Introduction

The Kievian Letter is an early 10th century letter written by a Khazarian Jewish community in Kiev. The letter, a Hebrew-language recommendation written on behalf of one member of their community, was part of an enormous collection brought to Cambridge by Solomon Schechter from the Cairo Genizah. It was discovered in 1962 during a survey of the Geniza documents by Norman Golb of the University of Chicago. The letter is dated by most scholars to around 930 CE.

Significance of the Letter

Scholars are interested in the letter because the names of the community members are of Turkic, Slavic, and Hebrew origins (for example, names such as: "Hanukkah," "Yehudah," "Gostata," and "Kiabar"). There is some disagreement as to whether these Jews were Israelites who had taken local names, or whether their names indicate Turkic or Slavic origins. The debate is complicated by the presence of the name Kiabar Kohen. Omeljan Pritsak believed that this name indicated that non-Israelite Khazars had adopted the status of Kohen, possibly because the formed a pre-conversion priestly caste. A far more likely scenario is that Israelite Jews in Khazaria adopted Khazar Turkic names, much in the same way that Jews, including prominent rabbis, had adopted Aramaic, Persian, Arabic, Greek, and German names.

Some scholars point to a district in Kievan Podol named after the Khazars (called "Kozare"), which indicates to some that Turkic Khazars did live in Kiev. The Khazars apparently played a significant role in the economic vitality of the city, importing caviar, fish, and salt into Kiev.

The letter contains the only written record of the Khazar language extant today - the single word-phrase "I have read (it)." This appears to be a sign of approval from a Khazar magistrate. (Similar inscriptions, in Latin and Greek are found in Byzantine documents from roughly the same period.) If so, it suggests that Khazar control over Kiev, in some form or another, continued well into the tenth century, significantly later than the traditional date for conquest by Oleg, 882. On the other hand, from the letter itself it seems that the Khazar authorities could do little to help the Jewish community of Kiev; the letter itself had ended up in Egypt, and the beleagured alms-seeker had presumably travelled thousands of miles in his search for relief. The identity and status of the reviewing, turcophone officer is therefore ambiguous.

Text of the Letter

1. The First among the foremost, He who is adorned with the crown "Final and First,"

2. Who hears the whispered voice, and listens to utterance and tongue - May He guard them

3. as the pupil [of his eye] and make them to dwll with Nahshon on high as at first -

4. Men of Truth, despisers of gain, doers of [deeds of] loving-kindness and pursuers of charity,

5. guardians of salvation whose bread is available to every traveler and passerby,

6. holy communities scattered to all (the world's corners: may it be the will of

7. the Master of Peace to make them dwell as a crown of peace! Now, our officers and masters,

8. we, [the] community of Kiev, (hereby inform you of the woesome affair of this Mar Jacob bar

9. Hanukah, who is of the sons of [good folk]. He was of the givers, and not of the

10. takers, until a cruel decree was decreed against him, in that his brother went and took money

11. from gentiles; this Jacob stood surety. His brother went on the road, and there came

12. brigands who slew him and took his money. Then came creditors

13 [and t]ook captive this Jacob, they put chains of iron on his neck

14. and irons about his legs. He stayed there an entire year ...

15. [and afterwards] we took him in surety; we paid out sixty [coins] and there ye[t...]

16. remained forty coins; so we have sent him among the holy communities

17. that they might take pity on him. So now, O our masters, raise up your eyes to heaven

18. and do as is your goodly custom, for you know how great is the virtue

19. of charity. For charity saves from death. Nor are we as warners

20. but rather those who remind; and to you will be charity before the Lord your God

21. You shall eat fruits in this world, and the capital fund [of merit] shall be yours perpetually in the world to come.

22. Only be strong and of good courage, and do not put our words behind

23. your backs; and may the Omnipresent bless you and build Jerusalem in your days

24. and redeem you and also us with you. [An acronym follows standing for either "Amen, Amen, Amen, soon [may the redemption come]" or "Brotherly people are we, soon [...]".

25. Abraham the Parnas [community leader] [...]el bar MNS Reuben bar

26. GWSTT (Gostata) bar KYBR (Kiabar) Kohen Samson

27. Judah, who is called SWRTH (Surta) Hanukah bar Moses

28. QWFYN (Kufin) bar Joseph MNR (Manar) bar Samuel Kohen

29. Judah bar Isaac [the] Levite Sinai bar Samuel

30. Isaac the Parnas [A Turkic runiform inscription follows, reading HWQWRWM, "I have read (this or it)"]

Bibliography

Golb, Norman and Omeljan Pritsak. Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1982.