Wisdom of Kahana: Evil of Our World

Wisdom of Kahana:  Evil

Many times, I have been questioned regarding my disbelief in ‘Satan’ as the demigod of evil that is preached within so many other religious circles and factions. And though we do have mention of Satan in Job and Zechariah, that in no way infers that there is anything more to his existence than as a herald or servant of YHWH. As Karaite, my beliefs are based on the Tanakh and if it is not stated within those books, then I am not about to extrapolate and manifest some Hell-world with a lord of Darkness as other religions have done. But the world has built an entire industry based upon this heavenly servitor as being evil incarnate and the real question posed to me should have been phrased, “Why have we created a Satan,” and then I would have responded thusly:
If we examine the references to Satan as being the enemy of humanity, and his avowed purpose to destroy all virtue, then we automatically assume his opponents are the friends of humanity and the upholders of virtue. We accord them great tribute and recognition far beyond the status of normal men. Those that adopt the mantle of being opponents of Satan in turn become the source of our tranquillity and happiness because we take comfort in knowing that they are our shield against harm. In return over the ages we have given them our silver and our gold, to buy protection from the threat of Satan and many still continue to do so. And while the people huddled through history in their thatched wooden homes, with the winter’s draft seeping deep to the bone, those that amassed this fortune in gold and silver dwelt in the lap of luxury, sitting warm by their blazing fires and feasting upon the food wilfully donated to them by those same evil fearing people.

The Industrialization of Evil Inc.

Yes, without Satan, these religious teachers, those Priests, Rabbis, Ministers, Imams and Ayatollahs would not have prospered and benefitted from their wisdom and knowledge in the counteracting of Satan’s threats. Satan was the weapon of choice upon which they defended their careers and by which they could justify all their deeds. Without Satan there would be no fear of the unknown and man would no longer require an intermediary to intercede on his behalf with God. For then each man would know the extent of his own sin and recognize that each of us was responsible for our own actions and no longer could excuse our unacceptable behaviours on a being that we created to bear the guilt of all our transgressions by leading us astray through lies, guile and possession.

No longer would the people buy their beads, blessed objects, talismans and sacred scriptures to ward off the external evil that no longer existed. How many would lose their livelihood when the manufacturing of these items was deemed unnecessary? What would those people do, whose only vocation was to benefit from the fears and anxieties of those unclear about the true path to God? Then we would see a world in turmoil because it has only been through that fostered fear that man has made some of his greatest achievements. Monumental structures that extend the limits of architectural science that are built for one purpose only, so that we can find refuge from Satan’s evil. Spires that reach to the heavens, bells that ring melodious through the extent of the countryside and provide the excuse for communities to compete for bragging rights as to which sanctuary was larger or more beautiful or more expensive in its construction than the other.

And in those golden houses, built with the sweat and coin from those that feared the coming of Satan, they would raise their voices in consternation, begging to be protected from the evil force that despised man with every breath. They would plead with God to answer why Satan detests mankind to such an extent and those that pocketed their donations would answer, “Because God chose to love you more.” But sadly none would ever ask, “More than what?” for therein lies the ruination of their argument and the demise of their gilded empire. It matters little if YHWH loved humankind above the other spiritual beings he created. In His power and His wisdom, He would have accounted for such a contingency and would surely protect that which He loved. Nor would He have denied us freewill because that would have meant enslavement and since He loved us that would not have been permissible. The choice of which path to follow has always been our own and man has always been the master of his own destiny. Only through ignorance did we blame all the evils that befell us on an entity known as Satan. We gave him credit for the storms that destroyed our villages, for the rain that caused our floods and the sun that baked our lands so that they cracked and splintered until famine overtook our countyside. The plagues that felled us in the millions or caused our cattle and sheep to wither and die, we cast at Satan’s feet. The pestilence and the quaking earth we prayed would pass for we never intended to sin, only that Satan had led us astray in a moment of weakness. The wars, the hatred, the wishing on our part for a fellow human being to be laid low and to die, those stem from within our own existence, and can be seen throughout the animal kingdom. They are innate responses that have always existed within us since the dawn of time and it is only by our own will that we can suppress them. Not all the prayers within these golden cathedrals or all the money we can cast at those that claim they will deliver us from Satan’s clutches will eliminate that which has always existed within that part of our brain that is feral. Only you have the ability to do so for yourself. Far easier for those that fail to exclaim, “Satan made me do it,” than to acknowledge their own weakness.

Our Evil Within

Do not place your guilt into the hands of those who claim they are a weapon against Satan. The guilt is yours alone to bear, for the evil is something that you manifest on your own. It sprouts like a tree in a fertile garden if you permit it to do so for evil if given the opportunity will find other evil. For every place erected to supposedly fight such evil there is an equal institution built and dedicated to exalt and perpetuate mankind’s willingness to follow that other path. Once again, entire industries to provide the wanton pleasures of the hedonist, the sadist, and those enamoured by the darker pursuits. One merely has to scan the Web to appreciate how Satan has been used as the provocation for man’s originality of thought. Facebook and other social pages have become a tell all tales of incredulous aberrations for no other reason that some people do take pleasure in performing wicked deeds. Satan does not have an internet connection, man does. Eliminate Satan from the equation and we acknowledge that evil is not some supernatural force but instead a natural product of mankind.

Do not pray to God to be delivered from evil, but instead ask that you are given the strength and wisdom to overcome your own evil thoughts and intentions. Give not your gold and silver to the hollow dens of Satan-free Zones, but instead find comfort in the homes and gathering places of those of similar mind that wish to encounter God face to face upon their own terms. For often there is more evil plotted and committed in those gold gilded palaces than in all the neighbouring dens of iniquity. Acknowledge that we are all sinners, we are the source of evil upon this world and then you will fully understand why you are standing before God and praying for forgiveness. Appreciate that you exist in order to achieve an existence free of vice and sin and then you will have found purpose in living. Know that it often appears to be a never ending battle and you will find hope in knowing you gain strength with every skirmish. Perceive that it is not an easy task but nor is it impossible and not all the money in the world will free you from this Business of Evil.

Avrom Aryeh-Zuk Kahana

Fourth Letter to My Christian Brethren

It's been some time since I first started this series and mentioned that it would delve into the book Hazuk Amunah (Testimony of Strength or Faith Strengthened) written some four hundred years ago. Since making that statement I've taken the reader on a somewhat convoluted course, weaving an intricate tapestry showing the connections between the rabbinical model of the messiah and the rise of two very different challengers, Christianity and Islam, both based on that model but as the rabbis desperately changed their story, so too did each one of these religions differ due to the interceding six hundred years of alteration. Or perhaps I should say adulteration, since the rabbinic model was never compliant with the established messianic expectations of the Torah. But remarkably, the relationship between Karaites and their Christian and Muslim neighbours never soured and this was most likely because Karaites never blamed either religion for following mistaken practices. In fact, it viewed each of these populations as victims of deliberate rabbinic distortions, fallacies and heresy. How could Karaites hold the victims responsible, simply because they wished to find a path to God and were intentionally misled. After all, as it's written in the Kitab al-anwar wa'l-maraqib, also known as the Code of Karaite Law, "And the Rabbanites conspired against him and offered him up to be killed just as they had sought to kill Anan also, but without success. This is their way with all would oppose them." Obviously the rabbanites did not perform the execution themselves but by offering Jesus to those that did, ie. the Romans, they acted as accomplices. One might say this is a terrible accusation for Karaites to make in our Code of Law but those are the facts and as one can find in The Caiaphas Letters (http://legendsofthekahana.webs.com/3onthecharts.htm) there was a political game being played. One reads in the book that the Sadducees were definitely trying to manipulate Yeshua as well but their plans necessitated that he stay alive, a fact which their archrivals, the Pharisees or Rabbanites were well aware of and determined to stop. Nothing has really changed over the years. As Kirkisani, one of the great Karaite thinkers wrote, "The rabbis resort to murder and expulsion when their hegemony is threatened, even within their own ranks." As it was then, so it was seven hundred years later when Anan dared to speak up against them.

Even Anan ben David, the patriarch of Karaism understood that both Christians and Muslims were merely the victims of the political endgame played by the Rabbanites and therefore they were not responsible for the errors of their practices. In regards to Christians al-Shahrastani and al-Maqrizi wrote that Anan believed that Jesus had been a righteous man but never a prophet. The Gospels that were written long after his death could not have been divinely revealed since those that wrote them never had any direct connection to Jesus and therefore could not have been divinely inspired. As for Islam, al-Maqrizi wrote that Anan did recognize Mohammed as being divinely inspired but because he relied so heavily on the oral traditions of the rabbis, he had been deceived. Both these writers present an Anan ben David that hardly resembles the totalitarian, egotistical, power-seeking, intractable individual that the rabbis have portrayed him as being. In fact, what is seen is a tolerant, understanding and patient individual that felt given enough time, he'd be able to lead both his Christian and Muslim neighbours back to the true path.

Tolerance has always been the cornerstone upon which Karaism was built and this has also been a main point of differentiation from our Rabbanite brothers. No better example of this exists than a preserved text Sippur 'Aravi which records the sudden arrival of European Jews in Cairo in 1465. These foreign Jews had no connection with Rabbic tradtion and relied solely on the Torah but did not refer to themselves as Karaites. Whereas the Karaites welcomed the strangers with open arms, recognizing them merely as fellow Jews with their own set of beliefs, the Rabbanite community was up in arms. Either these strangers had to convert to rabbinic Judaism or they would have to leave. The matter ended up in the hands of the Muslim religious authorities, and it is their rulings which are recorded in the preserved text. The Rabbanite community was furious with what it considered an intrusion on their legal territory and subsequently, many of these Rabbanites found themsleves in prison and their property confiscated because of their altercations with Muslim authorities. In the end, the Muslim court permitted these foreign Jews to choose their own destiny and rather than remain aloof, they chose to convert to Karaism. To them it was a far more accepting and tolerant sect after what they had endured.

Hazuk Amunah

Now that the introductions are over, its time to start examining the main focus of this series of articles; the Hazuk Amunah. As I mentioned long ago in a previous article, these books in my possession are not kept under glass, controlled environments, etc., so if someone wishes to lecture me over my alleged mistreatment of these historic treasures, don't, books are made to be read, even three hundred year old books. And this particular book came into my posession with a purpose; to be used as it had been intended when Abraham Isaac of Troki wrote it. Not as a defence of the faith but a weapon. A sword designed to slash through the dogma and myths that arose as a result of the Rabbanite adulterations of the messianic tractate. To be used as Anan ben David would have wished; to highlight to his Christian neighbours where they had been led astray and show them how to return to the original path.

So what exactly was this Hazuk Amunah, that it sent shock waves through the Church? Unlike other polemics used through the centuries the approach of Hazuk Amunah was quite different. Rather than criticize and condemn as an outsider looking in, it used Christianity's own doctrines and words to make its arguments, so in effect critiquing from within. In fact, unlike most polemics which often bordered on emotional diatribes, the approach by Issac ben Abraham Troki was quite logical making the author quite unique for his time having been born in 1533 and passing away in 1594 in the city of Troki, Lithuania. Troki's Karaite teacher was the scholar Zephaniah ben Mordecai but following the age old advice of Anan ben David to read everything and then make up your mind, Troki also studied Latin and Polish literature under the tutelage of Christian clergy. In fact he was so immersed in the Christian world that he studied Christian theology and religious philosophy as well. But the more he studied the more he found fault with the Christian teachings and when he no longer could accept Christian attempts to refute Judaism, that is when he sat down and wrote his greatest work, the Hazuk Amunah.

Having heard all the arguments, Troki simplified the divinity of Jesus down to a simple logical equation. That being that Jesus (A) either permitted the Jews and the Romans to torment, persecute and then execute himself according to his own wishes or (B) Jesus was crucified against his own will and he was powerless to stop them. If (A) then why was he so filled with self doubt and trepidation when he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and if (B) then how can someone save the world if he can't even save himself. It wasn't as if these questions were new to the anti-Christian writers of the past, but it was the way in which Troki handled the subsequent answers, building upon each as a stepping stone until there was no defense reamaining against his logic.

The work was never published during Troki's lifetime, but passed through the hands of numerous copyists over the next century. Unfortunately, one of these was a Rabbanite and he felt perfectly entitled to start inserting quotes from the Talmud, which immediately lessened any of Troki's purely logical arguments. Then the manuscript had the misfortune or good fortune, depending on how you look at it, to fall into the hands of Johann Christoph Wagenseil, an anti-Jewish writer who took great delight in publishing the book in 1681 along with his very pro-Christian refutation in Latin. He even gave it the very appealing name of Tela Ignea Satanae which translates as the Fiery Darts of Satan. But Wagenseil's version backfired on him. In spite of his best efforts, his rebuttals weren't enough to diffuse Troki's well shaped arguments and instead of dealing a death blow to Torki's work, Wagenseil ensured that it became exceedingly popular. So popular, that even Voltaire praised it as an extraordinary piece of work.

A Message from Isaac ben Abraham Troki

Before I engage in writing my dissertations on the Hazuk Amunah and hopefully lend my own humble views to this exceptional document without diminishing I hope Troki's masterpiece in any way I think it would be opportune to let the original author speak on behalf of himself. I take liberties in enclosing parts of Troki's own preface to his book but I don't think anyone could say it as well as he did when he speaks of the universality of mankind.

"My religious zeal was aroused, on finding that the name of the Supreme Being was dishonored, and our Holy Law profaned by the very people who had been appointed to be the guardians of faith and the witnesses of those grand truths which make the simple man wise, the sorrowing heart glad, and the dim eyes bright. To my grief, I found that the inquisitive and indefatigable study of religion which yields due reward to its zealous followers was not cultivated among us as in former days and am persuaded that ignorance and growing misapprehensions have added mental to physical burdens. Persecutions arising from religious hatred were heaped upon the children of my faith in all quarters of the globe and were ever increasing in acrimony, not less in consequence of the low state of knowledge possessed by the Jews in matters of theological controversy than by the confused and mistaken notions which Christians had formed of Judaism. But it is absolutely imperative on man to be at all times prepared to repel any attack made on his belief. In conformity with this observation, our sages have recorded their opinion in the following axiom: "Man ought assiduously to study his own faith and be competent to give a proper reply to his antagonists," more particularly when we consider that in the majority of Scriptures of which we alone are the legitimate heirs and expounders.

Seeing that our Holy Scriptures contain immutable truths revealed to us for the benefit of the whole human race, I have presented in this work such biblical passages as serve to illustrate the genuineness of Judaism and also such as require elucidation in order that the reader may fully perceive that, whatever seems obscure or tending to support Christianity, is indeed merely so in form and relates wholly and exclusively to the sacred cause of Judaism; a cause which no argument whatever can depreciate for the leading object of our faith is to make erring men look up to the unerring Deity and inspire the belief that one indivisible God rules over the destinies of all, requiring no mediator or intercessor to obtain remission for our sins."

Third Letter to My Christian Brethren

Misguided Intent

As was presented in Letter 2, the origins of Christianity were and are deeply rooted in Jewish Rabbinical teachings. The fact that these teachings bordered on the heretical and were not rooted in the Torah mattered little to these rabbinical scholars that pursued their own agenda. And therein lies the problem, the great rift between Rabbanites and Karaites, for it was this agenda of these so-called learned men that caused the greatest threats to the continued existence of Judaism. To understand this statement, one must fully appreciate the reasoning behind the development of the Messiah mythos that the rabbis fabricated and then foisted upon the Jewish people. To create an entirely new legend concerning a supernatural hero that pre-existed the beginning of time, that was superior to the angels and therefore next in line to God, who would suffer at the hands of his own people, yet never abandon them by taking on their sins and ultimately defeating their enemies, a doctrine which runs contrary to the Torah could only have been undertaken if the rabbis felt the reason for their heresy far outweighed the consequences. Even as these rabbis prepared this doctrine, one of their early leaders grew concerned. Hillel, probably the greatest sage of their Pharisaic brotherhood, and the man they esteem as the progenitor of their kind saw the fine line upon which they tread and he was gravely concerned. In Sanhedrin 98b of the Talmud, it is recorded that Hillel tried to put an end to their misguided philosophy by telling them that the Messiah had already come and gone. That he was the son of King Hezekiah and nothing more than a divinely inspired human. Unfortunately, although his students and followers clung to every other word he had to say, in this case they chose to ignore him, not willing to abandon their ‘divine being’ heresy. But the real question was why these supposedly intelligent men felt they needed to create this mythological hero in the first place and the answer lies in the fact that it was a belief 180 degrees from what was taught by the Zadokites who’s rulings reigned supreme at the time. Therefore their motivation was to challenged the existing infrastructure, to embarrass those that were holding on to the reins of power and to ultimately win over the hearts and minds of the people by promising them something better than what was being offered by the Sadducees but thinking that they would never have to deliver on their promises. To the Sadducees, the origins of the Messiah were a matter of fact. One would come from the House of Aaron, the other from the House of David. Neither divine by birth, only divinely inspired. Two very human figures that happened to be from the two houses that the Rabbis despised greatly and were more than happy to record their hatred for these various families in their Talmud. Therefore, even though Hillel was still insisting the Messiah would be from the line of the royal family, or had already been, the rabbis refused to accept this. Their messiah could not be tainted by either of these two families that were accursed in their minds; hence the creationist myth that the messiah was a godling spirit that existed from the beginning of the universe. Of course, having an entity greater than the angels is a direct contravention of the commandment, “Thou shall have no other God but me,” but the rabbis were willing to promote this sacrilege as long as they could eliminate the authority of the royal and priestly houses. As for the suffering that the suffering servant will endure at the hands of his enemies as outlined in Isaiah, the rabbis transformed this metaphor of Israel into a physical punishment borne by the messiah. Rashi was not the first to tell them that they were wrong but they would not listen. As long as they could convince the people that the ‘real’ messiah would suffer physically for their sins, then they could also point at members of the two aristocratic families and say, “See, none of them even knows what it is to suffer as they live in the lap of luxury; No way that they could be the progenitors of the messiah.” That was their sole reasoning, their only purpose in transforming the edicts of the Torah into the folktales of the messiah that inhabited their Talmud. Self-serving, self-empowering, and most of all providing revenge for what they considered several hundred years of suffering at the hands of these aristocratic families.

Revelations of Paul

The problem with creating myths is that somewhere, someplace, sometime, someone sees them as being true. As Saul admits, he considered himself a ‘good’ student of Rabbi Gamaliel. Though the rabbis immediately disclaimed him as one of their own, his statement was most likely correct. He was their perfect student, and for the most part their perfect soldier until he recognized a serious flaw in their teachings that contradicted sharply with their practices. In essence, “a do as we tell you but not as we preach,” attitude to which Saul eventually took exception and became Paul as a result. As a good little soldier for his Pharisaic brotherhood, Saul set out on a mission to harass and persecute the followers of Yeshua, taking his mission all the way to Syria, well beyond any actual jurisdiction that the rabbis had. Stoning, flogging, and clubbing were all in a good day’s work and he had no concerns if the victims of his persecutions should die in the process. But along the way he had his revelation; some will call it a stroke, Christian adherents will say it was the appearance of Yeshua, I consider it to be the light bulb finally going off in his head which resulted in a mental breakdown during which he had to rebuild the pieces of his life. Whatever the explanation, Saul (Paul) realized that the orders he followed were in direct contradiction of his rabbinical training. He understood that he was instructed to beat these heretics but in doing so he knew that their practices and beliefs were not in contradiction to the rabbinical teachings of the soon to be written Talmud. Following a mystical teacher with possibly a divine mission was certainly part of the rabbinic messiah tradition. Questions regarding his birth weren’t questions at all according to the rabbinic dogma. Since the messiah described by the rabbis was not born human but a spirit conceived at the creation, then how could there be any heresy if the claimant to the throne of the messiah was believed by his followers to be born via Immaculate Conception? And if his genealogy was not precisely that of either aristocratic house, then that suited the rabbis well since they were insistent that as a godling he could not be the descendant of their despised enemies, the Sadducees or Asmoneans (non-Davidic). But furthermore, the rejection of Yeshua by the majority of the Jews was exactly how the rabbis portrayed the Messiah would be received by those that he had come to serve and save. As a true rabbinical student, Saul was left with no other choice but to conclude that this Yeshua must have been the Messiah the rabbis were expecting. For him to deny that would be a denial of everything he had been taught in the school of Gamaliel. Abandoning his fuller’s club, he took up the mantle of the supreme apostle and began to preach the religion of this rabbinic messiah. At first the rabbis paid little attention to him but soon they were to be haunted by their own words and teachings that would create an entirely new civilization to supplant that which they had attempted to foist upon the uneducated masses.

The Dilemma

What Paul experienced was the dilemma of conscience that all rabbis since the time of their formation have had to face. It’s one thing to create an entire mythos as a vehicle of pronouncing your own superiority over your adversaries and proclaim that your teachings are the only ones of relevance as you attempt to seize the power and authority from those that were legitimately invested with them. But it’s an entirely different matter when you’re suddenly faced with the monster you have created. It would seem that these monsters are a constant plague of the Rabbanites. As detailed in Shadows of Trinity (http://www.eloquentbooks.com/ShadowsOfTrinity.html) these monsters having rabbinic origins have always become the bane of Jewish existence. With two thousand years of making the same mistake over and over again, one would think the rabbis would learn their folly but admitting their mistakes is not one of their more noble characteristics. So when faced with the reality of Yeshua, and the fact that he appeared to meet the criteria that they had laid out for their version of the Messiah, they only had two choices. One was either to admit that they were mistaken, and all their teachings were contrary to the Torah and therefore they had sinned, or else they had to acknowledge that Yeshua was their rabbinic messiah. The fact that they were manipulated by the Sadducees into this situation as explained in The Caiaphas Letters (http://legendsofthekahana.webs.com/3onthecharts.htm) meant that either way they would have diminished themselves and resigned the authority they had gained over the centuries by battling the Sadducees for theological supremacy. What had not been anticipated was that they would take the third option, one which didn’t even exist. They simply denied Yeshua. Without justification, without explanation, they expanded and altered their messiah mythology, declaring that the true messiah would be from the Tribes of Joseph, he would be a warrior, and he would lead the heavenly host in the battle of Armageddon against Aramilius. Since Yeshua could not claim to have fulfilled any of these obligations, then he could not possibly be their messiah. The transition from suffering servant to military conqueror became the new curriculum vitae for their savior and the separation between the Zadokite messiah of the Torah and that of the Rabbanites became even wider. Clever as the rabbis thought they were in escaping from the snare that they themselves had set, they were not smart enough to realize that they had created an entirely new trap that would engulf them. And this time the danger of their continued existence was far greater than the threat from the widely expanding Christian religion.

Expectations of Mohammed

As a young caravan driver travelling the length and breadth of Judea, Galilee and Samaria, Mohammed was very familiar with the Messianic legends of his time. He knew of the story of Yeshua as well and the reasons for his rejection. What most people may not realize was that Mohammed first went to the Jews, explaining that he would fulfill their requirements for the messiahship and that they would be delivered by his sword arm. Just as Yeshua met the initial set of criteria, Mohammed knew that he met the requirements of this second set. He was already upon a path of conquest and determined to bring about the final battle for domination of the world. He declared to the Jews of every town that he was the fulfillment of their prophecies. He even went as far to claim that he represented the Messiah ben Joseph so that he would fulfill all the new criteria that the rabbis had created for this messiah. How he did so was quite unique, since he could not establish a blood link to Joseph. Taken from Muhammad in World Scriptures (Vol. 2) by Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi, Mohammed’s explanation does border on the genius in that he calculated he could prove his connection to Joseph through ‘equivalence’. He claimed the following, “That he, like Joseph would be the target of all cruelties by his brothers (Qur’an 12:102).” Furthermore, whereas Jacob said to Joseph that he would be chosen, the Qur’an says that Mohammed was granted eminence by the Lord. Drawing conclusions that Jacob would have warned Joseph not to tell his brothers about his visions, the Qur’an also mentions that Mohammed was warned that people would do mischief towards him once they heard his revelation. Mohammed also stated that Jacob had told Joseph that God would make his favour complete to him, and similarly Mohammed too was apprised of his triumph in the early revelations. Since Joseph had been sold by his brethren to Ishmaelite traders and Mohammed was often slandered as the son of a handmaid, referring to Hagar, the concubine of Abraham, he extended this slur to include all Ishmaelites and therefore by right of purchase he obtained everything that belonged to Joseph. Thusly, both Joseph and himself were able to interpret the signs sent by God. Just as Joseph was placed in prison, Mohammed claimed he was besieged in Shi’b of Abu Talib, which for a time became his prison. And just like Joseph who preached to his companions in prison, Mohammed did the same to Banu Hashim in Shi’b. Mohammed also explained that the plague of famine played a major role in both their lives; seven years in Egypt for Joseph and seven years in Makka for Mohammed. And just like Joseph who received honours following his release from prison, Mohammed similarly received honours from the Jews at Madina. In the end, Joseph’s brothers had to beg for mercy from him and the same happened at Makka where Mohammed’s persecutors had to beg for mercy from him. Joseph in his generosity told his brothers that there would be no reproof against them that day. Mohammed intentionally used these same words when he vanquished the Meccans when he conquered their city. And in the end, Joseph became a ruler in Egypt, just in the same way that Mohammed became a ruler at Madina.

The final icing on the cake that Mohammed used was Genesis 49:10, the same sentence that the rabbis used to explain how they could reassign the messiahship from the houses of Aaron and David. For in that Old Testament sentence it states then in the final days the sceptre of Judah and the Law Giving by Aaron will be wrested away with the coming of Shiloh. Since Shiloh was a city within the boundaries of the tribes of Joseph, the rabbis concluded that the messiah would be from Joseph. But both Christianity and Islam claimed it meant that the messiahship would fall to an outsider, Shiloh referring more to the hinterlands. But what exactly was the meaning of Shiloh, we still do not know. But clearly it did not mean that the messiah would come from Joseph. That much I can tell you with certainty. I have my suspicions as to its meaning but that will be for another day. More importantly, the situations that arose, both with Paul and Mohammed were entirely the result of the political machinations of these rabbis, bent on seizing power and creating the litany of legends and myths to support their claims. Too short sighted to recognize the repercussions of their meddling ways, and constantly opening the right to claim messiahship to those that simply believed all they had to do was fulfil the dictates that the rabbis had themselves created, crisis situations arose not only once but twice. And the deeper the rabbis dug this quagmire for themselves, the worse the situation grew for the Jews, because each time these claimants were rejected, they vented their anger and frustration against the Jewish people. Because of their stubbornness, the rabbis were not prepared to explain that they had merely fabricated the criteria for their coming messiah and so thousands upon thousands had to die for their folly and arrogance. Even in the Talmud there are three separate rabbis that are quoted saying that they long for the coming of the Messiah, but definitely do not want him to come in their lifetime. Why, you might ask? Because that would mean that they would have to give up their power and resign their authority, and even after all the death and destruction they had caused, they were still not prepared to do that.

The Anguish of Anan

Viewing the damage created by the rabbis through their Talmudic tales and messianic mythologies, Anan ben David in the 8th century knew that the time had come to reassert the old beliefs in order to correct the runaway train that Judaism had become. He knew that the Exilarchate was not only necessary for the fulfillment of the original Zadokite messianic beliefs because of its descent from the House of David but over the intervening centuries it had intermarried with the House of Aaron so many times over that there was a strong paternal descendancy from that family as well. The problem was that over the years the Rabbanites had wrestled more and more of the Exilarch’s power and authority away until the position was little more than a figurehead and incapable of fulfilling its destiny and the original messiah concept from the Torah had become a distorted, corrupted mess due to rabbinic interference. Both Christianity and Islam were now flourishing based on the false messianic mythos established by the Rabbanites and both were growing geometrically with every accusation they made that the Jews had abandoned their own beliefs unwilling to acknowledge either of these other religions’ claims of having fulfilled their precepts. Anan didn’t need to be in possession of prophetic insight to understand what that meant to the future of Judaism as it was about to be eclipsed by two tidal waves that had sprung from an ocean of inaccurate theological arguments. In order to restore the dominance of the Exilarch, the rabbis knew that meant Anan was seeking the means of removal of their power and authority that they had worked so hard to contest and gain over the preceding centuries. They were definitely not prepared to let that happen even though by that time they had proven that they could abuse the privileges of power as badly as any despot. Using their ill-gotten censuring authority that had been granted to them by the Caliph as representatives of a recognized state religion the rabbis laid charges against Anan ben David that he was attempting to interfere with their governance, committed heresy by declaring their doctrine to be false, and was trying to assert himself as an actual monarch rather than satrap which placed him in opposition to the Caliph. Serious charges which immediately resulted in his arrest and imprisonment for a considerable length of time, some reports saying as long as five years.

Five years in a cell gives a man an opportunity to think deeply on matters and Anan put his time to good use. Both Christianity and Islam as I have indicated were based on distorted prophecies and false doctrines. He didn’t bother to focus on either of those upstart religions deciding that was the Rabbanites problem and that they would have to deal with them; he instead would restore the original Zadokite doctrines; those messianic beliefs that had been firmly established within the Torah and were immutable. Dismissing the concept of the appearance of the messiah at the beginning of creation, Anan re-established the original doctrine that the two messiahs will come when the need arises. Therefore there was no premeditation, only a responsive action by God when necessary. That they were to be men, nothing more, favored by God, gifted by God, and descended from the Houses of Aaron and David was also a fact from the Torah. Their purpose was/is not to save the Jewish people by defeating their enemies through battle but by turning their enemies into brothers by teaching them the true path to God the dawn of a new age would result. The Moreh Tsedek or Righteous Teacher as messiah was restored as had been the original belief. So whereas the Rabbanites saw the coming of the messiah as salvation, Anan looked at the Torah scriptures and saw the coming of the messiahs as a reward. Just as the Rabbanites viewed messianic times as the End of Days, Anan’s view taken from the Torah was that it was the ‘Beginning of Days.’ Not just a reward for the Jews but for all of humanity. Whereas the rabbis looked at the End of Days with trepidation, hoping to avoid its onset as long as possible, Anan taught that the coming of the Messiahs should be welcomed openly and if it could be hastened, then all the better. And once the Messiahs come, then the Jews from the Diaspora would be gathered from the four corners of the globe and returned to Israel so that all would be as it was originally described in the Torah.

There is some discussion by those that assert that perhaps Anan ben David saw himself as one of the two Messiahs and that his migration to Jerusalem was his attempt to encourage other Jews to migrate and thereby hasten the messianic age. He certainly saw himself as a teacher and viewed his mission as being righteous. His family genealogy was correct, and he did manage to restore the faith to many of the Jews. But if it was his thinking, then he failed to take into account that the Messiah will not know that he is the messiah. So the real messiah will not ever claim to be the messiah because he simply will not know. The honor of messiahship will be thrust upon him by those that follow once he has achieved the end goal. And the end goal is one in which all of mankind adopts the one religion, that being the original faith of the Jews, and a feat of that magnitude can only be achieved by the Moreh Tsedek.


The Moreh Tsedek

The Righteous Teacher of Karaism is not to be confused with the same person or title used by the Essene community in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The person to bear this title from Karaite interpretations of the Torah will be the Messiah that will ultimately change the world and bring about the age of peace. As his title would ascribe, he will not do it through war, or bloodshed, or even force. But with a barely audible whisper that will eventually grow into a thunderous rumble that will silence all other voices. His sword is his pen, his army is his insight and he will change the world not through bloodshed but through a searing vision of a better place. He will not only know the answers to all of the questions that have remained unanswerable from Torah Law but more importantly, he will know what questions still need to be asked. The Moreh Tzedek will be ignored, chastised and ridiculed in the beginning but he will never abandon his mission, continually bearing the scorn of his own people until the time that the first of them listen to his words. They will accuse him of every conceivable sin, and he may in truth have committed them all since it is written that he will take upon himself the sins of the people, but it will never corrupt him and he will find repentance and forgiveness directly from God. Because it is also written that in his life he will need to become the lowest of men, looked down upon by others, despised and his soul considered ugly to look upon, in order to ascend to the pinnacle of mankind, he knows that whatever sins he may commit are already anticipated and necessary to fulfill his destiny. And then it will happen. One will become ten, then a thousand, a million and finally six and a half billion. His words will conquer their hearts, their minds and eventually their souls. All that had been written in the Torah will come to pass and the blessings of the Lord shall be upon us all.

The Whys (Wise) of Karaism

Why Karaism,

It’s a legitimate question and one that I have been asked quite frequently. Usually it’s more in the manner of, “Why would I practice an archaic, redundant, practically extinct, cultish, out-dated, ridiculed, persecuted, minimalistic, redactorial deficient, and unrefined religion?” Precisely because of everything they have identified Karaism as being in their view is the reason that I celebrate the purity and message of my Karaite faith. Archaic, yes, it is the original. The collector’s item so to speak; the way God handed it over and wanted it to be. Redundant, most certainly, because it has been copied over and over so many times and is seen as the platform upon which Rabbinical Judaism, Christianity and Islam have been built but like so many things that have been copied, it is only the original that retains the necessary qualities that were essential. Practically extinct, well that is what happens when people abandon teachings that were designed to uphold morality, upright behavior, the practice of brotherhood and the essence of humanity. No one can argue with me that in today’s society these qualities have been lost and considered by many useless because they prohibit the madness that has gripped mankind in its pursuit of wealth, power and lust. But there is still a huge difference between extinction and hanging on. And as long as we do exist, we are prepared to be the flag wavers and heralds of the restoration of those essential qualities. Cultish, perhaps that is what happens when you count your numbers in the thousands rather than millions. You become introverted and recluse. That was not as it was supposed to be. We were intended to be a ‘light unto the world’, God said so, and all that is required is a rekindling of that flame. Myself and others will carry that torch until such time that the flames spread across the world. Ridiculed and persecuted are paired and for those us who have ever been taunted by howling mobs we understand that their aggressiveness, belligerence, and generally misguided cruelty is nothing more than their expression of fear of the truth and the message that negates everything they preach and say. That has become the way this world deals with those that have something worthy to say, contrary to their own beliefs. They intimidate both through the media and physical assaults, knowing that in debate they would lose so they must resort to their baser instincts. All it does is confirm that which they have attacked was superior in every way. Minimalistic and redactorially deficient are proof that it was the word of God and not the creation of later editors that added their own personal touches for reasons that only served their own interests. Of the other religions that have taken the minimalism of the Torah and either rearranged, added, altered, restructured, and reinterpreted its teachings I can only wonder upon whose authority they did so. Certainly not God’s as he gave us everything we required when he related the Torah through Moses. And as for unrefined, these redactors and editors altered the unalterable and now look at the mess the world is in because one simple message was converted into hundreds mostly at odds with one another. These so called refinements by learned men have done nothing more than set brother against brother and bring mankind to the brink of destruction over and over again.

In The Beginning

What was true in the beginning is certainly true now. Within the Old Testament there are hundreds of laws. Laws on how to interact with our neighbours, our families and our friends. Laws on how to make oaths and keep promises. Laws on how to pay proper respect to God and our fellow man. Even laws that govern our business dealings with others. It’s not an easy five books to read in a single go in order to learn and understand all the laws contained within them. In fact I would hazard to guess that most people haven’t made it even half way through the Torah, preferring to set it aside and watch the Simpsons as the preferential means by which to learn about proper interrelationships with our fellow man. That was sarcasm and it wasn’t as if God was not aware that this would happen. So in essence he provided us with a table of contents commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments. All laws within the Old Testament in some manner pertain to these Ten Commandments. God provided us with a summary that we could learn and we could remember. Everything else was his commentary so that we could see how to apply these commandments properly. That being the case, then why has so much time and effort been expended by the various religions in order to establish sets of laws and decrees that sit over the body of laws that God had already provided? Why do we have oceans of legislation that in many cases run contrary to the laws stipulated and commanded by God? How is it that the various religions can contest these laws by adding volumes of material that supersedes them and then claim that they are still strict adherents? For those that practice Christianity remember that it was Jesus or Yeshua that said to his Minian and Nazarite followers, “I have not come to change the Laws of Moses but to confirm them.” Or to my Muslim cousins remember it was Mohammed that was quoted in Qur’an 2:248 when he spoke of the return of the Ark of the Covenant, “Should it be returned to the Jews then it will be a symbol and sign to the world that Judaism has always been the one true faith.” The Ark itself was merely a container. What it contained was the tablets of the Ten Commandments and the Law, as it is practiced by Karaites and therefore the existence and proclamation of Karism is the proof that Judaism has always been the one true faith. And to my Rabbanite brothers, whom have written extensively new sets of laws into their Talmud practically replacing all the originals as ordained by God and then arguing to the Nth degree as they tried to prove which interpretation of those new laws was superior to another in the Mishnah, I can only suggest that the burden of your writing is nothing more than a false monument to your own attempts to exceed God’s own words by drowning them in the sound of your own voices. All three of your so-called great religions have acknowledged that the keystone was nothing less than the laws and commandments as originally passed down to Moses by God at Sinai, so why have you spent so many centuries trying to bury the stone?

God Does Not Play Dice

As I sat yesterday with a good friend and she explained to me why she was so dissatisfied with the organized religions that she is familiar with, she mentioned to me that my writing on Karaism has provided her with the semblance of a spark of interest to look at the essential religion that is the Keystone of the other three and perhaps with some effort on my part it would rekindle a spark within her to find her path to God. But like so many in today’s world that have become disaffected and disenfranchised, she has chosen to adopt more natural beliefs to govern her day to day life. Science in its overwhelming rush to reproduce all the secrets of life in some ways has been responsible for this resurgence of what once was the Earth Mother and Sky Father faith, a belief in the natural laws of nature and though not actual entities unto themselves, they are something that people can touch and feel close to. Protecting the earth, the atmosphere, and the biosphere gives them a purpose and direction. There is even a determined effort by some groups to see that these beliefs in nature actually replace the belief in God as a supreme being that governs the universe. These Green Party adherents with their candle worshipping ceremonies and pagan adapted chants seek not only to gain political clout in their efforts to control but also have introduced their own cultish indoctrination to become the collective mind of their adherents. Mind control when one explores the paganistic rituals of Mother Goddess or Mother Earth was recognized very early on in mankind’s history and why it was soon learned that it was a force to be feared not revered. It led to numerous practices that violated mankind’s rights and one should not be easily fooled into thinking it cannot happen again. History does repeat itself and many of the anti-society activist groups that flaunt our laws, advocate violence to achieve their own ends, and breach the rights as individuals all have ties to these Green Parties in some way. Often it is the same people that are in positions of power in both camps. Nature is nothing more than a physical force, a natural process. It operates under strict sets of rules. Those attempting to worship these forces are missing the point. Whether it be an applied force or an initiated process, some consciousness at a much higher level had to set them in motion. Nature is nothing more than an extension of God’s implementation of a structured and patterned universe. And though he knew we would not become aware of this fact for a very long time after he provided the Laws to Moses, he included laws designed to protect the natural environment, such as sabbatical years for fields, prohibition of gathering fruit outside a certain distance from the tree, prohibition of gleaning all the fruits, provision of natural feed for wildlife, etc. All these laws and far more exist in the Torah. There are many scientists that now wish to argue the point I raised of a patterned and structured universe. By profession, I am a scientist in medical biotechnology yet I have no problem in reconciling the discoveries of science with my faith in God. If anything, every discovery only further reinforces and confirms that faith. Albert Einstein, one of the world’s premier scientists also found that same truth, with each discovery reaffirming his faith in God. When challenged in that regard, he uttered his belief that the universe is not a haphazard event that has no preconceived direction in his now famous line, “God does not play dice!” Yet, there remains a large body of scientist determined to prove him wrong, more dedicated it would seem to eradicating Einstein’s statement and therefore the existence of God, than the virtues of the pursuit of science with their unabated pursuit of random based physics, quantum physics and string theories. But what they refuse to admit is the existence of repeating patterns within the physical universe because if the patterns were acknowledged then it would automatically negate any randomness and would suggest it was by intentional design. As soon as you mention intentional design, then you have to acknowledge a higher power. The design is obvious to those that just sit back and look at what our modern sciences have taught us. To everything there is a central core and movement that surrounds it. Though at this time we only know of one universe, our universe is in motion but exactly what it is moving about or moving towards we do not know. Within our universe are countless galaxies and they are rotating around the central core of our universe. What is at that core we don’t know? Some say it is merely the size of a pinpoint from which are universe was created in the Big Bang. Others say there is an interdimensional black hole which will eventually engulf our universe and extrude us somewhere yet to be identified in a cosmic rebirth. Whatever this universe is rotating about, there is something at the core, of that science is certain. And each one of these galaxies in our universe rotate around their own central core; millions upon millions of stars dancing about this core in a preset pattern. And these stars, each with their own set of planets, asteroids, and comets providing a core around which these planets or similar navigate about, once again in a calculated and measurable manner. And these planets and planetoids, just like our earth will have a central core with layers and mantles that rotate around it with perpetual motion. And upon some of these planets will be life, and if it is an advanced life form then it will experience embryonic development beginning as a neurotube with everything else maturing about it as the fetus progresses through various stages. And this life will consist of cells, the cytoplasm of these cells filled with structures and organelles as they circulate about its nucleus. And these cells will consist of atoms, each with their own nucleus with electrons revolving about them constantly. And even now as we speak, science is exploring a whole new world consisting of subatomic particles and when they finally release their results I will bet that once again the concept of a Central Core will be repeated. You see, Einstein was right, God does not play dice. Randomness, if it was the overriding principle of the universe would be catastrophic. Everything would cease to exist because that outcome was just as plausible as its coming in to existence. So by definition, continuous survival at any level cannot be a random event and therefore it is being overseen by established physical rules. We also know that in order to have rules then they have to be established or created by something or someone. Therefore logic dictates that in order to have continuous survival this must be overseen by something or someone. This is nothing more than the impeccable logic of: If A=B and B=C, then it must hold true that A=C as well. All of which is clearly defined not only in the belief structures of Karaism but also in its precepts and ideology. And therefore in answer to the initial question of Why Karaism, I can safely answer through logical argument: If (A) my faith as a Karaite brings me closer to God’s direct words and laws since as I’ve demonstrated all other religions have layered these laws so heavily that they are barely discoverable, and (B) God’s laws are the prime direction of the Universal Laws of existence and lastly (C) the Universal Laws of existence are necessary for my and everyone else’s survival, then the logical argument where A=C, a proven and accepted concept would state that it is my Karaite faith which ultimately guarantees my and everyone else’s survival. If you cannot accept it on an argument of faith, then at least accept it on the logical one.

The Khazar Polemic

In my last blog on the Khazar I discussed the later editing which occurred to the original Khazari document starting in the eleventh century. Whether the original document will ever be uncovered will have to wait to be seen. Until that time we have to contend with the fact that there are four different versions of the Khazar Polemic. The most widely circulated and well known version is the one that I discussed in the earlier blog that has been attributed over the last few hundred years to the Sephardic poet and scholar, Judah ha-Levi. The other three version never made it to the top of the best sellers list. There are some obvious reasons for this which I'll mention.
Because the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism is a well known historical fact, two of the other versions did not particularly make a lot of sense and therefore they never were universally read. One of these is the Muslim version, the other a Christian version. In both of these there is acknowledgement that the Khazars did accept Judaism but only for a time until they found the one true religion which was their own respectively. You can see why these two versions weren’t widely accepted since both Islam and Christianity suffered terribly in their wars against the Khazars and to suddenly claim that they eventually converted to each one after having killed so many Christians and Muslims in tens of thousands just doesn’t mesh with the actual facts.
The remaining two versions were both Jewish but they were as different as night and day. One had an obvious Rabbinic Judaism influence and became the polemic that Judah ha-Levi widely circulated. But the other had definite Karaite overtones and if I may say so was unabashedly a love story. Coincidentally, both the Christian and Muslim versions do touch to a degree on the love story and therefore provide it with support from unexpected sources. I tend to believe what is likely a Karaite version, not only because that is my faith but because women have always had the greatest influence on history whether they were directly responsible or the one standing behind the man that supposedly made it.

The Rabbinical Jewish Version of the Polemic
Since Judah ha-Levi’s version of the Polemic is the one that history has accepted, I might as well discuss it first and then dismiss it first as well. You see, in any version that would have been touted by the Rabbinical colleges, there could be no mention of a woman as the central figure. That would have to be expunged from the story even if it meant reinventing the story from scratch. According to all the Polemics there was a political motivation behind the conversion of the Khazars. They ruled a great empire stretching from west of the Black Sea to east of the Caspian Sea; from the steppes of central Russian to the northern regions of Mesopotamia. They controlled the flow of goods and traffic across the known routes and grew rich in the taxes they charged the caravans for safe passage. Empires need allies and yet, to choose the Byzantine over the Arab empire or vice versa would have meant a possible interruption to the flow of goods and a cessation of trade. A wise king would choose a religion that presented a threat to neither of the two empires. And although Judah ha-Levi would like to convince the reader that decision was based on a careful assessment of religious law and devotion to God by the Khazar king, the reasons were more likely to have to do with political astuteness.
The Khazari as I mentioned previously is divided into five books. It goes on for hundreds of pages and although the debater, attributed as being Rabbi Isaac Sangari in ha-Levi’s version does an excellent job of capturing the essence of Judaism and the spirituality of Jewish beliefs the fact is that the shorter version problem hit closer to home. The short version goes like this; the Khazar king invited scholars from all three of the religions to tell him why he and his people should convert to their respective religion. And after each went on for days explaining the advantages and beauty of their own religion he would ask them a single hypothetical question.
To the Muslim scholar he asked, “If you could no longer follow Islam, which would you choose, Christianity or Judaism?” The Muslim scholar never hesitated stating immediately that he would become a Jew. When asked why by the King he responded as follows:
“Christianity fails to accept that there is one God. Though they try to make themselves believe that the Trinity can be a single manifestation of God the fact is that they pray to all three separately. They think of all three as being separate versions and even have all three communicate with one another as distinct entities. Therefore no matter how much they try to deny it they are pagans and only Muslims and Jews are true followers of the one and only God. The Prophet never denied that the Jews had a place in God’s heart only that they had turned from him and he waits patiently for them to return. Therefore I could be a Jew.”
After the Christian scholar had spoken for days, the King of the Khazars asked him the same question. “If you could no longer follow Christianity, which would you choose, Islam or Judaism?” The Christian scholar never hesitated stating immediately that he would become a Jew. When asked why by the King he responded as follows:
“Islam spread its word by the sword. It is a religion that sees God as wrath and vengeance. They have no tolerance and know not to turn the other cheek. Jesus, our Lord, said that there would come those after him that spread false words and proclaim themselves to be prophets of God. But they are liars for Jesus was the last and stated there were none to follow. But all that proceeded him he declared to be the words of God and even proclaimed that he had not come to change the Laws of Moses but to affirm them. All our apostles were Jewish and Jesus too was born as a Jew. Therefore I could be a Jew.”
After the Jewish scholar of the Rabbinical version of the Polemic had spoken for days, the King asked him the question. “If you could no longer follow Judaism, which would you choose, Islam or Christianity?” The scholar replied simply, “I would be dead.” When asked by the King to explain, he said the following:
“When a Jew is told that he can no longer be a Jew, he is given only two options. Either convert to the religion of the person posing the threat, whether he be Christian or Muslim, or die. If I was to say to the Christian with a sword to my throat, that I agree to be a Christian, then he would follow me all the days afterwards to see if I betray the new faith. And the moment he suspects that I still practice Judaism he will kill me. And if I was to say to the Muslim with a scimitar to my throat, that I agree to be a Muslim, then he too would follow me all the remaining days of my life to see if I betray my new faith. And the moment he too suspects that I still practice Judaism he will kill me. And since both Christianity and Islam have branched off from Judaism there will be at some point in time something I do that I perform in the Jewish way rather than in the manner they have changed it. And when that happens they will kill me. So you see, rather than live all my remaining days in fear of death, I would be better off to choose it immediately and thereby never betray myself or God.”
As the Rabbinical version of the Polemic would have us believe, the King saw the Jewish scholar’s logic as impeccable and made his choice immediately following the explanation. Perhaps it was but what isn’t logical is for a King to choose that he and his people follow a religion that was obviously despised by the two other religions. As the Jewish scholar had made it clear, to choose Judaism would have been the equivalent to putting a noose around your neck. So at first, it would appear to be a foolish and reckless decision made by the king. But the more you examine the choice, even from this simple version you can eventually appreciate the King’s wisdom. It was obvious from all three scholars’ answers that Judaism could survive and be accepted throughout the other Empires. Although it was not looked upon kindly, it was still permitted to exist though highly restricted. Both other religions were willing to trade with Jews and often used Jews as their intermediaries even if they considered them a despised race. But more importantly both the Byzantine and Muslim Empires usually had highly placed Jews in their governments that were responsible for keeping the machinery of government operational. Often these ‘Royal Jews’ would attain the second highest position in both of the Empires. That being the case, being an intermediary Jewish empire made both good political and business sense, making it possible to have both of the other Empires as trading partners and allies.

The Christian Version of the Polemic
It might appear strange that there even would be a Christian version of the story considering that the Khazars became Jews. Even the burial sites at Chelarevo Yugoslavia demonstrate that the Khazars had adopted Judaism. The graves in this cemetery which dates from the 7th to the 11th century have menorahs and other Jewish symbols engraved as well as Hebrew lettering but there is a definite Tartar influence that suggests Khazars. So it should have been obvious to most Christians of the time that the Polemic of the Khazars did not have a Christian ending but nevertheless the story exists. Sources say that the Christian scholar of the polemic was Constantine of Thesalonica (826-869 A.D.) who was the seventh child of Leo the Drungar. According to the story he refuted both the arguments of the Rabbi and of the Dervish representing Islam and won the King over to Christianity.
We are fortunate that the Christian version of the Polemic has some secondary information that does record something about a woman being influential in the matter of the conversion. Unlike the Jewish Rabbinic version, the Christian writers were not afraid to speak of this woman and her breathtaking beauty. They referred to her as Ateh, saying that she lived in the 9th century and was a Khazar Princess. There is a claim that she was a pious woman and that she took on the Jewish scholar in the debate and defeated him when Constantine of Thessalonica was failing. This report was written in Daubmannus and in some respects it is reminiscent of the political advantage I mentioned in regards to the Rabbinic version. Apparently the Rabbi says to the King, “Of the three of us the only one you have no need to fear is me. For neither a Caliph with the green sails over his fleet, or the Byzantine Emperor with the red cross over his armies stands behind the Jews. Behind Constantine of Thessalonica comes spears and cavalry but the only thing that trails behind me is a prayer shawl.” So once again the argument that as Jews they could deal with both Empires freely would appear to have been very convincing. Fearing that the Rabbi had won the debate it is then that Princess Ateh interferes by alluding to the fact that the Jews are abandoned by God and live in misery. That God has punished them and scattered them across the world. The argument is the traditional Christian condemnation of the Jews and nothing new or startling that would have swayed the king. But the story goes that she then adopted Christianity and had the King do so as well with all the remainder of the court. Well, history proved that was false but we do at least learn that in some way there was a princess involved and she was important to the conversion of the Khazars.
There is another story amongst the Christian version that gives us a further insight. It continues on from the previous paragraph in that it says Constantine wins the argument and the King accepts that Christianity was superior but to everyone’s surprise he goes to war against the Byzantines instead of adopting their faith. They say the King explained his controversial actions by saying, “you do not beg for faith, you obtain it by the sword.” After winning the battle the Khazar King then asks for the daughter of the Greek Emperor to take as his wife. The Byzantine Emperor apparently says yes but only on the condition that the Khazar king accepts Christianity. He does so and everyone lives happily ever after. This is our first hint that the Princess of the Polemic actually was from the faith that eventually the Khazars converted to. It would suggest that Ateh was actually a Jewish Princess.


The Muslim Version of the Polemic
Not to be outdone, Islam also has its own version of events at the Khazar Polemic. According to this version the Khazar king or Kaghan had a female relative at the palace who was renowned for her beauty. Her name was Ateh and she had silver colored eyes. She was highly intelligent but could never converse on a single subject for very long always flitting from one thing to another. They wrote that she could not differentiate between important and marginal subjects but when it came to the polemic they say she wrote love poems in reference to it. Similar to the Christian version she came to the rescue of the Islamic representative, Farabi Ibn Kora, out-arguing the Jewish and Christian scholars in his behalf. The King then decided that everyone would convert to Islam, which made the Christian and Jew so irate that they used their magical powers and condemned the princess to the two hells, that of Belial and Satan.
Besides this fantastic version of the Polemic there are other Muslim writings which have a more historical and researched perspective. One of the is by Masudi the Elder and in it he writes that during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (786-809 A.D.) the Jews were being expelled from the Byzantine Empire and from the Caliphate as well. The Jews migrated north to Khazaria where they were welcomed. They came in such numbers that all of Khazaria became Jewish.
Another Arab historian, Ibn Rustah mentions that Khazaria was a two-fold kingdom with those who followed the Kaghan becoming Muslim and those that followed the Khazar King becoming Jewish. It is the first time that there is mention that there were two rulers in Khazaria and that the King and the Kaghan were not the same person. Historically this may have been true with the Kaghan being a governor appointed by the King.
Al-Bakri gives us another very important clue. He writes that the conversion to Judaism occurred in 763 under the Kaghan known as Sabriel-Obadiah which just happen to be Hebrew names. Perhaps these were the names by which the Kaghan called himself after the conversion. He claims that they chose Judaism only because the Islamic representative failed to attend the polemic because he was poisoned on route. He doesn’t even consider Christianity as having been a possibility. Al-Bakri did claim that in the final days of the Khazar kingdom they all converted to Islam. The date mentioned around 760 is the earliest for the polemic but is significant to the final version of the Polemic that I will soon discuss.
Another Islamic story of the Polemic suggested that the Jewish scholar was a Jew that had been associated with the Caliph but expelled from Baghdad. This would indicate that the individual was highly placed politically and had to be an aristocrat to be associated with the Caliph. In this same version it remarks that Princess Ateh had instructed some of her people to carry boundary stones as she intended to set up a new region or province would be marked by these frontier stones once the new faith had been chosen. Though this even would appear completely irrelevant you will see how this correlates with the final version of the Polemic that I will discuss.


The Karaite Jewish Version of the Polemic
Of course I’ve saved the best for last. Even though the Rabbinical Jewish version promulgated by Judah he-Levi has become the standard version there are still hints and traces of an earlier version having more similarities to the Christian and Muslim versions than to that later one. At no time does it specifically mention Karaites but there are enough indicators that there was Karaite involvement and for this reason these earlier traces were expunged by the Rabbinical version.
This older tale does talk of Princess Ateh. The name is meaningless in that it merely translates as “You” in the feminine from the Hebrew, similar to other cultural stories that refer to “She with no name,” or “Her”. Whatever the reason that her name has been obliterated even that has been lost to us. These older tales also say that the Princess was punished for supporting the Jewish scholar. Firstly she was punished by an Islamic demon that made her forget how to speak the Khazar language. A clear indication that the real story was that this princess was not Khazar at all and spoke an entirely different language. These old tales also say that she was a protectoress of the powerful sect of Khazar priests and that her lover was a celebrated member of this sect. He was young and his eyes were still new according to the description of him. The Christian scholar was jealous of this love affair and sought to have the priest and the Princess punished, pleading to the Kaghan that the competition was unfair since the Princess had other motives for her choice. At that point the Jewish representatives (it is now plural indicating a delegation) interceded and the pair was banished but the Kaghan remained firm in his selection of Judaism.
According to this older tale as well, the Kaghan was only given that title after the polemic and it was derived from the Hebrew word “Kohen” or priest. This we know to be inaccurate since reference to Kaghanate exist long before this but it is interesting that there would be reference t the old priesthood which would be contrary to Rabbinical efforts of conversion where they had created their teaching of Judaism without dependency on the priesthood. This tale also claims the name of the Kaghan was Sabriel, his wife was Sara and their daughter was Ateh.
In the year 800 Druthmar of Aquitane refers to the Khazars as a people that are circumcised, living by the laws of Moses and strong warriors. This is confirmed by Cinnamus in the 12th century who claims they live only by the laws of Moses but not the Orthodoxy of the rabbinical Jews.
So what do we have that supports that the conversion that took place was to Karaite Judaism? From the Rabbinic Jewish version we have the complete exclusion of the female component. If ever there was an attempt to obliterate the existence of the Princess from the record of history, this was it. The attempt only confirms that she played a far more vital role than could ever be imagined and the male dominated rabbinate resented this fact. The Christian version tells us that the Princess was not Khazar at all but the daughter of the Emperor of the faith he eventually selected. Since we know the Khazars adopted Judaism, the Christian version may be masking the fact that she was a Jewish princess. The Christian version also gives indication that the conversion may have been both politically and strategically motivated, which also would support that the alliance through marriage was a major component of the polemic.
From the Muslim version we have a date. It’s around the 760’s. We know also from this version that she played a major role which was worthy of condemnation by the other religions. She was punished though the punishment in the Islamic version is in the realm of the fantastical and not the historical. Fortunately the Islamic historians do provide us with enough information to know that the Jews came in numbers or a delegation and that they came from the Caliphate. We also hear that the leader may have been an associate of the Caliph and appears to have been banished. The princess goes with the delegation carrying boundary stones to carve out a new nation or province. And that the King and Kaghan were two entirely different people, the last being a governor reliant on the approval of the King but having almost equal authority.
And lastly we have from older Jewish legends, predating the polemic of the Rabbinate that there was a love affair that resulted in the Princess and her lover being forced to leave the land of the Khazars. That she was in charge of the priests of the religion which possibly indicates that it was she that brought this new religion to the Khazar which just happens to be described as being dependant on the Laws of Moses only; very Karaite. The punishment by the Islamic demon suggests she knew not the Khazar language at all, again a major hint suggesting she was a foreign princess. And finally there is one more mysterious comment that the term Kaghan only arose after the polemic and was directly tied to the new Jewish faith being a reference to the priesthood.
If we put all these together we have the following: A Jewish Princess came with a delegation to the Khazars in the 760’s and not only brought the new religion with her but set up her own kingdom with the Kaghan with whom she fell in love with. That she had to set up this kingdom outside of the King’s region, setting her own boundary stones and the religion she established followed the traditional priestly Judaism and not the more modern rabbinical Judaism of that time. Do we have any indication of such a person? As I have always mentioned in my blogs, I am descended from a very old Karaite family with numerous stories and traditions that have been passed on. One such story concerns the Princess Thaliah, daughter of the Exliarch. But in the later 760’s the Rabbis had created quite a problem. There were suddenly three Exilarchs all trying to rule at the same time. The one with the legitimate claims to the Jewish throne was sitting in the Caliph’s prison. The next in line was even more despised by the Rabbis because he refused to obey their commands, especially those of his father-in-law who was the Chief Rabbi in Baghdad. And finally their cousin, whom was less entitled to the throne but was smart enough to also recognize when he was being used as a tool of the rabbinate.
Thalia, whose actual name was most likely Nataliah meaning a gift from God, has her own story which I will take directly from Blood Royale and print in my next hub. http://legendsofthekahana.webs.com/2onthecharts.htm . It is a tale of love and courage and you won’t want to miss it.

The Khazar Enigma

The Khazarim are an enigma. From what we understand of ancient Khazaria, it was a Tartar Kingdom on the borders of the Black and Caspian seas that thrived between the eighth and tenth centuries and as quickly as it arose, it vanished even more spectacularly by the late twelfth century. During its existence it minted its own currency, controlled the trade routes from East to West and back again, and was responsible for stopping the spread of Islam into Europe by defeating the Muslim armies in fiercely fought battles.
During the 7th and 8th centuries the Khazars fought several battles against the Umayyad Caliphate, which was attempting to expand its domination into the Caucasus. The first war was fought in the early 650 and ended with the defeat of the Arab forces led by Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah just outside the Khazar town of Balanjar. But once again the Caliphate tried to expand through conquest between 710 and 730 but finally the Khazars, led by a prince named Barjik, invaded northwestern Iran and defeated the Umayyad forces at Ardabil in 730. The Arab governor Al-Djarrah al-Hakami was killed and the Khazars occupied the town. But Arab armies led by Prince Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik and later Caliph Marwan ibn Muhammad crossed the Caucasus and eventually defeated a Khazar army led by Hazer Tarkhan in 737, briefly occupying the Khazar city of Atil. But shortly afterward the Arab armies were forced back and Khazar independence was re-established. The last major battle between Khazar and Arab forces took place in 758, when the Khazar army under Ras Tarkhan invaded and occupied parts of Azerbaijan and Arran. The Arab pursuit of a Muslim empire through warfare never managed to penetrate into Khazaria after that. There are records that by the tenth century King Joseph of the Khazars reported to the Jewish histographer Hasdai ibn Shaprut that the Khazars had established trade relations with the Caliphate suggesting that the state of war had ended. King Joseph also indicated in his communications that his Kingdom practiced Judaism as its state religion which immediately led to rumors that it was one of the lost tribes of Israel.
That in itself was a mystery and it was later discovered through subsequent communications between Khazaria and Jewish scholars that there had been a mass conversion in the eighth century to Judaism, the story of which has been told in many books, the most famous being The Khazari which appeared in the twelfth century and was widely known a few hundred years later.
It is strange that events which are a thousand years old have now come back to haunt us today. Besides the Khazars being one of the most feared enemies of the Muslim world and still held in much disdain by that population, seeing them as the reason that Islam failed to stretch across the known world, they are now being revived into the Islamic propaganda machine for an entirely different purpose. It is the argument today, in regards to the Mid –east crisis that the Ashkenazi Jews that formulated the Zionist philosophy for the reestablishment of Israel, ethnically weren’t Jews at all, and therefore were never entitled to have the restoration of their ancient homeland. What these Muslim propagandists are claiming is that the Ashkenazi Jews are nothing but the descendants of the Khazars and they never actually disappeared as a civilization, merely migrated westward into Europe where they became recognized as being the Jewish populations of Poland, Ukraine and Romania that manifested in the twelfth century. Hence their new argument that Israel should not exist since it was established by a race that weren’t Jews. Of course the corollary would then be true that if they were Jews then the State of Israel has the right to exist and they have to realize that showing a picture of an Israeli soldier and writing on it that this is a Khazar does not mean he is any less entitled to live in the land of his religious beliefs. But for all others, whether they be Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, Karaite, Bene Israel or Fellashim, they are entitled to live in the land of their origins. A land where they have been a continuous presence for three thousand years in one form or another even though Muslim historians attempt to gloss over that fact.
I am surprised at how many adherents this faulty theory of Ashkenazi being Khazars has garnered over the last couple of decades. Despite the genetic typing of Ashkenazi Jews as Semites, not to mention phenotypic characteristics which are more common to the eastern Mediterranean than to the Caucasus, there would still appear to exist this determination of these Muslim propagandists to insist that their flawed theory is the truth. One of their arguments being that amongst the Jew’s own books there was nothing but Sephardic Jews (North African and Spanish) in existence in the late eleventh century or why else would the meeting with the King of Khazaria have to be conducted by Sephardic Jews if he had close by Ashkenazi neighbours? Conveniently they choose to ignore the Mizrahi Jews in Arab lands who were very much a presence in that part of the world and who now live predominantly in Israel.
But let’s deal with the misconception of Ashkenazi’s not being descendants of original Jewish stock. I will admit that this book, The Kazari, does give that impression on first reading, and the emphasis that it was a great Sephardic sage from Toledo Spain that had to travel all the way to Khazaria to conduct the interview would suggest that there was an absence of East European Jews at the time. Hopefully, this is where I can put an end to any misconceptions that the Ashkenazi Jews were only the product of Khazars that had migrated west. Some probably were but far more Khazars probably became Karaites due to the similarities in language and beliefs between the two populations. A commentary amongst the Karaite authors lists the population of our people measuring around 400,000 at the time of Saadiah Gaon. This sudden burst in Karaite population made the Gaon furious as he considered the battle for Jewish minds being lost by the Rabbinate. I would think that the most likely explanation for this population explosion in the tenth century was the fact that the Khazars were being numbers amongst the Karaites.
One of the advantages of descending from a very old family is that in my personal library I happen to have some very old books that have been passed down into my possession from various family members. This one I’m about to discuss in particular was printed in Berlin in 1795. I know some of you are probably looking at the photographs of this book and probably cursing me for not taking better care of a two hundred plus year old book and keeping it under sealed glass, etc, etc, but books are meant to be held, to be touched, to be read. I have some even older than this one and I’m not ashamed to say that I finger through them often. But that is not the point of this article and any bibliophiles that wish to admonish me on proper book care please save it for another time. The point I wish to make is that the beauty of these older books is that they have not undergone the distortions and alterations of later translations. As much as old books should be considered sacred and should not be subject to adulteration, sadly that is not the case. In later attempts to embellish and perhaps even clarify as may have been the belief of these latter day editors the fact is that with every change something is actually lost, not gained.
For example, I have enclosed the front page of my book and what should be the identical front page from a copy over a hundred years later from Warsaw which I’ve taken off the web.
The translation of my older Berlin copy of the title and first paragraph is roughly as follows:

Book of the Khazari
Between the king of the nation of the Khazars and between the (associate/colleague/partner) whose name is blessed many times in heaven in dialogue about the details (history) of the king and his people.
The ancient and wise Judah son of Saul the Levite, knowledgeable of the languages of the Arabs recording and guarding that all is correct.

Whereas the same section translated from the younger Warsaw copy is as follows:
Book of the Khazari
Rabbi Isaac the Sangari whose name is blessed in heaven in honest dialogue.
Translated from the Arabic by Rabbi Judah Ha Levi the Sephardi


Immediately it can be seen that these two opening paragraphs, although having some words in common are for the most part entirely different. Judah Ha Levi was a famous Jewish poet, scholar and writer in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Born in Spain, he was naturally Sephardic and would have spoken Arabic fluently, living in an Arabic ruled society. Because he was famous, his name would lend authenticity to any book and it would appear that is what the later editors were trying to achieve. Without a high profile name, there would have been the fear that the book, the Khazari would have been accused of being a fake, or even worse, a fairy tale. My German copy of the book if you notice mentions a Judah ha Levi but he is the son of Saul. The father of the famous Judah ha Levi of Spain was named Samuel, not Saul. This would have created an immediate problem if someone was trying to attribute the original book to Judah ha Levi of Spain. We do know that Judah did write his own version of the Khazari and we also know that he based his book on earlier versions that he had come across. I would postulate that my German copy is based on one of those earlier versions. There is no mention of a Rabbi Isaac Sangari in its cover page because the person discussing the issues with the King of Khazaria was far greater than any rabbi. The word actually used in my older version of the book is suggestive of someone who could sit across from a king and be considered an equal or as a partner, colleague, etc. This individual’s name was blessed numerous times in heaven suggesting that he was a great leader of the Jews. Multiple blessing would infer that he was carrying an inherited blessing which I’ll discuss later in this article. As for Judah ben Saul the Levite, he was there for one reason only; his ability to translate everything both fluently and accurately between Arabic and Hebrew. He was a scribe and translator with no mention of him being the great poet and scholar, nor is there any mention of this person being Sephardic. Why? Because all that was a later addition and deliberate alteration in an attempt to have the book gain recognition by attributing it to someone famous at that time. As for Isaac of Sangari, it is thought this may be a reference to the region in Turkey known as Sangaros, but no one knows for certain. His addition to the manuscript came much later and the only letters or poems proving his existence were held in the possession of Avraham Firkovich, a leading Karaite scholar which only further emphasizes the Khazar-Karaite connection.
Therefore, my older version of this famous book would suggest that the Sephardic connection was a later addition and that it may have been Karaite influences on the Khazarim that actually took place in the eight century as the development of Karaite teachings were occurring simultaneously at that time.
Even in Judah ha-Levi, the Sephardic poet’s version, he admits that there were many things that the Jewish sage in discussion with the King of Khazaria said that were in common with his own beliefs. This would also imply that there were many things the sage said in the original document that weren’t. The Sephardic poet therefore decided to exclude these points of difference from his version. In itself this would imply that the Sage of the story had certain beliefs and practices that were contrary to Judah ha-Levi’s rabbinic Judaism. The act of exclusion is an admission by the poet that the original story wasn’t rabbinic. Although Judah ha-Levi does let it slip that the King of the Khazars only follows the Torah and the Prophets (Book 2 first paragraph) suggesting that his beliefs were more in line with Karaite doctrine as there is no belief in the Talmud he never bothers to expand on this statement.
Another point of interest is the division of the Khazari into five chapters or books. Each book focusing on a different aspect of the dialogue. These roughly correspond to the five books of Moses in the Torah, looking first at the reasons for Monotheism with similarities to Genesis, then a History of the Khazar Nation with similarities to Exodus, then religious outline as defined by a pious man similarities to Numbers, then the requirements of God and religious laws similar to Leviticus and finally the laws of Jewish practices and philosophies similar to Deuteronomy. This parallel to the adherence of the Torah as the main article of faith is quite enlightening and despite numerous comments that are considered anti-Karaite these would appear to have been added by ha-Levi to the original book in the twelfth century as in many cases their insertion seems out of context.
It is also very interesting that the Judah ha-Levi version concludes with the following Blessing:
Completed is the book with the help of God and His assistance. Praise without end be to the Giver of Help
This is very different from the Berlin version in my possession which concludes with the following:
Blessed is He who has a contract with Holy Israel
Who has gifted it with active salvation
Although complete with the welfare of the Lion of God,
There were speakers without wisdom desired by a foreign invitee.


There is obviously a considerable difference between the two conclusive blessings. Judah ha-Levi removed almost all the reference from those present in my version.
Why would he change it so dramatically? Because of what it inferred. Following the adoption of Judaism, there was a contractual obligation in one form or another. The king of the Khazars made this contract with the representative of Holy Israel. It was an actual contract between men, not with God as ha-Levi has tried to alter. And finally we have a reference to who the Jewish representative in the debate may have been. The reference is an old one. Much in the way my Hebraic name is Aryeh-Zuk meaning the Lion of Righteousness, this person was Aryeh-El, the Lion of God. Aryeh has been used often in the family of the Kahana. It was originally used as a name of honor by those in the Kahana that achieved a status of greatness an honor which this person richly deserved as the representative of Holy Israel. Even that title is quite unique, being all inclusive of Judaism across the globe and not rabbinic in nature. The Rosh Gelutha was the representative of Holy Israel. The Rosh Gelutha was the monarchical and spiritual head of Israel as a unified entity. He was both king and priest. He was the Exilarch, the descendant of King David ruling in exile. If we look at the time of the conversion, the initial similarities to Karaism and the fact that this person moved freely between the Islamic speaking world and Khazaria, these would point to Anan ibn David as the likely spokesperson. This would be in accordance to the mysterious reference world that he was a colleague or partner of the King of Khazaria. Who else but another King could be an equal?
So, in reference to the original premise that the Khazari implied that only Sephardic Jews existed at the time and that there was no Ashkenazi presence indirectly assumed from the exclusion of any mention of them in the book, a device which as absurd as it might sound is now being used in a very active propaganda campaign by Muslim clerics, the truth of the matter is that there wasn’t even an original reference to Sephardic Jews. The universal representative of Holy Israel is the only indicator of a Jewish presence and therefore the well established existence of this community world-wide was implied. A universal community that infers that there are many Jewish communities and sects and that they are all being represented here at the time of the discussion with the Khazar King. Whether some Khazar became Ashkenazi later on is not an issue. Some probably became Muslim too.
I think that I’ll follow this hub with several more on the Khazar history. The next article will be on the original adoption of Judaism by the Khazars. Several stories exist in that respect and two of them concern a woman, which is very contrary to the Judah ha-Levi version. I’ll call it A Khazar Love Story.