S'Derot

S'Derot is a community in Israel, located in close proximity to the Gaza Strip. In particular, it is attacked on a daily basis by rockets from Gaza. It really doesn't matter if the rockets are launched by Hamas, people affiliated with Hamas, or just very angry people who'd rather attack Israelis then channel their energy into a productive activity. The attacks are real, the damages are real.

Chabad in S'Derot has set up an online fund to aid the Jewish residents of S'Derot. I would urge you to assist them.

Iron Cholent

Recipes from the Cholent Meister of Chabad of Tyson's Corner, VA (outside of Washington DC). A companion blog to Capitol Chai Life

Cholent is a uniquely Jewish creation...

...while assorted cultures have stews and slow-cooked foods, in Judaism, it is a necessity, since observant Jews are strictly prohibited from cooking on Shabbat, in addition to being severely limited in the use of fire and electricity. While there is some debate about the origin of the word "Cholent" (and for that matter, the term is not universally used -- Ashkenazic Jews [of Eastern European origin] make cholent, while Sephardic Jews [of Western European and North African origin] make Dafina), the origin is reasonably well understood.

Shabbat stews first started to appear around the 4th century CE, but in the 9th century CE, a movement within Judaism arose in the area known as Mesopotamia -- present day Iran and Iraq. These Jews, known as Karaites, believe in a very strict reading of the Torah. In reaction to this group, the Rabbis of the day ordained that their followers have a hot meal as part of their Shabbat observance.

Obviously, this was a challenge, since Jews could not tend a fire, nor cook food. The meal would have to be prepared and mostly cooked by the time Shabbat came in on Friday night, and then have to sit on a pile of coals for sixteen to twenty hours, until it was eaten for lunch on Saturday.

Given these conditions, cholents are generally heavy on beans, root vegetables, grains, and red meat. This simplest cholents are in fact just that -- beans, beef, and onion. Still, cholents have acquired some variation in the past 1700 years or so, and for that matter, some slow-cooked dishes are perfectly fine for cholent. Chili anyone?

Saturday, April 12, 2008

On Birthdays and Candy...

Of course normally on Motzei Shabbat (or sometimes perhaps a bit latter), I'll post the recipe for whatever cholent I made the preceding Shabbat. Well, this past Shabbat I decided that the cholent I made the preceding week was pretty good, but needed tweaking, so I made it again with two changes:
  • I used tomato sauce instead of water
  • I changed the ratio of frozen vegetables to meat from 2:1 to 1:1
I also used Neshama brand Andouille Sausage instead of beef, although frankly the choice of beef is entirely up to whomever is making the meal.

Since this kiddish we honored our Rabbi and Rabbitzin's 6 YO daughter (soon to be a big 7!), I also bought a package of hot dogs for the kids. This worked out exceptionally well for the kids -- I simply took the hot dogs out of the package, double wrapped them in aluminum foil and put it on top of the cholent to heat up when I put everything up Erev Shabbat. The kids ate 'em up!

And a cute story from Shabbat today.

One of our congregants has a little boy, three or four years old. Cute kid, but then again, all kids that age are cute. Regardless, Gabe comes in and in a quiet, measured, and clear voice asserts:

"I want candy."

[He's four -- if you want Shakespeare, you are in the wrong place.]

He's not loud, and he's certainly not annoying or disruptuve (save me and his dad buckling over in laughter), but he IS determined! It was his mantra that morning, "I want candy. (Pause.) I want candy." and so on.

We did FINALLY get him over to where his Dad and I were sitting and could actually satisfy his request, but in the interim, it was entirely too funny from the perspective of a parent!
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