PC/WI: Jewish Bulgaria?

A while back I was perusing some of the older threads about the Khazars and one person made an off-hand comment that there may have been attempts to convert the Bulgarian Empire to Judaism around that time.

Recently I had a quick Google and found a couple of articles (here and here) that briefly mention that there may have been attempts to convert the Bulgars to Judaism during the reign of Boris I but ultimately Christianity won out.

I was wondering if anyone had anymore information about such attempts and what the effects of their success would be?
 
I have no info but in terms of success the christians would freak a Jewish state in breathing distance of the queen of city's the jewel of the world not on there watch.
 
Would it have been any worse than having a Pagan Empire on their doorstep though?

Yes, because you can convert the Pagan. The Jew actively denied the divinity of Jesus, in fact betrayed him and despite being fully knowledgeable of Christian society rejects the Truth. The Pagan could very well just be a stubborn and unenlightened folk. Think of it this way; do you think more poorly of a stubborn child/teenage, or a stubborn as a mule grown adult?
 
No it would not actually be worse but mentally it would be because they thought Jews killed Jesus and Jews don't accept Jesus they considered him a crazy man.

Yes, because you can convert the Pagan. The Jew actively denied the divinity of Jesus, in fact betrayed him and despite being fully knowledgeable of Christian society rejects the Truth. The Pagan could very well just be a stubborn and unenlightened folk. Think of it this way; do you think more poorly of a stubborn child/teenage, or a stubborn as a mule grown adult?

I can't help but feel that this might be projecting later persecutions and perceptions of Judaism onto this particular time period. Remember that one of the reasons that the Khazars converted to Judaism IOTL around this time was because Judaism had a degree of respect within the Christian and Islamic worlds and was seen as a neutral option, which allowed them to maintain friendly relations with both the Byzantines and the Abbasids. Granted there are geopolitical differences between the Khazar Khanate and Bulgarian Empire which will affect how the Byzantines react, the Khazars weren't a couple of weeks march from the capital, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to be utterly hostile to them. For one they wouldn't want to risk alienating the Khazars, who were a regional power who provided them with military support, which could potentially result in the Khazars and Bulgarians forming an anti-Byzantine alliance. Political pragmatism often took priority over religious doctrines.
 
Between christian Byzantium and "Jewish Khazaria", the bulgars chose the former for good reason. Byzantium was much more thoroughly Christian than Khazaria was Jewish; in the Balkans lived christian groups but next to no Jews; Byzantium was both stronger and had more soft power.

Changing this is not impossible, but it might require thorough transformation of the khazar khaganate first. And they transformed a lot and fast anyway. You need to wank them first, and on a Basis which is much more Jewish than OTL. Then, jewish Bulgarians may be logical. But then you're also looking at entirely different relations of power in the Pontic region and an irrecognisably different judaism (of theirs).
 
So yeah Tsar Ivan Alexander divorced his Wallachian wife, sent her to a monastery and married a Jewish woman after she converted. Actually, does that make her son, the last pre-Ottoman Bulgarian Tsar, technically Jewish in the view of Jewish tradition? Or not because she converted? Sorry for being off-topic.
 
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So yeah Tsar Ivan Alexander divorced his Wallachian wife, sent her to a monastery and married a Jewish woman after she converted. Actually, does that make her son, the last pre-Ottoman Bulgarian Tsar, technically Jewish in the view of Jewish tradition? Or not because she converted? Sorry for being off-topic.

It would make her son Jewish in Jewish tradition, Judaism doesn't acknowledge conversion to other religions.

I'd like to note that A jewish Bulgaria and a wanked Khazaria would solidify the entire northern coast of the black sea as jewish.

The Rus also converted to Christianity during this period, and it may be likely that they convert to Judaism if khazaria is wanked and bulgaria does also. Possibly could see much greater emphasis on Eastern European Judaism if the Jews flee from France and the HRE to Eastern Europe during the Crusades like they originally did.
 
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