Editing Hechsher (section)

==History==

===Seals===
[[Image:Lmlk-seal impression-h2d-gg22 2003-02-21.jpg|thumb|LMLK stamp]]
The [[Babylonian Talmud]] cites an early example of a kashrut seal: the seal of the [[High Priest of Israel|Kohen Gadol]] on jugs containing olive oil used in the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Jewish Temple]] for the lighting of the [[Menorah (Temple)|Menorah]].<ref>Shabbat 21b</ref>

'LMLK seals' (bearing the Hebrew letters למלך, equivalent to LMLK) were stamped on the handles of large storage jars mostly in and around [[Jerusalem]] during the reign of King [[Hezekiah]] (circa 700 BC), based on several complete jars found ''[[in situ]]'' buried under a [[destruction layer]] caused by [[Sennacherib]] at [[Lachish]].<ref>Ussishkin (2004), ''The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish'', p. 89 ("As the work of the renewed excavations developed it became clear that the destruction of Level III must be assigned to Sennacherib's attack in 701 BCE.").</ref> None of the original [[Stamp seal|seals]] have been found, but about 2,000 impressions (also referred to as ''stamps'') made by at least 21 seal types have been published.

The practice of marking food as a sign of kashrut can be dated back as far as the 6th century CE. A clay stamp bearing a Menorah image from this period was discovered in an excavation near [[Acre, Israel]] in 2011. According to archeologists, local Jews stamped their dough with Menorah impressions while preparing bread, in order for consumers to verify its kashrut.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151586|title=Temple Menorah Stamp Affirms Jewish Claim to Land|date=10 January 2012|author=Ronen, Gil|work=[[Arutz Sheva]]|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref>

In New York City in the late 18th and early 19th centuries a [[shochet]] (kosher slaughterer) sold meat from the animals he slaughtered, with a seal affixed certifying it was kosher, to butchers who also sold non-kosher meat. In 1796 the city's [[New York City Council#History|Common Council]] suspended the butcher license of a non-Jewish butcher, Nicholas Smart, for seven weeks for selling non-kosher meat with a counterfeit seal.<ref name="JPS"></ref><ref>Abraham P. Bloch, ''One a Day: An Anthology of Jewish Historical Anniversaries for Every Day of the Year'', p. 229. {{ISBN|0881251089}}.</ref> In 1805 another non-Jewish butcher, Caleb Vandenburg, also had his butcher license temporarily suspended after Jacob Abrahams, who had been the shochet in New York since 1803, inspected meat to which Vandenburg had affixed a seal saying it was kosher and testified that he had not slaughtered the animal the meat came from.<ref name="JPS">[https://books.google.com/books?id=LcU8AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Nicholas+smart%22+1796+kosher&pg=RA1-PA37 ''Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, Issue 25'', 1917, pp. 31-37]</ref>

===Certification===
An 11th-century certificate found in the [[Cairo Geniza]] written by a rabbinical court, testified the kosher status "according to rabbinic law" of the cheeses being sold by a [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] grocer, Yefet b. Meshullam of Jerusalem. The document explains that the cheese was produced in a factory on the [[Mount of Olives]] that followed rabbinic practice. The certificate reads: "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."<ref>[http://www.genizah.org/Manuscript_Samples.aspx#_self]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630111224/http://www.genizah.org/Manuscript_Samples.aspx|date=2012-06-30}}</ref>