Teaching Team
A Sabbath Keeping Oven?
One of the most well known commandments in regards to Shabbat observance is not kindling a fire. This prohibition is found in Exodus 35:3:
You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.
This has been variously interpreted in the Torah movement today. In Judaism it is taken literally as not lighting a fire at all and extends all the way to the prohibition of turning off and on electricity on Shabbat. Couple this with the prohibition of cooking on Shabbat in Exodus 16:5,23 and it can seem difficult to have warm food on Shabbat.
Regardless of how you feel about these interpretations, I found out something quite intriguing last week. Many modern ovens contain a feature that is called “Sabbath mode”. This allows the oven to be turned on before Shabbat and maintain temperature whether or not you open the door. The light is also turned off inside the oven so that even if you open it it won’t come on. Food is put into the oven before Shabbat. It is fully cooked before Shabbat and then kept warn until desired.
When I pulled out my oven manual I was surprised to find that this feature was on my oven as well! Anyway I thought this was pretty cool how much Torah has actually infused our culture without us even knowing. Right under our pots and pans. I think I’ll try it out this Shabbat. For a complete listing of ovens with this feature click here.
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Visitor Feedback:
Tryout your oven with some Cholent [tsholent]? ... or chamin as it is called by Sephardic Jews, the definitive Jewish dish! And it can be done even without a "shabbat oven". Its prepared on Friday, and put in a special slow cooker, or crockpot before Shabbat starts and then it cooks throughout the night and the next morning or until it is eaten in the afternoon. You can also do it on top or inside the oven. Yummy stuff! It contains beans, barley, potatoes, egg (in the shell), and meat or chicken. There are also spicy sephardi recipies, and vegetarian varieties.
"In the Polish "shtetls" (smaller town in Eastern Europe, often predominantly Jewish), the uncooked cholent was brought to the local baker before sunset on Fridays. He would put the mixture in his oven, which he always kept fired, and families would come by to pick up their baked cholent Saturday mornings." -Wikipedia
Avner | November 8, 2007 1:12 AM
I am Sephardi. So how do I find this wonderful recipe for my own crockpot Sabbath? Is it posted?
***Toby's Response:*** I think all that we have is what Avner posted above.
Rivkah Gillespie | November 11, 2007 9:01 AM
Wonderful and amazing that modern day design is still directed by God! But as a Goyim I thank my Father for sending us His Son who has provided us with such Amazing Grace! By understanding Judaism we understand more fully what Grace we have actually been given through Yeshua!
***Toby's Response:*** If you are talking about how closely we see the Master connected to Judaism, then I agree it is amazing isn't it. What I find is that the more I understand Judaism the more I understand Yeshua and who He really was. But if you are saying that the more you study Judaism the more you see how we needed to have Yeshua to come and do away with it, I would like to send you the book King of the Jews. I think it will really help clarify some things for you in this area. Let me know.
~Donna | November 11, 2007 9:58 AM
There are many cholent recipes available. Since there is a great preference for fresh ingrediants the flavor typically varies from week to week depending upon what is in season and available. You will find a good collection of recipes here:
http://jewish-food.org/recipes/choindex.htm
This list includes some rather unusual combinations that are way out of the ordinary, including 2 recipes for Chocolate Cholent, and a Yogurt Cholent. (Though obviously that only would work for households that don't follow the tradition of eating meat on Shabbat.)
Daniel | November 11, 2007 5:57 PM