Are Ashkenazi Jews descended from the Khazars?

Answer 1

Answer

Ashkenazi Jews have the same tribal affiliations as all other Jewish communities - Israel, Levi (Kohen), and Judah.

There are some people who continue to claim that Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of the Khazars, however, this has been completely debunked.

The "theory" that Ashkenazi Jews descended from the Khazars originated with various anti-semitic/white and Christian supremacy groups/racial theorists/and Arab groups wishing to distance modern Jews from Israel. Although, there is evidence that the existing European Jewish population did absorb some Jewish Khazars, the claim of the Khazars being the origin of European Jewry has never been accepted by credible scholars for various reasons:

Khazarian history: the accepted theory is that at most, the Royal and and ruling classes converted to Judaism for mainly political reasons. There is no real evidence to support the whole population converted to Judaism. Furthermore, the majority of these converts to Judaism went on to convert to Christianity and Islam.

Jewish migration in history: what many people don't know is that a percentage of Jews who consider themselves Ashkenazi were Sephardi and didn't enter Europe until the Spanish expulsion. This can be seen through Jewish family names that are Spanish/Portugese/Italian/Sicilian in origin. (example: Margolis and Shapiro)

Genetic research: all current genetic research supports that Ashkenazi Jews are virtually indistinguishable from other Jewish groups (Sephardi/Mizrachi) and in turn, other Middle Eastern groups with little genetic input from Europeans. DNA research amongst Ashkenazi Jews shows a significant female founder ancestry originating in the Middle East, with about 40% of the current Ashkenazi population descending matrilinially from just 4 women dating to the first and second centuries.

In regard to the origin of the name 'Ashkenazi' for European Jews is that Ashkenaz was the ancient Jewish name for Germany just as Sepharad was the ancient Jewish name for Spain hence 'Sephardi' Jews.

Please see the related articles about this subject.

Alternate Opinion:

Historically, no. The Ashkenazi Jewish people are descendants of the European peoples of Khazaria (or the Khazarian Empire). The name used to identify these peoples are testament to this fact in that Ashkenaz was the son of Gomer, who was the son of Japheth. Japheth eventually became the progenitor of all European peoples. Judah, however, came from the line or lineage of Shem, Japheth's brother. The descendants of Judah and also his other brothers (commonly called the twelve tribes of Israel) were from the land of Mitzrayim (commonly called "land of Egypt"). They also inhabited the land of Canaan which initial a people from the line of Ham. Although these facts are highly contested, history points to this as truth and origin of Ashkenazi Jews.

Source for Khaza Empire converting Judaism:

Book - "The Thirteenth Tribe", Arthur Koestler/Jewish author

Answer 2

No. That is an anti-Semitic canard made popular by a Jewish Jew-hater named Koestler. It has been debunked by DNA studies on Jewish communities from around the world. These studies showed that Ashkenazim, and other Jews from all over the Earth, are quite closely related to each other and all originated in the Middle East.
A 2013 study of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA found no significant evidence of Khazar contribution to the Ashkenazi Jewish DNA, as would be predicted by the Khazar hypothesis. Although there is no historical or DNA evidence to support the Khazar idea, it is still popular among anti-Semites.
In 2000, the analysis of a report by Nicholas Wade "provided genetic witness that Jewish communities have, to a remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate from their host populations, showing relatively little intermarriage or conversion into Judaism over the centuries. The results accord with Jewish history and tradition and refute theories which would allege that Jewish communities consist mostly of converts."

We American and Russian Jews have the names and bloodlines of our families' Ashkenaz Jewish ancestors for over eleven centuries. The early Ashkenazi families were brought to the Frankish empire 1200 years ago by Charlemagne from Italy (Bari and Otrento); whereas the Khazars, only a few tens or hundreds of whom converted, were in the Crimea.

Note also that converted groups do not contain any Kohens or Levites, whereas the Ashkenazim and Sephardim all have good percentages of them.

See also:

Are the Jews the chosen people of Israel?

Answer 3

This is an emotional issue and arguments have been put forward to both prove or disprove a significant contribution of Khazar (and other) tribal DNA to European Jewry. Wikipedia explains the difficulties of resolving this argument: "The hypothesis of Khazarian ancestry in Ashkenazi has also been a subject of discussion in the new field of population genetics, wherein claims have been made concerning evidence both for and against it. The general conclusion is that, if traces of descent from Khazars exist in the Ashkenazi gene pool, the contribution would be quite minor, or insignificant. Eran Elhaik has recently argued however for a significant Khazar component, using Caucasian populations, Georgians and Armenians, as proxies. According to Nadia Abu El-Haj, the issues of origins are generally complicated by the difficulties of writing history via genome studies and the biases of emotional investments in different narratives, depending on whether the emphasis lies on direct descent or on conversion within Jewish history. The lack of Khazar DNA samples that might allow verification also present difficulties."

We now know that Jewish proselytism during the time of the Roman Empire resulted in large numbers of conversions in the Mediterranean region, and we can expect that the descendants of many of these converts would be present in modern Jewish populations. A 2010 study by Bray et al (cited by Wikipedia), using SNP microarray techniques and linkage analysis found that when assuming Druze and Palestinian Arab populations to represent the reference to world Jewry ancestor genome, between 35 to 55 percent of the modern Ashkenazi genome can possibly be of European origin, and that European "admixture is considerably higher than previous estimates by studies that used the Y chromosome" with this reference point. By finding an entirely different ancestry in the DNA, this supports the belief that the Khazars were not significantly ancestors of Ashkenazi Jews.

Answer 4

are ashkenazi of tribe of judah

Answer 5

are ashkenazi from tribe of judah

Answer 6

are the ashkenazi from the tribe of judah