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A cholent crisis? Rabbi’s ruling against Shabbat stew on Thursday nights briefly roils Israel

JL;DR SUMMARY A recent ruling by prominent haredi Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein suggesting the inappropriateness of eating cholent outside of Shabbat has stirred debate in Israel, yet many enthusiasts of the Ashkenazi stew remain undeterred. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Religious ObservanceJewish LawShabbatCholentHaredi CommunitiesCulinary TraditionsCultural PracticesCommunity DebateRabbinic Ruling

Places mentioned

Jerusalem, Israel
"A diner buys cholent at Cholent on the Roof in Geula, Jerusalem, on July 10, 2025."
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv District, Israel
"When the Tel Aviv light rail opened in the summer of 2023, it shaved travel time from the citys southern neighborhoods to the haredi Orthodox city of Bnei Brak to just 20 minutes."
Bnei Brak, Central District, Israel
"When the Tel Aviv light rail opened in the summer of 2023, it shaved travel time from the citys southern neighborhoods to the haredi Orthodox city of Bnei Brak to just 20 minutes."
Jaffa, Central District, Israel
"For me, having a bowl of cholent on Thursday night adds a little bit of Shabbats holiness into the end of the week, and deepens my connection to the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and people, said Eliyahu Freedman, who regularly travels with his friends from his home in Jaffa to Bnei Brak for the stew."
Har Nof, Jerusalem, Israel
"His teenage daughter had started going out with friends on Thursday nights to cholent in their Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, and he disliked the casual hangout it generated."
New York, United States
"He wrote that cholent drew him to the neighborhood around Yeshiva University as a teenager in New York and was the carrot I needed to study some extra Torah on Thursday night."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"The tradition has more recently taken off in haredi strongholds in Brooklyn and Monsey, New York."
Monsey, New York, United States
"The tradition has more recently taken off in haredi strongholds in Brooklyn and Monsey, New York."

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