Jews of the land of Kedar

Authors

• Vsevolod Vikhnovich St. Petersburg

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69544

Keywords:

Jews -- Russia, Slavs, Jews -- Migrations, Christianity and Judaism, Pethahiah, of Regensburg, fl 1175-1190, Sacred books, Kiev

Abstract

At present, it is safe to say that alongside the Slavic, Finnish, Scandinavian, Turkic, Baltic, Iranian, Caucasian elements the Jewish element has also played its role in the early period of the ethnocultural history of the vast region to the north of the Black and the Caspian seas. According to the medieval Jewish sources, the members of Judaic communities belonged to various social and even racial groups. This fact sheds light on the Jews whom the Jewish traveler Petahyah of Regensburg met in the Land of Kedar in the 12th century. Petahyah traveled from Regensburg to the Middle East via Prague, Kiev, Crimea and Caucasus. What were the origins of these Jews?