SAY IT WITH CHOLENT At the Abrams Hebrew Academy where students range from unobservant to traditional to observant children chant “cholent cholent” as they make their way around the lunchroom tasting the cholents that appeal to them during the school’s annual “Cholent Bowl.” Positive energy fills the air. Every class is convinced their cholent will win (Photography: Todd Trice)

T he Abrams Hebrew Academy of Yardley Pennsylvania holds the distinction of hosting nine years of Cholent Bowls. Cholent Bowl as in Super Bowl. To counter the hypnotic effect of the Super Bowl on the students nine years ago director Rabbi Ira Budow and principal Rabbi Yehoshua Ottensoser came up with the idea of a competition the Friday before Super Bowl Sunday hence the name — Cholent Bowl.

“Our real goal” admits Rabbi Budow “is to teach the children about Shabbos through giving them a warm feeling for it. The week running up to the event we have all the classes from kindergarten through eighth grade busy smelling discussing and tasting Shabbos.” The highlight something the children look forward to all year is of course the cholent competition on Friday.

The classes prepare their cholents on Thursday relates Rabbi Ottensoser. The teachers are the ones responsible for coming up with the recipe though most often it’s a joint effort with the teacher encouraging the class’s input. Some classes put their cholents up as early as 9:15 Thursday morning and they don’t get eaten until 12 or 1 p.m. the next day.

The students are given whatever they need for their recipes in whatever amounts. The standard ingredients for the competition however totals about 40 pounds of potatoes 15 pounds of meat 13 kishkes 30 marrow bones 15 pounds of onions and lots (and lots) of spices.

“The first year of our Cholent Bowl” Rabbi Ottensoser recalls “we had a near disaster that was averted by dedicated kindergarten and first grade teacher Mrs. Sonya Arusy. At around midnight Thursday night she traveled 40 minutes from her home to check on her cholent. When she arrived she found that all the cholents were stone cold. She called me in a panic and I called the maintenance person who guided her in turning the fuse back on.

I have to admit I was a little nervous how the cholents would turn out (or if everyone would go home with stomachaches) but thankfully they were fine. We just made sure to rewire the lunchroom the next year so it wouldn’t happen again.

“Nevertheless every year since then I drive down from Lakewood at around 11 p.m. to check the Crock-Pots. It’s a good thing I do” he adds “because this year the second-place winner almost didn’t survive the night. When I came at 11 and looked at the cholent I realized it had been left on high. It was almost burned out. I added water and lowered the temperature but still wasn’t sure it could be salvaged. It turned out to be a delicious cholent.”

Sixth-grade teacher Morah Hendi explains “We want to give the children a respect for tradition so all week we talk about gefilte fish kishke and…cholent. We don’t harp on the ‘don’ts’ of Shabbos observance. When we explain the negative commandments of Shabbos instead of saying ‘You’re not allowed to watch TV on Shabbos ’ for example we’ll say something like ‘people who observe Shabbos don’t watch TV that day.’”

But surprisingly — or maybe not surprisingly — the children feel closer to Yiddishkeit as a result and will voluntarily take upon themselves certain observances.

The competition is authentic complete with a panel of judges. The four-judge panel this year included 18-year-old Aaron alumnus of Abrams Hebrew Academy who as Rabbi Ottensoser claims is now legally allowed to eat cholent.

Rabbi Aryeh Weinstein the local Chabad rabbi joined the panel this year as well. “A Cholent Bowl is a wonderful idea” he notes. He explains that in his kiruv experience whenever engaging unaffiliated Jews regarding Jewish holidays invariably the first question is “Is that the holiday we eat (fill in the blank)”? In other words it really does always come back to the food.