osher Cheese
T-S 10J6.14

Date: 11th century

MATERIAL: Paper

LANGUAGE: Hebrew

CONTENT:

A certificate by a rabbinical court, testifying to the kosher status, according to rabbinic law, of the cheeses being sold by the Jerusalem Karaite grocer, Yefet b. Meshullam, and explaining that they were produced in a factory on the Mount of Olives that followed rabbinic practice. The court had made Yefet swear an oath on the Pentateuch, apparently about the manufacture and origin of the cheeses, which it confirms to be 339 in number.

IMPORTANCE:The Karaite and Rabbanite communities may have been theologically at odds but often maintained good social and economic relations during the classical Genizah period of the 10–13th centuries in Egypt, Palestine and Syria. It was obviously as important for the Karaite grocer to do business with Rabbanite customers as it was for the latter to be able to rely on the religious acceptability of his products.

QUOTE: "The cheeses are kosher and it is appropriate for Rabbanite Jews to purchase them. We grant this permission only after having made a formal purchase from him and having witnessed an oath he took on the holy Torah"

READING: Palestine during the First Muslim Period (634–1099), by Moshe Gil, 3 vols. (Hebrew), Tel Aviv University and the Ministry of Defense, 1983, 2.564.