{The Booh ofEvideitce and Argument in Apology for the despised Religion, i. e. Judaism). In style, this work is an imitation of Plato's dialogues on the immortality of the soul. According to Griitz (GescJiichte der Juden, V, 214 sq. ; vi, 14G sq.), the Khozars, a tribe of the Finns, ;vhich was akin to the Bulgarians, Avarians, and Ugurians, or Hungarians, had settled on the borders of Asia and Europe, and founded a dominion on the mouth of the Volga and the Caspian Sea, verj' near Astrachan. After the destruction of the Persian em- pire, this Finnish tribe invaded the Caucasus, made in- roads into Armenia, conquered the Crimea, exacted tribute from the Byzantine emperors, made vassals of the Bulgarians, etc., and compelled the Russians to send annually to their kings a sword and a costly fur. Like their neighbors, the Bulgarians and Russians, thej' were idolaters, and gave themselves up to gross sensuality a-nd licentiousness, until they became acquainted with Christianity and Mohammedanism through commercial intercoiurse with the Greeks and Arabs, and with Juda- ism through the Greek Jews who fled from the religious persecutions of the Byzantine emperor Leo (A.D. 723). Of these strangers called Khozarians the Jews gained the greater admiration, as they especially distinguished themselves as merchants, physicians, and councillors of state ; and the Khozars came to contrast the Jcwisli re- ligion with the then corrupt Christianity and IMoham- medanism. King Bidan, the officials of state, and the majorit}' of the people, who had determined to forsake their idolatrous worship, embraced Judaism, A.D. 731. This important item of Jewish historj', which is rigidly contended for as authentic by some of the best students of Oriental histor}' (compare Vivien de St. Martin, Les Khazais, memoire lu a VAcademie des Inscriptions et des Belles-Lett res [Paris, 1851]; Carmolj', Itineraires de la Terre Semite [Bruxelles, 1847], p. 1-104; Grixtz, Gesch.d. Juden, V, 210 sq.), throws light upon Eldad Ha-Dani's description of the lost tribes ; the references in the Chal- dee paraphrase on Chron. i, 5, 26 ; the allusion in Josip- pon ben-Gorion, ch. x, ed. Breithaupt ; and many other theories about the whereabouts of the ten tribes. See Restoration. It is this item of Eastern historj' that furnished Jehudah a basis for his work. In his Kozai-i he represents Bidan as determined to forsake idolatry, and earnestly desirous to find the true religion. To this end he sends for two philosophers, a Cliristian and a INIo- hammedan, listens to the expositions of their respective creeds, and, as thej- all refer to the Jews as the fountain- head, he at last sends for an Israelite, one Rabbi Isaac of Sanger, probably a Bithj-nian, to propound his re- ligious tenets, becomes convinced of their divine origin, and embraces the Jewish religion. The real importance of this work, however, rests on the discussions into which it enters on many subjects bearing upon the exposition of the Hebrew Scriptures, Jewish literature, historj', philos- ophy, etc., all of which are in turn reviewed. Thus, for instance, synagogual service, feasts, fasts, sacrifices, the Sanhedrim, the development of the Talmud, the Maso- rah, the vowel-points, the Karaites, etc., are all minutely discussed in this work, which De Sacy (see Biographie Universelle, xxii, 101 sq.) has pronoiuiced to be one of the most valuable and beautiful productions of tlie Jew- ish pen. Aben-Ezra and David Kimchi frequently re- fer to it, the former in his Commentary, the latter in his Lexicon. A Hebrew translation of Kozari was pre- pared by Jehudah Ibn-Tibbon, who named it "ED ^^'izn {The Bool: of Kozari), after the heroes of it, and it was first published at Fano in 1506, then at Venice in 1547, with an introduction and commentary' by Muscato (A^enice, 1594) ; with a Latin translation and disserta- tions by Jo. Buxtorf, fil. (Basle, 1660) ; a Spanish trans- lation of it was made by Abendana without the Hebrew text (Amsterd. 1663). The work has more lately been published Avitli a commentary by Satorow (Berl. 1795) : with a commentary', various reatlings, index, etc., b}' G.
JEIIUDAH
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Breclier (Prague, 1838-40) ; and the very latest, with a German translation, explanatory notes, etc., by Dr. Da- vid Cassel (Leipzig, 1853), which is generally considered the most useful edition. Jehudah, like many other em- inent Jewish literati t)fhis day, seems to have practised medicine to secure to himself a sufiicieut income, which his literarj^ labors evidently failed to provide for him. After the comjilction of his Kozari he determined to emigrate to the Holy Land, and die and be buried in the land of his forefathers. Tradition says that he was murdered by an Arab (about 1142) while he was lying on his face under the walls of Jerusalem, overcome by his contemplations at the ruins of Zion, of "the depop- ulation of a region once so densely inhabited, the wil- derness and desolation of a land formerly teeming with hvKuriance" — a gift which God had given unto his fore- fathers, who had failed to appreciate the goodness of their Lord. He is said to be buried at Kephar Kabul. See Geiger, WissenschaftUche Znt.fr/iri/f. i, 158 sq. ; ii, 367 sq. ; Cassel, Das Buck KiiMiri (Leipzig, 1853), p. v- XXXV, Gr'&tz, Geschichte tier Judcn, vi, 140-167; Stein- schneider, Catalofjus Lib?: Ilebr. in Bibliolheca Bodleia- na, col. 1338-1342; Sachs, Relir/. Poesie iler Juden in Spanien, p. 287 ; Turner, Jewish Rabbis, p. 22 sq. ; Kitto, Bibl. Cj/clo]). s. v.; Rule, Karaites (London, 1870), p. 80 sq. ; Furst, Biblioth. Jud. ii, 35 sq. (J. IL ^Y.)