Krymchaks - Middle Ages

Middle Ages

In the late 7th century most of Crimea fell to the Khazars. The extent to which the Krymchaks influenced the ultimate conversion of the Khazars and the development of Khazar Judaism is unknown. During the period of Khazar rule, intermarriage between Crimean Jews and Khazars is likely, and the Krymchaks probably absorbed numerous Khazar refugees during the decline and fall of the Khazar kingdom (a Khazar successor state, ruled by Georgius Tzul, was centered on Kerch). It is known that Kipchak converts to Judaism existed, and it is possible that from these converts the Krymchaks adopted their distinctive language.

The Mongol conquerors of the Pontic region were promoters of religious freedom, and the Genoese occupation of the southern Crimea (1315–1475) saw rising degrees of Jewish settlement in the region. The Jewish community was divided among those who prayed according to the Sephardi, the Ashkenazi, and the Romaniote rites. Only in 1515 were the different styles united into a distinctive Krymchak rite by Rabbi Moshe Ha-Golah, a Chief Rabbi of Kiev who had settled in Crimea.

In the XVIII century the community was headed by David Ben Karasubazar Lehno Eliezer (d. 1735), author of the introduction of the "ritual prayer book Kaffa" and the works of "Mishkan David" ("Abode of David"), devoted to grammar of Hebrew. He is also the author of monumental historical chronicle, "Dewar sefataim" ("Utterance the mouth") in Hebrew on the history of the Crimean Khanate.