Abraham (Albert) Harkavy (also known as Abraham Eliahu Harkavy or Abraham Eliyahu Harkavy, , ; 17 October 1835 – 15 March 1919) was a Russian historian and orientalist.
Biography
Harkavy was born in 1835 to a
Lithuanian Jewish
{{Infobox ethnic group
, group = Litvaks
, image =
, caption =
, poptime =
, region1 = {{flag, Lithuania
, pop1 = 2,800
, region2 =
{{flag, South Africa
, pop2 = 6 ...
Minsk Governorate
Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...
(in present-day
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
). He studied initially in the Volozhin yeshiva and graduated from the Teacher's Institute in
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
. In 1863, he enrolled at the University of St Petersburg, where he studied Oriental Languages and graduated with the degree of master of history in 1868. He continued his studies in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, receiving a doctorate in history in 1872.
Harkavy become involved in Jewish communal life in Russia, and was extremely active in various capacities. From 1864 Harkavy was secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, and from 1873 he was one of the directors of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg.
In 1876 he was appointed head of the Oriental Division in the Imperial Public Library, an astonishing achievement for a Jew under
Czar
Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
ist society's anti-Semitic policies. He remained in this position for the rest of his life. He died in Petrograd.
Works
Harkavy was a prolific author, both as an individual and in collaboration with other Russian-Jewish scholars. He wrote in Russian, German, and most notably in Hebrew, which had only recently been revived as a language of common discourse. Among his theories, he speculated that certain groups of Eastern European
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s, such as the
Krymchaks
Krymchaks ( Krymchak: , , , ) are Jewish ethno-religious communities of Crimea derived from Turkic-speaking adherents of Rabbinic Judaism.Karaims and even many
Ashkenazim
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
, might be descended from the
Khazars
The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, a ...
. This theory, largely debunked by modern
genetic testing
Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...
, inspired
Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest, and was educated in Austria, apart from his early school years. In 1931, Koestler j ...
's ''The Thirteenth Tribe'', which took Harkavy's hypothesis to an extreme. In the course of his
Khazar
The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, an ...
research, Harkavy refuted many of
Avraham Firkovich
Abraham (Avraham) ben Samuel Firkovich (Hebrew - ''Avraham ben Shmuel''; Karayce: Аврагъам Фиркович - ''Avragham Firkovich'') (Sept. 27, 1786–June 7, 1874) was a famous Karaite writer and archaeologist, collector of ancient ...
's theories and exposed some of his forgeries.
Among his numerous works in Russian,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
, German, and French, there should be mentioned his ''Ha-Yehudim u-Sefat ha-Slawim,'' studies in the early history of the Jews of Russia, first published in Russian by the Imperial Russian Archeological Society under the title ''Ob Yazykye Yevreyev,'' etc. (St. Petersburg, 1865). Harkavy's aim here was to prove that the first Jews who settled in South Russia did not come from Germany, as was supposed by Grätz and other historians, but from
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
through the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
region and the
Crimea
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
, and from the Orient by way of the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
. He furthermore showed that Slavonic was the language spoken by the Jews in the Slavonic countries until the arrival of German Jews in great numbers during the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
. He proved that the Jewish writers in Russia and other Slavonic countries used Slavonic words and phrases in their
Biblical
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
and
Talmudic
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...
commentaries. The Slavonic names among the Slavonic Jews, the Slavonic inscriptions in Hebrew characters on Polish coins, the tradition among the Russian Jews that their ancestors spoke Slavonic, and the testimony of early writers, are effectively cited by him in support of his contention.
Harkavy contributed many valuable articles on the early history of the Jews in Russia to ''Meassef Niddaḥim'' (supplement to ''
Ha-Meliẓ
''HaMelitz'' (Hebrew: ) was the first Hebrew newspaper in the Russian Empire. It was founded by Alexander Zederbaum in Odessa in 1860.
History
''HaMelitz'' first appeared as a weekly, and it began to appear daily in 1886. From 1871, it was publish ...
'', parts i. and ii.), '' Ha-Karmel'' (1862 et seq.), ''Monatsschrift'' (1883 et seq.), ''Russko-Yevreiski Arkhiv'' (1883), '' Brüll's "Jahrbücher'' (1876), ''Voskhod'' (1881–84), ''Ben 'Ammi'' (part i., St. Petersburg, 1887), ''Ḥadashim gam Yeshanim'' (in ''Ha-Miẓpah,'' vol. i.), ''
Ha-Asif
''Ha-Asif'' () was a Hebrew language, Hebrew-language yearly journal, published in Warsaw by Nahum Sokolow, Naḥum Sokolow.
Its first volume appeared in 1884; it continued to appear regularly every year until 1889, when the fifth volume came out ...
'' (vol. i.), ''Keneset Yisrael'' (i. and iii.), ''Ha-Karmel'' (1865), and other publications.
In 1910 the scientific world celebrated Harkavy's 75th birthday by issuing a memorial book. The contributors were the world's best known scientists in Judaica and orientology. Attached to the book was a list of 399 works by Harkavy.
Bibliography
Besides the above works he published:
* ''Skazaniya Yevreiskikh Pisatelei, o Chazarskom Tzarstvye'' St. Petersburg, 1874.
* ''Chazarskiya Pisma'' (in ''Yevreiskaya Biblioteka,'' 1881-82).
* ''Rus i Russkiye v Srednevyekovoi Yevreiskoi Literaturye'' (in ''Voskhod,'' 1881-82).
* ''Istoricheski Ocherk Sinoda Chetyriokh Stran'' (in ''Voskhod,'' 1884).
* ''Les Mots Egyptiens de la Bible'' (reprint from ''Journal Asiatique,'' Paris, 1870).
* ''Zikkaron la-Rishonim we-gam la-Aḥaronim. Studien und Mittheilungen aus der St. Petersburg Kaiserlichen Bibliothek'' 5 vols. St. Petersburg, 1879-82. Contains biographies and works of Samuel ha-Nagid, Samuel ben Hophni,
Saadia Gaon
Saʿadia ben Yosef Gaon (892–942) was a prominent rabbi, Geonim, gaon, Jews, Jewish philosopher, and exegesis, exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate.
Saadia is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Judeo-Arabic ...
geonim
''Geonim'' (; ; also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura Academy , Sura and Pumbedita Academy , Pumbedita, in t ...
, from manuscripts in the St. Petersburg library, annotated by Harkavy.
* ''Neuaufgefundene Hebräische Bibelhandschriften'' (paper read before the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, April, 1884; published in ''Zapiski . . . Akademii,'' series vii., vol. 32, No. 8).
* ''O Yazykye Yevreyev Zhivshikh v Drevneye Vremya na Russi.'' St. Petersburg. 1886.
* Notes to the Russian translation of
Heinrich Graetz
Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective.
Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...
's ''Geschichte.'' 2 vols., 1889-1902.
* Notes to the Russian translation of
Gustav Karpeles
Gustav Karpeles (11 November 1848 in Ivanovice na Hané, Margraviate of MoraviaHebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
translation of Grätz's ''Geschichte,'' vols. iii.-viii. Warsaw. 1893-99.