Sviatoslav I of Kiev destroyed the Khazar capital Atil in 965–969 AD. The Khaganate ceased to function as a political entity by the end of the 10th century. But the Jewish communities within it did not simply disappear. The Kyiv Letter (~930 AD) already shows Jews with Khazar names living in Kyiv before the final collapse — evidence that Jewish communal life was embedded in the region independently of the state. After 965 AD, Khazar Jewish populations dispersed into three streams: westward into Kievan Rus and the emerging Ashkenazi world; southward into Crimea, the Caucasus, and the Volga region; and eastward into the Islamic world via Caspian trade routes. Medieval rabbinic sources (Responsa literature) mention Jewish communities in the former Khazar territories still practicing halakhic Judaism well into the 11th and 12th centuries. The rabbinic institutions established during the Khaganate — Torah courts, synagogue networks, charitable organizations — showed greater durability than the political structures they outlasted.