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Is there anything wrong with putting up a cholent to cook right before Shabbos?

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2 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Some background:

The Gemara is concerned that if people leave a pot on the flame starting Friday afternoon, a person may get impatient for his dinner and stir the pot around on the flame, or play with the flame, to get it to cook faster.

The normal recommended alternative is if you want to leave a pot cooking from before Shabbos, you must make sure the food is at least 1/2 (some say 1/3) cooked before shabbos begins, that way, it's already "minimally edible" and hence "cooked."

Another option suggested is to take something large, raw, and needing a long cooking time, and putting it up immediately before shabbos -- you have no hope that this will cook in time for dinner Friday night, no matter how you play with it, so you'll leave it until the next day.

By this logic, if someone had a large pot of cholent containing large chunks of frozen (raw?) meat and raw potatoes, if an hour or so wouldn't be enough to cook it, it could be put up right before Shabbos.

Major caveat: Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, the premier halachic authority of America for several decades in the early-to-mid 1900s, felt that a "will take too long to cook" setup as described by the Gemara didn't pertain to today's kitchen appliances, so he felt this option was no longer available. (This appears in the Ezras Torah calendar, which follows his rulings.) I don't know which other rabbis say what.

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So let me get this straight, Reb Henkin would hold I can put it on right before Shabbos with no problem? – SimchasTorah Mar 6 '11 at 5:21
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NO. The Gemara says you could, Rav Henkin held that no longer applies, so you can't! – Shalom Mar 6 '11 at 23:55
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Shalom, can you link to some sources please, or at least give some more specific citations? – Seth J Jul 8 '11 at 20:37

If you either put a blech or threw raw meat in just before shabbos, the only problem will be that your beans may not get cooked.

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