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SchreiberBike: Fix centuries to match WP:CENTURY and some copy editing.

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Fix centuries to match WP:CENTURY and some copy editing.

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{{Refimprove|date=July 2010}}'''Yitzhak ha-Sangari''' is the name of the rabbi who converted the [[Khazar]] royalty to [[Judaism]] according to medieval [[Jew]]ish sources. According to [[D. M. Dunlop]], "the name Isaac Sangari is perhaps not attested before the 13th century, when he is mentioned by [[Nahmanides]]."

[[File:1880 Warsaw Kuzari2.jpg|thumb|Cover of the 1880 [[Hebrew language]] [[Warsaw]] edition of the [[Kuzari]]. Although the rabbi in the Kuzari is not named, the cover makes reference to Yitzhak ha-Sangari.]]

In ''Sefer ha-Emunot'' ("Book of Beliefs"; early 15th century), Rabbi [[Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov]] wrote:

<blockquote>I have been preceded by Rabbi Yitzhak ha-Sangeri, companion [haver] to the king of the Khazars, who converted through that sage a number of years ago in Turgema [land of Togarmah, i.e. the Turks], as is known from several books. The [rabbinic] responsa and the valuable and wise sayings of this sage, which show his wisdom in Torah and Kabbalah and other fields are scattered in [different books] in [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. The sage Rabbi [[Yehuda Halevi]], the poet, of [[Spain]], found them and put them into [[Kuzari|his book]], in Arabic, and it has been translated into our language [Hebrew]...</blockquote>

Shem Tov's work was cited by [[Judah Moscato]] in his work ''Kol Yehuda''. If the medieval sources are to be believed, Yitzhak was a famous rabbi of the Middle Ages. A learned man, he was versed in Arabic as well as [[Hebrew (language)|Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]. [[D. M. Dunlop]] tentatively identified him with the region of [[Sakarya Province|Sangaros]], in western Anatolia (not far from the ancient site of [[Troy]]).

Yitzhak's historiocity is difficult to determine. A great deal of discussion among scholars has not yet conclusively established when or even if he lived, nor are any details of his ministry among the Khazars given in the [[Khazar Correspondence]] or the [[Schechter Letter]]. In some Hebrew works he is referred to as Yitzhak al-Mangari.

[[Avraham Firkovich]] claimed that Yitzhak was a [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] scholar, and "discovered" tombstones in [[Crimea]] of Yitzhak and his wife. This is unlikely given the esteem in which he was held by [[Rabbi]]nic authors and the fact that [[Khazar]] king's Judaism was almost certainly not Karaite. In any event, the ha-Sangari tombstones were later determined to be forgeries. Among the documents in Firkovich's collections are poems allegedly written by Rabbi Yitzhak. A few Israeli scholars, such as [[Menashe Goldelman]] of the [[Hebrew University]], have declared these to be authentic, but their assertions are questioned by other scholars.

==See also==
*[[Bulan (Khazar)]]
*[[Khazar Correspondence]]
*[[Schechter Letter]]
*[[Serach (Khazar)]]

==Sources==
*[[Douglas M. Dunlop]], ''The History of the Jewish Khazars,'' Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954.
*[[Norman Golb]] and [[Omeljan Pritsak]], ''Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century.'' Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1982.

{{Khazaria}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ha-Sangari, Yitzhak}}
[[Category:Medieval rabbis]]
[[Category:Khazars]]

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SchreiberBike: Fix centuries to match WP:CENTURY and some copy editing.