92 CHAPTER 1
the descendants of the High Priest Aaron and the Tribe of Levi which helped
the kogens to perform the Temple service.335 Since the Cambridge Document
reveals that their ancestors (of the Khazar Jews or the Khazars?) originated
from the Tribe of Simeon, and in the Bible Simeon and Levi are brothers,
N. Golb suggests that these are “elements of a historical myth developed after
the acceptance of Judaism by the Khazars, according to which some parts
of the brother tribes of Simeon and Levi had in remote times been scattered by
the Lord even as far as the land territories of Khazaria”. This myth justified the
assumption by the Khazar priestly charismatics of the title kogen, and by their
associates and assistants on the title levi. “The levitical priestly element was a
necessary part of the Khazarian mythos explaining the “return” of the Khazars
to Judaism”.336
But what should be understood here as “the Khazarian mythos”? Did it
belong to the ethnic Khazars or, rather, to the Jews of Khazaria who aligned
the functions of the Khazar khagan to those of the Old Testament kogens?
This provides an opportunity for the explanation of the Khazar dual king-
ship since, according to N. Golb, during the reforms of Obadiah the functions
of the priests, and with them of the Levitical assistants, thereafter were of a
more circumscribed ceremonial nature as is customary in rabbinical Judaism.337
During the Judaization, the khagan simply became a kogen, also aided by the
phonetic similarity between the two titles. N. Golb assumes that Sabriel who
was proclaimed king is identical to Bulan, mentioned by Joseph.338
According to O. Pritsak, the writer of the Cambridge Document was a Jew
and a subject of Joseph. He follows a local Jewish unofficial tradition in con-
trast to the royal official one, reflected in Joseph’s Reply. The Document relays
the legend about the origin of the institution of permanent kingship which
developed from the institution of temporary military commanders. During the
ninth and the tenth centuries, these were the beks the sources mentioned. The
presence of the khagan (kogen) reflects the views, contemporary to the author,
which interpret the former imperial title (khagan) as judge.339 Ts. Stepanov
is also of the opinion that “the Schechter text [.. .] shows the perception the
Khazars of the tenth century had of their khagans—they saw them first and
335 Golb and Pritsak 1997, 43.
336 Golb and Pritsak 1997, 44.
337 Golb and Pritsak 1997, 45.
338 Golb and Pritsak 1997, 130.
339 Golb and Pritsak 1997, 155–158.