European Jews are Descended Almost Entirely from the Khazars

Thank you once again WAM, specifically for the further effort you've placed in your rebuttals and for the research you have done on the topic. Rebuttals: Firstly, it should be stated that the Khazar Kingdom for its time was rather advanced; especially in comparison to its neighboring counterparts. The prominence of tax collection, and more specifically trade, was naturally a part of that advancement. The geographical location and the fact it was such a good strategic point for trade routes was indeed very beneficial to the kingdom. Khazaria was in fact known for its religious tolerance as well--which in itself can easily be viewed as a form of advancement. Con states that there was a Jewish presence in the same area prior to Khazaria Kingdom, but yet doesn't provide any source[s] or evidence for this claim. Ashkenazim Jews did not surface until after the dismantlement of the Khazar Khagnate, namely because Ashkenazim Judaism didn't establish itself until then. Regarding Cons suggestion that Sefardic and Middle Eastern Jews could have [and did] migrate to the location of Khazaria is also not supported. There may have been some Jews in Europe but these were mainly in places such as Italy, Spain and Greece. Sefardic Jews did generally not settle in places such as Khazaria primarily for the basic fact it did not correspond with the culture and was an entirely different environment, which is hence why many Sefardic Jews migrated to Italy and further west to places like France after their expulsion from Spain. Con wholly places emphasis on the Jewish population only being present in Khazaria from forced migration due to Muslim persecution in other lands where they were settled, however, once again there isn't really any evidence to verify this assertion and the Jews that did come from Khazria were indeed a very different type to Sefardic, North African, and Middle Eastern Jews. Both in terms of language, culture, religious practice and in many cases appearance. If Cons argument was the case, naturally that change in culture--among other things-- would've took place so quickly. Such Jews would also not have changed their previous dialects [Sefardic Jews spoke a form of Spanish and Hebrew, Ladino] so quickly. To assume that the Jews present in Easter Europe were largely Jews of all Hebrew descent [I.E Sefardic, Middle Eastern] would again be to assume that they all changed in a very short period of time. As referenced in my opening argument, prominent Jewish people at the time even noted that there was a large-scale conversion to Judaism from the Khazars. The Spanish-Jewish philosopher and Rabbi Yehuda Halevi alluded to this in his work "the Kuzari". Regarding Yiddish, there has been much recent recognition of the fact that Yiddish does in fact have Slavic origin, particularly as Eastern Europe is the place where many Jews who later migrated to Germany came from. This particular language happens to be spoken by a large number of Eastern European Jews [and has been since it's existence], this wouldn't exactly be the case if it was predominantly German and has its origins purely in Germany. As Eastern European Jews that had absolutely no connection to the country still spoke it and used it as a main language. As for Ernest Renan, while he was not exactly claiming "scientific fact", he wasn't certainly accurately referring to historic fact; and that was that there was a large conversion of the kingdom of the Khazars to Judaism, not just in relation to the Khazar nobility but also the general population. To the wide extent that many historians consider Khazaria to actually be an "ancient Jewish" kingdom, not particularly because of any *small* minority of Hebrews that would've migrated there but because of the conversion to Judaism that took place. Con also attempts to discredit Eran Elhaik, but note that this a geneticist who has heavily researched the area of Jewish genetics.