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The Mishna had stated: Any document that has a Cuthean witness signed on it is disqualified (for he is suspected of lying) except that of a get for a woman and for the freeing of a slave.
The Gemara brings three opinions regarding the status of kutim:
The Tanna Kamma rules that matzah made by a kuti could be eaten on Pesaḥ and used to fulfill the mitzva;
Rabbi Elazar forbids use of matzah made by a kuti;
Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel believes that the kutim are even more punctilious than are Jews with regard to those mitzvot that they accepted.
Tosfos writes that this Mishna is only according to those that hold that the Cutheans were true converts to Judaism, and Biblically, they are regarded as full-fledged Jews. However, according to those who maintain that the Cutheans converted only out of fear of the lions, they are not regarded as Jews, and they cannot be eligible as a witness.
We explore their history and doctrines with acknowledgement of the work of Moses Gaster the Chacham of the Spanish and Portuguese community in London (1887).