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Miriam Shaviv

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Miriam Shaviv,

Miriam Shaviv

Opinion

Keeping kosher on the 18th century road

February 11, 2010 15:57
1 min read

How did Jewish peddlers keep kosher in 18th century Europe?

I always assumed that they probably didn't, or at least that they kept very minimal standards of kashrut. But the always-excellent historical blog, On the Main Line, has an excerpt from an 1887 book by Israel Solomon, an English Jew who moved later in life to  New York. He reminisces:

" . . . in that time (i.e., appr. 1740 - OTML), down to 1830, inns where Jewish travellers rested were to be found in all the roads and towns of England.

The landlord then, especially to gain their custom, kept a cupboard or closet containing cooking utensils entirely for their use, so that they might eat kosher. The landlord kept the cupboard locked and guarded the keys on his own person, and when a Jew used the utensils he saw to the cleaning of them, and before putting them away he wrote with chalk within the bottom of the utensil his name, day of the month, and year, with the portion from the law read on the Sabbath of that week - all in Hebrew.