A Slice of History: The Journey of Cholent from 1929 to Today

Traditionally, Jews eat hot food on Shabbat morning, setting them apart from the Sadducees and Karaites who did not keep any fire burning on Shabbat, often sitting in the dark and cold, eating cold meals. Jewish law actually instructs honoring and enjoying Shabbat with hot food. To achieve this, Jewish women through the ages crafted various recipes for food that would stay delicious and fresh even after a night on the fire. Every community named their version of cholent differently, along with their unique ingredients.

The rabbis were so insistent on eating hot food on Shabbat that Rabbi Zerachiah HaLevi, one of the early Spanish scholars during the Rambam's time, wrote that if someone does not eat cholent, it should be checked whether they might be a heretic.

It's known that non-Jews occasionally asked for just a little taste of cholent... (One noted: "I'm amazed he never mentioned in his writings with what appetite, with what enthusiasm, with what devotion I once gobbled up at Dr. Strauss's the ancient Jewish dish 'cholent'!"). The famous German Jewish convert, Heinrich Heine, even wrote a poem of praise and longing for cholent he enjoyed when observing Torah commandments.

However, more than they sought a taste, non-Jews relished in troubling the Jewish community. In 1929, less than a hundred years ago, the commander of the Polish town of Kazimierz (now a historical district of Kraków) announced a ban on setting up cholent pots. In those days, not all Jews had the means to keep a stove burning throughout Shabbat, so it was customary to bring cholent pots to the baker's large oven, to be retrieved on Shabbat morning for meals.

As reported in the newspaper: "His view was that placing dishes in bread ovens violated hygiene laws. Besides, dishes left in the oven for 24 hours are harmful to health." All that Agudat Israel's center could do then was appeal to the regional administration to lift the harsh decree (Davar, 21.5.1929).

Dottan Goren recounts: "In the following years, the culinary opinion of the Kazimierz police commander spread across Poland, reaching the capital city. By early April 1936, there was a decision in Warsaw enforcing 'a new decree that impacted Jewish bakers' livelihoods.' It soon became clear this wasn't an April Fool's joke since "health authorities banned most Jewish bakeries and bakers from setting cholent on Shabbat." The official reasoning was "Jewish families placing cholent in bakers' ovens violated health laws." The outcry of Polish Jews soon reached their brothers in England, where the press published their "dire" situation, arguing the Polish government was enabling anti-Semitic persecution against Jews (Haaretz, 5.4.1936).

In this way, the Poles, known for their great compassion, joined other European nations that banned Jewish slaughter at the time. Yet, the Jewish mind remained innovative, and through secretive means (which we're not even permitted to reveal here...), Jews managed to keep eating kosher and exquisite food, a feat they continue to achieve even in countries still banning kosher meat, like Norway. We won't be defeated so easily, and we certainly won't give up on our cholent...