Hanukkah ben Obadiah

Hanukkah Khagan was a Khazar Khagan who reigned during the mid to late ninth century CE. Hanukkah was the brother of Obadiah and succeeded his great-nephew Manasseh I to the throne. No contemporary records from his reign survive; however, he is known from the Khazar Correspondence between Hisdai ibn Shaprut and the Khazar king Joseph. Historical authenticity and accuracy of the only document mentioning his name has been questioned.

Hanukkah was succeeded by his son Isaac.

Reign

He is considered to be the brother of Obadiah , which is confirmed by the letter by King Joseph. Around 825, after the death of Menasseh I, Tuğan Khagan was crowned as new Khagan. The latter was overthrown only around 830 AD, but later Hanukka's struggle with the overthrown Khagan and his allies (Ugrians and Polyanians) continued throughout the 830s. Hanukka installed Tarkhan as the khagan-lbek, restoring order just like the time of Obadiah.

Hanukka's attempts to restore power over the Hungarian formation led by Lebedius and the Polyana tribal union proved futile.

Therefore, Hanukka renewed the alliance with the Byzantine Empire, receiving from Emperor Theophilus masters who, until 837, built the Sarkel fortress on the Don River, which served as a defense against a possible attack by the former Kagan Tuvan, the Hungarians and the Poles. He also began to equip Khazar trade and craft settlements on the Don. At the same time, the Khazar ruler recognized Byzantine power over Chersonesus and Western Crimea.

Hanukkah died around 840 AD or a little later. Power was inherited by his son Isaac I.

Sources

• Kevin Alan Brook. The Jews of Khazaria. 3rd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2018. ISBN 978-1-5381-0342-5
• 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, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982.