Rating: 
Summary: Completely Disproven by Genetic Evidence
Review: Koestler, a novelist, here writes a piece of psudo academic work. His thesis, that European Jews are descended from the Khazars, a central Asian tribe that may have converted to Judaism in the 11th century is not new. This theory gained great attention in the 19th century as so-called "racial scientists" tried to prove that: One, Jews were a "mongrel race" and, two, that Jesus wasn't really Jewish. The theory was hardly provable, but helped racists deal with a logical contradiction of loving Jesus and hating Jews. Since WWII, the theory gained great admiration among Arabs seeking to deligitimize Israel. The problem is that genetic evidence has proven the theory of Khazar decent completely false. Genes on the Y chromosome have demonstrated that Jews from areas as far a flung as Poland, Yemen, and Africa all share a common ancestor. Moreover, Levities, decedents of the Jewish priestly caste found in among all Jewish communities were also shown to have a common ancestor. All of this evidence demonstrates conclusively that the Khazar theory for European Jewish ancestry is false. Jews, despite their differences, share a common ancestor. Anti-Semites will have to move on and beat another dead horse.
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Summary: shakes up accepted views of jewish ancestry
Review: Like Emmanuel Velikovsky (on different fascinating subjects), Koestler goes where conventional thinkers fear to tread.My personal criteria for a book or theory that breaks new ground is to ask myself what was the author's motivation. If I decide the author approaches the subject with an open mind,I am highly inclined toward their view. But then I am predisposed to the contrarian view. Without innovators willing to take risks, civilization would still be in the Dark Ages. The Thirteenth Tribe is tall on research, solid on its historical base regarding the Khazar conversion to Judaism and credible in its conclusion theory of the Khazar migration. Koestler, being a Jew, knew the hornet's nest he would stir up with his theory and proceeded with his version of the truth of the matter. I can think of no better argument that he believed very strongly in the veracity of his conclusions than that he was willing to take the vehement criticism from his own people as a cost of getting his theory into the public domain.
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Summary: A GREAT PIECE OF WORK - ENLIGHTENING AND SCHOLARLY
Review: My personal studies of cultural history and research into the peoples of the Bible in the "biblical" lands of Canaan, caused me to question, not Jewish-European's claim to Judaism as a religious/cultural heritage, but rather Jewish-European's claims to be the Biblical descendents of the "Children of Israel". This book was the first scholarly, non-racist, work I came across that put things into perspective. I understand the implications that this work raises about commonly accepted beliefs concerning "racial" and cultural identities. In some ways it is a direct threat to the very identity of a segment of Jewish-Europeans who say they as a people are "Jews", as identified in the writings of the prophets and apostles. I feel "swmirky" gave an absolutely outstanding review of this book. However, in the end it doesn't as much matter if the book, or anyone's' work is oversimplified, overpoularized, or 100% error free. What matters is if that particular body of knowledge contributes to ones understanding of Truth. Truth not necessarily as one believes it to be, but Truth in terms of 'what is'. The "possible" truth in the matter Kosetler brings up has to do with the commonly held belief that Western Jewry/Jewish-Europeans (German, Polish, etc.) and their descendants are not the "Jews" of the Bible. Some people cannot and will not even consider those implications. It is worthy of consideration however, for anyone that puts any credence whatsoever in the "Judeo-Christian" belief systems. It is an absolutely necessary consideration, for anyone that puts any credence in God's (YAH's) Truth as it pertains to his relationship to mankind. Koestler's book serves as an outstanding catalyst for considering an alternative perspective on truth.
Rating:
Summary: amezing
Review: never in history we see such big bulk f jews in the Rihne aera or arround, that will form the quantity of european jews of our time. this make me belive that Koestler theory is correct. her is no evidence that such a big quantity of jews from the part of palestine of to daymoved to the north. My beilive is that the sepharadic jews are the real remain of the jews, since we know so much of ther histoty and emigration to north Africa and Spain from the middle east, if you want more prouve ,raed Dunlop"s theory as well\
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Summary: Another angle on this book
Review: Others have written on the whole argument of whether today's Ashkenazi are Khazars or not. However, leaving that aside, this is a must for anyone interested in general Jewish history and the Black Sea region esp. southern Russia and the Ukraine. Books on the Khazars are hard to come by, and this is fairly readable.
(There is also an unusual novel on these folk "The Dictionary of the Khazars" - have a look at that on Amazon and see what you think).
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Summary: the real hebrews the blackman in america.
Review: reviewers please read jer.13.19 acts 7.6 gen 15.13 deut.28.68 also there are jews who are notjews but claim to be read rev.2.9& 3.9 this refering to the european so called jews there is no bible proof that will connect you to the hebrews you people are converts in 135.bc and the finale convert.was in 740.ad now hebrews were in slavery for four hundred years if they wre not black when they came they were when they left egypt-africa lets use are brains here people no other people have been scattered around the world except the blackman the proof in the bible and history why dont you check it out the truth is there was not moses mistaken for an egyptian and was not paul mistaken for an egyptian acts 21.38 -39 now we know the egyptians are black and simon was known as the blackman also jesus had hair like lambs wool only the blackman has hair like this wakeup people and smell the truth in the book of hosesa my people perish for lack of knowledge read rev.1.14-15 now show us your proof.
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Summary: Who then are the true Hebrews/Jews?
Review: Since I have read "The Thirteenth Tribe", much of the confussion I had relating modern Jewry's history to the prophesies of the Old Testement is now cleared up. In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 28, all of those prophesies was not fullfilled by them. Moses wrote that strangers shall get above the Jews very high and the stranger will lend to Jews and the Jews will always be borrowing, Deut. 28:43-44. According to Arthur Koestler, the converted Kharzars were always the head, controlling economics, etc. outside of Israel. The book of Deut. chapter 28 states that the Jews would be carried by ships into captivity and eventually scattered around the world as slaves.
I read another book named "From Babylon to Timbuktu" by Rudolph R.Windsor and he believes the descendants of the ancient Hebrews/Jews are the black people who were captured and scattered around the world as slaves. It seem to me that the Blacks history does agree with Deut 28. I don't agree with all of Windsor's writing but he does make a point.
There is also, a lot of African American Hebrew groups on the internet claiming that they are descendants of the original Hebrews. If most of the European Jews are decendant from Ashkenaz the son of Gomer, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah; then, WHO ARE THE TRUE DESCENDANTS OF THE HEBREWS? The next people that fit the bible description of the history of Jews, who were scattered world wide are the descendants of the slaves. This litature make me say, Hmmmmmmm!
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Summary: Koestler's work should be taken with a grain of salt
Review: The "Thirteenth Tribe," by Arthur Koestler, is certainly a fascinating read and must be considered an essential source for anyone interested in the history of the Khazars. Unfortunately, Koestler's conclusions about the genesis of East European Jewish communities are not warranted even on the basis of his own evidence. The Khazars' conversion to Judaism is an amazing historical fact, but their contribution to the gene pool of Eastern Europe is uncertain. We still don't know to what degree the bulk of the Khazar population (other than its leaders) adopted the Jewish faith, but we do know that a significant Jewish presence in Eastern Europe predated (and indeed influenced) the Khazar conversion. Extremists on both sides of the Khazar issue have chosen either to adopt Koestler's view wholesale or reject it completely. The answer seems to be somewhere in the middle. The story of Khazars should properly be relegated to the realm of historical, rather than political, interest.
Rating:
Summary: Koestler's work should be taken with a grain of salt
Review: The "Thirteenth Tribe," by Arthur Koestler, is certainly a fascinating read and must be considered an essential source for anyone interested in the history of the Khazars. Unfortunately, Koestler's conclusions about the genesis of East European Jewish communities are not warranted even on the basis of his own evidence. The Khazars' conversion to Judaism is an amazing historical fact, but their contribution to the gene pool of Eastern Europe is uncertain. We still don't know to what degree the bulk of the Khazar population (other than its leaders) adopted the Jewish faith, but we do know that a significant Jewish presence in Eastern Europe predated (and indeed influenced) the Khazar conversion. Extremists on both sides of the Khazar issue have chosen either to adopt Koestler's view wholesale or reject it completely. The answer seems to be somewhere in the middle. The story of Khazars should properly be relegated to the realm of historical, rather than political, interest.
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Summary: The Cohain Gene Doesn't Prove anything
Review: The Cohain gene on the Y chromosome means nothing in the search for biblical jews. The gene was only present in one of the families of jewish holymen in palastine and given to his son and their progeny. Not all jews would have the Cohain gene because this gene haplotype is only common to one family. To say all jews have the cohain gene would imply that Abraham had the original gene mutation and passed it down to Issac and all the other jews. This would blow the idea of jewish matralineal descendency as the male would determine jewishness because the Y chromosome is only present in the male.BTW, a good many negroes in africa have the gene as evidenced by the fact that the jews living in Yemen went down to Ethopia to trade with the natives. They were stuck there for 6 months till the winds reversed direction carrying their sailboats back to the saudi penninsula. This book is very sound research on a topic nobody wants to touch.
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