NOTES

The first time the word shows up is in the Ohr Zarua, in the mid 1200s. The word is a combination of the French words chaud ("hot") and lent ("slow"), and yes tsholent tastes much better in slow cooker/crock pot than on the fire. The origins of this humble dish lie in the words of the Ba’al HaMaor, Rav Zerachiah HaLevi from Gerona, who lived in the mid-1100s. He writes that it is a Takanas Chachamim to enjoy the Shabbos with a hot dish. He adds that whoever does not do so is suspect of being a ‘Min’ (heretic, a.k.a Apikores)! The reason being that the heterodox Kara'im (Karaites), who denied the Rabbinic Mesorah, prohibited eating any hot food on Shabbos. The Ba’al HaMaor explains that one who refuses to eat a hot dish on Shabbos (cooked before Shabbos), is suspect of following their heretical interpretation of the Torah and not those of our Sages