Abraham Harkavy

Also called Avraam Yakovivich Harkavy (in Russian) and Avraham Eliyahu ben Yaakov Harkavy (in Hebrew), Russian-Jewish historian and orientalist. Harkavy was born in 1835 in Novgrudok (in modern-day Belarus). He studied initially in the Volozyn yeshiva, and graduated from the Teacher's Institute in Vilna. In 1843 he enrolled at the University of St Petersburg, where he completed a master's course majoring in history. He continued his studies in Berlin and Paris. In 1876 he was appointed head of the Oriental Division in the St. Petersburg Library, an astonishing achievement for a Jew under Czarist society's anti-Semitic policies. He remained in this position for the rest of his life.

Harkavy was an prolific author, both as an individual and in collaboration with other Russian-Jewish scholars. He wrote in Russian, German, and most notably in Hebrew, which had only recently been revived as a language of common discourse. Among his theories, he speculated that certain groups of Eastern European Jews, such as the Krymchaks, Karaim and even many Ashkenazim, might be descended from the Khazars. This theory, largely debunked by modern genetic testing, inspired Arthur Koestler's The Thirteenth Tribe, which took Harkavy's hypothesis to an extreme. In the course of his Khazar research Harkavy refuted many of Avraham Firkovitch's theories and exposed some of his forgeries.

In 1910 the scientific world celebrated Harkavy's 75 birthday by issuing a memorial book. The contributors were the world's best known scientists in Judaica and orientology. Attached to the book was a list of 399 works by Harkavy.

Harkavy died in 1919.