Rating: 
Summary: The Truth
Review: I have read this book and find it quiet true! But, people are dwelling on who's a true Jew or not and really you should be more concerned with wether your a true descendant from the 12 tribes of Isreal! Many may claim to be Jew's but there hearitage dosn't allow them to participate in the gifts of the Kingdom of JAHOVAH,JAH,YEHWEH,YAHAWAH. There are many translation of the most highs name, but many do not even mention one translation of his name which is sad, because by calling on is name and praying in the name of savior Christ Jesus,(YAHAWASHY)is the only way to obtain salvation. All the descendants of the 12 tribes of Isreal need to speak hewbrew and learn about their hearitage and stop bickering with other religons as to what they believe. "We shall come to know the truth and the truth shall set us free". Remember those hating other religion and people are of satan, because Jesus spoke of peace and loving kindness.
Rating: 
Summary: unknown in chicago
Review: I read the book and I read the bible I went to Deuternomy the
28th chapter, I read the blessing and the curse, and it would
appear that Israel is under the curse not the blessing. And if
Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Jesus is to be beleived the Nation
of Israel should remain in captivity untile Jesus come back to
set-up is kingdom on earth. Most of the people who are proclaiming themselves to be Jew are mostly European or biblical
known as Gentile (see Genesis 10th chapter). If this too hard
to believe just compare their (Europeon Jews) history to what
to what happened to the true children of Israel. I always wonder
why out of the 12 Tribe of Isreal meaning there is Reuben, Simeon, Levi,Judah and so on they can find only one tribe out of 12? According to history the last known tribe was taken out in 70Ad. God, said the 12 tirbes will not be back until he's coming. So, my questinion is who those people in the Holy Land?
Rating:
Summary: Who are the true Jews?
Review: I read the book The Thirteenth tribe, it is an excellent book by Arthur Koestler. This book is provocative to some, to others vindication. In my opinion this book was well research, The author of this book who happens to be a hungarian Jew, research the archives of Russia, Hungary and other countries in the region pertaining to the History of the Khazars. If the author is right, and these Ashkenazi Jews are converts, they cannot claim any rights to be of Semitic decent. To be Semitic you must be of the linage of the biblical Shem Noah's first son. see Genesis 6 vs 10 (KJV) these Eastern European Jews are not decending from Shem but from Japheth, Noah's third son. See Genesis 6 vs 10 (KJV) how ironically these converted Jews from Eastern Europe call themselves Ashkennazi the name "Ashkenaz" happens to be the name of Japheth's grandson. see Genesis 10 vs 3 (KJV) Japheth happen to be the Patriarch of all those who are descendants of Europe. Now if Mr Koestler is right, then who are the true Jews? could the blacks in Ethiopia be the true Jews? or could the black peoples living in the west, be the descendants of the true Jews? According to the Bible God told the ancient Hebrews or Jews that if they did not obey him they would be put back into slavery, this time with ships. See Deuteronomy 28 vs 68. (KJV) To my knowledge the only people in the history of Humanity to ever been put on ships and sent around the world as slaves are the black peoples of Africa...
Rating:
Summary: Interesting possibility but very short on hard evidence.
Review: I read the NY Times review of this book when I was too young to buy it and have only now caught up. It posits that the leaders of the long-lost Turkic empire of Khazaria chose Judaism as a third way to maintain their independence from both Christian Byzantium and the Muslim east, which hemmed them in from each side, and that the Turkic Khazar peoples, not actual middle easterners, are the ancestoral population of the modern Ashkenazy Jewish communitites in the West.
Apparently the thesis has been bandied about a great deal since by people unsympathic to the Jews, but it seems clear that Koestler himself meant the book purely as a scholarly inquiry into the history of his own people.
I used to wonder why the study of history seemed to focus so narrowly on certains cultures at certain times, and now ascribe that tendency mostly to the simple scarcity of written or other hard evidence for so much of the world's past. There are plenty of sources for one more book about the ancient Greeks or Romans, but trying reading a book about the Celts, whoever they may or may not have been, and you feel stranded in fog.
That principal holds true in spades for "The Thirteen Tribe" but I am not inclined to blame the author. There is simply nothing left of the Khazars but a handful of second-hand references, so while Koestler trots out some interesting possibilties here, his central thesis is never firmly established.
More believable are the sections of the book which detail how Jewish communities around the world are genetically closer to their host populations than to each other, thus strongly refuting the notion that the Jews constitute a distinct "race". Some may find that unsettling, but it squares nicely with modern Jewish struggles against racism of various sorts.
By all means read the book if you can; it presents an interesting if sketchy history of a part of the world we never hear about and will fill a few gaps in your knowledge of the ancient world, and Koestler does write well.
But as for the central premise, that modern Ashkenazy communities are descended from the Khazars, take it more as a possibility than as an established truth.
Rating:
Summary: The Khazars and Judaic proselytism!
Review: Indeed, this is a 5 star book: well researched, unbias, logical and convicing reasons and argumentsThe boook deals with the conversion of the Khazars (ancient Turks) to Judaism, their (Khazars) history, their power, their reason of conversion to Judaism, and many more! This Khazars, as Koestler argues and is supported by independent historians, formed the bulk of Eastern Europe Jewry and the majority of the world jewry (to this day). Koestler also includes an excellent analysis of the modern Jews: the "hooked" nose, blood resemblance of various Jews, and many more interesting features. It is very clear that at the end the author does adopt a hostile attitude towards the Diaspora Jews - if you follow his/her argument, you can also raise the question: What if the Jesws in Palestine are also to a significant extent a Diaspora? Get the book, even if it does not answer the BIG question: who then is the true genuine Semetic Jew? Also, Koestler calls the Falasha of Ethiopia, "the Falasha of Abyssinia". This is the MOST correct designation as used by Koestler, viz. Abyssinia! Such little things make a difference!
Rating:
Summary: History of the Khazar Empire
Review: Intellectually challenging study of the Khazar Empire, its conversion to Judaism, and its (mostly warlike) interactions and intermarriages with the Rus, Magyar, and Bulgar tribes to the North and West, and with the Muslims and Byzantines to the South. Original Muslim sources are quoted when the empire was at its height, from the 9th-11th Century. The Empire was known as far away as Spain. After this time, it was defeated by the Rus Empire centered in Kiev, descendents of the Vikings, and the rest of the book is devoted to possible dispersion theories, suggesting that most of the Khazars dispersed to the newly forming cities of Eastern Europe. Koestler gives detailed evidence for this, part of which is that the Jews have always been much more populous in Eastern Europe than they ever were in Western Europe. The last part of the book discusses genetic variation which was a consequence of the Jewish concentration in the ghettos of Eastern European cities.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting theory of the origin of East European Jews
Review: It is curious that in Israel, where I am from, the Khazar's history is only briefly mentioned in school. We did study "letters to the Khazar" by Jehuda Halevi, but more as a literary piece that in context with the Khazars. That is the reason that the book was so interesting for me: It presents a theory which is quite unacceptable to the religious population in Israel. (and outside as well). Are all the eastern european Jews in essence converts? It makes the whole question, so much dealt with in Israel, of "who is a Jew" rather ironical. Are the religious Jews the "real" Jews? And how can they be so much against conversions to judaism, if they themselves are converts? Interesting! Of course, the theory the book presents that ALL the east european Jews are descendants of the Khazars is only a theory, but Koestler surely presents some interesting arguments! Fascinating reading!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting theory of the origin of East European Jews
Review: It is curious that in Israel, where I am from, the Khazar's history is only briefly mentioned in school. We did study "letters to the Khazar" by Jehuda Halevi, but more as a literary piece that in context with the Khazars. That is the reason that the book was so interesting for me: It presents a theory which is quite unacceptable to the religious population in Israel. (and outside as well). Are all the eastern european Jews in essence converts? It makes the whole question, so much dealt with in Israel, of "who is a Jew" rather ironical. Are the religious Jews the "real" Jews? And how can they be so much against conversions to judaism, if they themselves are converts? Interesting! Of course, the theory the book presents that ALL the east european Jews are descendants of the Khazars is only a theory, but Koestler surely presents some interesting arguments! Fascinating reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting thesis, highly popularized though!
Review: Koestler wrote an intriguing, popularized account, in this book, of the theory that many of today's Jews (mostly those of Eastern European descent) are of non-Semitic origin. Essentially the book recounts the tale of the Khazars, a middle Asian Turkic tribe, or tribal group, which settled in the southern steppes of what is today's Russia, during the seventh and eighth centuries, and adopted Judaism (in reaction to the conflicting demands of nearby 'great powers' espousing Christianity and Islam). In the process of telling this tale, Koestler concludes that the conversion of the Khazars, which seems to be historically documented, explains the significant presence of Jews in Eastern Europe at the end of the Middle Ages (since extant records do not show them arriving from the Mediterranean world, or even western Europe, in any great numbers in ancient or later times). This theory is a quite rational one though it poses problems for Orthodox Jewry since the premise of the faith depends so much (though not exclusively) on the historical link to Abraham, a Semite. Complicating the matter is the suspicion that the Khazar conversion may not have been a 'kosher' one. Orthodox Jews have not, accordingly, been quick to embrace the Khazar thesis and others tend to shy away from it for this and other reasons. However, the facts do seem to indicate that modern Jews are a mixture of many different genetic influences (just look at the physical evidence). But if the Khazars did contribute substantially to the Jewish gene pool, they didn't do so exclusively as modern scientific research indicates that there are clear genetic markers which connect modern Jews (Orthodox and otherwise) to a single source which spans both the Eastern European and Sephardic Jewish heritages, suggesting that the Khazar influence was limited at best. But even if this research did not exist, so what? The record also suggests that there were Semitic Jews (from Constantinople and Persia) living among the Khazars before and after the conversion who certainly would have intermingled with a "Jewish" Khazar population in whose midst they lived. And no one knows what method the conversion may have taken in any case, whether rabbincally sanctioned at the outset or only after the fact, or not at all. Just as people from all pagan backgrounds quite legitimately enrolled in the Christian and Muslim folds from ancient times going forward, so there is no reason to deny the Judaism of Jews whose ancestors may have been non-Semites but who embraced the religion which traces its roots back to Abraham and Moses. Now there are those who seize on the existence of the Khazars to deny modern Jews their claim to Jewishness. This is absurd, even if there is a substantial genetic link with a non-Semitic Turkic people in the Jewish past. Still others see the Khazars as a convenient hook on which to hang negative aspersions they wish to cast on modern Jews, suggesting that Jews are descended from a cruel and barbaric middle Asian horde, not fit to stand with the great civilizations and cultures of history. Jews, in this view, are not the ancient people of the covenant we find in the bible but rather historical imposters. But this is just as absurd as using the Khazar connection to deny modern Jews their link to their heritage. Like the Khazars, other European groups came from middle Asia at different historical times and intermixed with many different groups. If some adopted Christianity while others chose Judaism, there is yet no reason to suggest that the one group was better than the other. In fact the historical record shows that, while the Khazars were nomadic tribesmen in Byzantine times, they were no worse than the more 'civilized' Christian peoples of the Byzantine Empire in terms of their dealings with friends and enemies (and possibly they were better as they were a good deal more tolerant and less intrusive on their subjects' lives). Yes, the Khazar empire blew away without leaving a trace -- unless one seeks and finds that trace in the European mores and culture of the Jews coming out of that region (big fur hats and long coats, for instance, may have been a carry-over from the nomadic Khazar horsemen). However, the record, such as it is, also suggests that the Khazars were unusually enlightened 'conquerors' who treated their subject peoples with great mildness. In fact, this very mildness may have been the source of their downfall since they did not ruthlessly suppress their enemies or enforce any sort of cultural hegemony which might have created a unified state capable of withstanding the Russians who eventually overran them. Or the Pecheneg horsemen who were much more brutal and benighted. Or the Mongols, who came after, about whom little more need be said. As to Koestler's book, it does present a very simplified version of all this, largely derived from the the work of the scholar, D. M. Dunlop of Columbia University who wrote a much better one (THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH KHAZARS) some years before. Most of Koestler's information seems to have come from Dunlop's book though, in many cases, he over-simplified or simply got his facts wrong. So, if you're interested in the Khazar thesis I'd suggest you check out Dunlop's book first, although Koestler's is an easier read and adds to the case Koestler's own, not unreasonable, speculation about the relationship of the Khazars to modern Jewry (Dunlop doesn't go there). But as an easy introduction to this particular line of thinking, Koestler's book is alright. Just beware the oversimplifications and errors. SWM
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Primer
Review: Koestler's book is an outstanding primer to the history of Eastern Europe and Russia during the Middle Ages. For this reason alone, it is worth reading with diligence.
The premise of the book centers around yet another mass conversion to Judiasm, something similiar to that which took place in the Middle East during the 200 BCE to 100 CE period, when Judiasm more than doubled due to conversions.
The conclusion, drawn by the author, is that the vast majority of Jews today are descendants of the conversion in Khazaria during the eighth century CE. This implies that today's Jews, particularly in the USA and Israel, have no Abrahamic promise to the Holy Land. Such an implication will naturally be resisted and condemned by American and Israeli Jews. This, in turn, sparks negative book reviews concerning this text.
I do not know how factual The Thirteenth Tribe is, for I am but a layman on this topic. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the book is a must read for anyone interested in American or Israeli-Palestinian politics.
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