The Khazar theory is the theory that the Ashkenazi Jews are descended from migrants from both the medieval eastern European kingdom of Khazaria and from the Rhineland. The Khazar theory is distinct from the Khazar hypothesis, which holds that the Ashkenazi Jews are descended exclusively from the Khazars. While there is no genetic evidence substantiating the Khazar hypothesis, studies have shown support for the Khazar theory, for example, "The missing link of Jewish European ancestry: contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian hypotheses [1] and "A MOSAIC OF PEOPLE: THE JEWISH STORY AND A REASSESSMENT OF THE DNA EVIDENCE" [2]. According to "Jewish Q A genetic genealogy community and collaboration", the most recent common branch of the Ashkenazi subclades of haplogroup Q (Y-2200 and Y-2232) and the Sephardic subclade Y-P745 is L245, which appeared 5,100 to 6,700 years ago. YP-745 is 3,200 to 4,100 years old, as is Y2998, the ancestral haplogroup for Y-2232 that appeared on its line immediately after L245. [3]If correct, that means that the Ashkenazi Y-2232 and the Sephardic YP-745 lines diverged before Jewish migration to Europe began and possibly even before Judaism began. The early divergence is consistent with the Khazar theory, since it posits that the only Jews descended from the Khazars are the Ashkenazi Jews.

  1. ^ Elhaik, E. (2013). "The missing link of Jewish European ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian hypotheses". Genome Biology and Evolution. 5 (1): 61–74. doi:10.1093/gbe/evs119. PMC 3595026. PMID 23241444.
  2. ^ https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=6f35c264b17a6fc623ccdd69f525d3f4df1c6cc7
  3. ^ "FamilyTreeDNA - Genetic Testing for Ancestry, Family History & Genealogy".