Comedy Showcase: The Story of Cholent with Buddy Hackett on Johnny Carson 1973

In 1973 Buddy Hackett appeared on The Johnny Carson Show and gave Johnny his mother's recipe for Cholent, including the Yiddish terms for fatty meat, suet, and potatoes.

Enjoy!

Joining the Great Thursday Night Cholent Crawl in Crown Heights, Brooklyn

On a Thursday night in Crown Heights, cholent takes center stage as a Shabbat preview. The slow cooked stew made for Shabbat tables becomes the excuse for a neighborhood-wide crawl.

Eitan Levine, a New York based writer and comedian, moves from legacy delis to newer spots, chasing kishka, perfectly cooked potatoes, and that deep, schmaltzy Jewish umami he calls Jewmami. What unfolds is more than a food review. It is a portrait of Crown Heights itself, where cholent is shared, debated, and held as a living piece of community. 

In this video, Levine analyzes and tastes the cholent of five Brooklyn restaurants and gives each cholent a rating.

Enjoy!

Haredi Rabbi Bans Cholent on Weekdays, Causing a Stir in Yeshiva Circles, Then Reverses Ruling

It all started with a question posed by a group of Yeshiva students in Israel to a weekly bulletin on Jewish law. They expressed their concern about whether weekday consumption of cholent, the beef stew traditionally eaten on Shabbat, diminishes the sanctity of the day.

Feasting on cholent on Thursday nights has become a popular activity among Yeshiva students in Israel, and also in Yeshiva communities in the United States. 

A charedi rabbi, Yitzchok Zilberstein, responded to the question with what appeared to be a ruling that the practice is forbidden.

 

As Deborah Danan and Philissa Cramer wrote in a report for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA):

Citing Talmudic, Kabbalistic and later rabbinic sources, Zilberstein wrote that it is “very appropriate not to eat [cholent] on weekdays, so that one can delight in it on Shabbat as is proper.” He went on to note that cholent is not only spiritually designated for Shabbat, but that its heavy ingredients may even pose a health risk when eaten without the merit of the holy day.

The ruling was quickly picked up by haredi news outlets, with some dramatic headlines interpreting the text as a formal prohibition.

The simmering public response about Zilberstein’s ruling was enough to provoke a partial retraction. His grandson, Rabbi Chaim Malin, emphasized that the original response was not meant to impose a universal ban, but was rather intended as a recommendation for those seeking to elevate the uniqueness of Shabbat.

The statement noted that cholent served at mitzvah meals — weddings, bar mitzvahs and other religious celebrations — is fully permitted, as is the Thursday-night practice of serving it in yeshivas, with the rabbi clarifying that students should follow the guidance of their yeshiva leadership. The statement concluded: “Let the humble eat and be satisfied.”

If you want to check out the best cholent spots in Israel, there's a YouTube channel called Cholent and Chill that rates the many restaurants that feature cholent in all of its varieties on Thursday nights.

Enjoy!

Super Bowl of Cholent

In many homes and synagogues Shabbat isn't Shabbat without a big bowl of cholent that's been cooking all night. The concoction of beans, barley, potatoes, meat, and whatever else you want to put in it, is something to look forward to for Shabbat lunch.

The folks at Shabbat.com created this video for our entertainment and to publicize the service that they provide worldwide in matching travelers to homes observing Shabbat, helping them to find their "perfect challah."

As they put it on their website, whether you say Shabbos or Shabbat, however you pronounce it, the day of rest remains a peaceful oasis of holiness and tranquility in our tumultuous times that we wouldn't miss for the world.

Shabbat.com reaches out to business and pleasure travelers, backpackers, returnees from a trip to Israel, and anyone who wants to have a Shabbat experience, regardless of how limited or extensive their Jewish background is. For safety and security, the organization makes profiles and photos of guests and hosting families available to each other, and asks guests to provide two references.

Guests find a host by searching the website by country, state and city. There are other search fields as well which will allow the guest to find the perfect host with whom they would feel comfortable spending Shabbat.  They can then contact the family to make arrangements using the contact information provided.

Shabbat.com claims 34,612 members who have been invited to over 211,489 invites in 2,824 cities and 110 countries around the world.

Enjoy and Shabbat Shalom!

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