Draft:The Great Cholent Scandal of 2025

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. 2ndplacecholent (talk) 02:30, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

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Background

In March 2025, Congregation K.I.N.S. of West Rogers Park in Chicago, IL, held its annual cholent cook-off. While the final results did declare Reuven Stein the winner, upon further investigation it became evident that ballot tampering had occurred during the voting process. Ultimately it was decided by the cook-off organizers that Stein would maintain his title as “Bearer of the Golden Ladle” despite the known issues with voting tabulation.

Series of Events

On March 7th, 2025, the organizers of the cook-off (Levi Kahn, Shul President, and Etan Bleichman) sent a notice to a group of previous years participants notifying them of their entry into the 2025 competition (despite a lack of signup by every single entrant). Notably, the invite to participate began by recalling the (legal) ballot stuffing which occurred during the 2024 cook-off, with a senior Rabbi’s brother being identified as the primary culprit - strong foreshadowing for the events that were to unfold in the coming days. The email communication further detailed basic rules and logistics of the competition, with the preparations to occur in the K.I.N.S. kitchen Thursday evening (March 20th, 2025) and the communal tasting to occur at the main minyan Shabbat kiddish (Saturday, March 22nd, 2025).

One late entrant to the competition was Jonathan Korman, who joined because his 12-year old nephew heard the Shul President announce the competition during the weekly Shabbat announcements several weeks prior, and requested to participate. As such, Korman joined the competition in the position of sous-chef to his two nephews who took charge.

In total, there were 12 entrant teams to the competition with each being given a number to identify their cholent during the blind communal tasting to ensure fairness and a hope to encourage people to vote for the cholent which tasted the best, and not simply cast a vote for their family members or friends. Competitors included the Associate and Assistant Rabbis of K.I.N.S., the hispanic shabbos goy who manages the K.I.N.S. kitchen every week, a retired grandmother from Houston, the senior rabbi’s son-in-law and granddaughter, 7 regular shul members, and two boys from the Veitzner Cheder (who were the nephews of Korman). The primary style of cholent was the traditional beef recipe, though there was one chicken cholent and one novel ground beef meatball variety.

During the competition, the communal buzz was that cholent #1 was a strong leader of the field, with cholent #9 also receiving praise from critics. The chicken cholent (#7) did receive strong reviews as being a solid alternative for those with high cholesterol. At no time during the communal tasting did anyone hear any excitement about cholent #6. Further, there were eye witnesses that the Senior Rabbi and the Av Beis Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council ate cholent #1 with immense joy as they fulfilled the mitzvah of oneg shabbos.

Final Results

Cholent #1 - 75 votes

Cholent #2 - 6 votes

Cholent #3 - 12 votes

Cholent #4 - 35 votes

Cholent #5 - 24 votes

Cholent #6 - 150 votes

Cholent #7 - 21 votes

Cholent #8 - 18 votes

Cholent #9 - 73 votes

Cholent #10 - 72 votes

Cholent #11 - 38 votes

Cholent #12 - 67 votes

The winners were declared by the organizers on Saturday evening, with Reuven Stein (#6) winning the Golden Ladle, Jonathan Korman and nephews (#1) coming in second place, and Rabbi Noach Goldstein (#9) coming in third place. Honorable mentions for 4th place included Taco Miretzky and 5th place for Carlos. The low cholesterol chicken cholent was #7 with a 9th place finish.

Aftermath

Upon tallying the results, the organizers immediately knew that it was mathematically impossible for Stein’s cholent to receive as many votes as it did. Upon further questioning, Stein immediately admitted that he believed his daughter may have stuffed extra tickets in his voting box (the shul president demurred reviewing video footage of the social hall, but did note that he was likely at fault for appointing a 7 year old girl to be the watch guard of all the voting boxes). Korman also sent words of congratulations to Stein, but noted concern about ballot stuffing (which Stein admitted was likely an issue at play). Upon direct confrontation on the issue, Stein prepared the following statement for public release:

Thank you for being here.

I want to begin by addressing the recent events surrounding the cholent contest at KINS. It has come to light that a member of my family submitted multiple ballots in my favor, effectively compromising the integrity of the competition. I want to state clearly: I had no knowledge of this at the time, and I never would have condoned or encouraged it.

While it’s true that ballot security was, quite literally, being handled by a very earnest but very distractible seven-year-old — that’s no excuse. We all share responsibility in maintaining fairness, and this incident fell short of that standard.

I deeply regret that this has cast a shadow over what should have been a fun and wholesome celebration of community and culinary pride. I apologize to the other participants, to the organizers, and to everyone who trusted that the process would be fair.

Out of respect for everyone involved, I am formally relinquishing the title and any recognition I received.

I hope this moment can serve not just as a correction, but as a reminder of the values we hold dear — honesty, humility, and a good laugh when it’s warranted.

The organizers of the competition ultimately concluded that Stein must retain his title as cholent cook off winner, and live in shame every time he see’s Korman (the true winner of the competition with the best tasting cholent), knowing that he stole the Golden Ladle from his nephews.

Of additional note, Rabbi Noach Goldstein also admitted to (minor, though legal) ballot stuffing by having his entire shiur from the Skokie Yeshiva come cast votes for his recipe.

The Second Place Recipe (assumes standard size crockpot)

Two cans vegetarian baked beans (preferably Heinz)

1 and a half bags of pearl barley

1 sweet potato (cut into small pieces)

2 idaho potatoes (cut into small pieces)

1 Meal Mart Kishke (or Romanian)

2 pounds Romanian Short Ribs (put in crockpot whole on top)

3 cloves of garlic (finely diced)

1 onion (finely diced)

Mikes Hot Honey (cover entire top)

Heinz Ketchup (cover entire top)

Paprika, Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Place all ingredients in the crockpot and stir, leaving the meat and kishke on top. Fill crockpot to brim with water and cook for 20 hours. Pray to Hashem for a successful fulfillment of the mitzvah of oneg shabbos!