholars disregarded the Schechter Letter account; however recently, Constantine Zuckerman has suggested that the Schechter Letter's account is in sync with various other Russian sources, and suggests a struggle within the early Rus polity between factions loyal to Oleg and to the Rurikid Igor, a struggle that Oleg ultimately lost. Zuckerman posited that the early chronology of the Rus had to be re-determined in light of these sources. Among Zuckerman's beliefs and others who have analyzed these sources are that the Khazars did not lose Kiev until the early 900s (rather than 882, the traditional date), that Igor was not Rurik's son but rather a more distant descendant, and that Oleg did not immediately follow Rurik, but rather that there is a lost generation between the legendary Varangian lord and his documented successors. Fyodor Bruni. ...
The Russian Primary Chronicle (Russian: Повесть временных лет, Povest vremennykh let, which is often translated in English as Tale of Bygone Years), is a history of the early East Slavic state, Kievan Rus, from...
Ship burial of Igor the Old, by Henryk Siemiradzki (1845-1902). ...
Constantine Zuckerman (1957- ) is a French historian and professor. ...
Rurik Dynasty ...
Map of Ukraine with Kiev highlighted Coordinates: Country Ukraine Oblast Kiev City Municipality Raion Municipality Government - Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi Elevation 179 m (587. ...
Centuries: 9th century - 10th century - 11th century Decades: 850s - 860s - 870s - 880s - 890s - 900s - 910s - 920s - 930s - 940s - 950s Years: 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 Events: Categories: 900s ...
Events Carloman, King of the West Franks becomes sole king upon the death of his brother. ...
Rurik or Riurik (Russian: , Old East Norse Rørik, meaning famous ruler) (ca 830 – ca 879) was a Varangian who gained control of Ladoga in 862 and built the Holmgard settlement (Ryurikovo Gorodishche) in Novgorod. ...
The Varangians (Russian: Variags, ВарÑги) were Scandinavians who travelled eastwards, mainly from Jutland and Sweden. ...
External links and sources - Bibliography of Khazar Studies
- Kevin Alan Brook. The Jews of Khazaria. 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006.
- Dunlop, Douglas M. The History of the Jewish Khazars, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954.
- Golb, Norman and Omeljan Pritsak. Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1982.
- Khazar Self Perception: A Study of the Schechter Text
- Zuckerman, Constantine. "On the Date of the Khazar’s Conversion to Judaism and the Chronology of the Kings of the Rus Oleg and Igor." Revue des Etudes Byzantines 53 (1995): 237-270.
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