If you are a fan of children’s books, cholent or books written by people with Kansas City ties, you’ll want to seek out “The Cholent Man,” written by Danny Zeldin.
Zeldin grew up in Kansas City and is the son of Stan and Joyce Zeldin. He taught Judaic studies in the upper school at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy for two years, leaving the school in 2007.
He still teaches Jewish and general studies, but he now lives and teaches in San Diego. He moved there in July 2011 from New England.
The book explains why we eat cholent on Shabbat. It’s main character, Avrumy, meets a friendly stranger one Friday afternoon. As explained on the book cover, “After a journey together into the past, Avrumy discovers the reasons behind this long surviving Shabbat tradition. As dream blends into reality and reality fades back into dream, Avrumy grows to realize that cholent is much more than just a tasty food; it is a tradition whose observance helps keep us spiritually healthy and permanently united — and it’s yummy.”
The 24-page book was published last April by AuthorHouse. It can be purchased on the publisher’s website as well as amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
Zeldin said he came up with the idea for “The Cholent Man,” as he searched for a subject that had not yet been addressed in other Jewish children’s books. He also wanted to make sure he wrote a book with an educational component.
“My first thought was food. Kreplach, gefilte fish, charoset, hamantaschen, sufganiyot, sheep’s heads … if you’re outside looking in, you’d be right to think that Jews eat some pretty strange stuff,” Zeldin said.
He pointed out that next to sheep’s heads, cholent may be the strangest food Jews eat.
“I was unable to discover any children’s literature on the subject,” he said. “After researching cholent’s history, I decided there was definitely a story to tell.”
He believes the book is geared toward older elementary school students.
“I did a book signing at an Orthodox elementary school in Brooklyn. The fourth and fifth graders were a great audience. They responded very well to it and asked more questions than we had time for,” Zeldin said.
He knows that the book is aimed toward a small audience.
“It was written for the family that regularly makes cholent on Shabbat, but that also lives the lifestyle represented by the characters in the book. I have had some non-Orthodox parents tell me that their kids like the book, but more consistent appreciation for the book has come from mainstream Orthodox families,” he said.
“The Cholent Man” features illustrations by Jade Fang, an artist from Malaysia who studied in the United States and now lives in Singapore. Zeldin searched for the illustrator himself and Fang was his first choice.
“I had an idea what I wanted the characters to look like and I narrowed it down to three artists whose work seemed to best represent the images I had in my head,” he explained. “After Jade sent me her first pencil drawings it was clear that the book found its illustrator.”
He thinks Fang’s drawings are “truly amazing.”
“Jade spent several months researching Jewish villages and dress from the book’s setting, and it is her artwork that truly brought the book alive. As a bonus she learned some new words like dreydl, boychikl, and tati,” he said.
Zeldin has considered writing more books.
“I have some drafts of other works, including a novel, but those dusty pages know they have to wait until summer break in order to get my full attention,” he said.
“Hemingway once said, and I’m paraphrasing, that discussing one’s work before it is finished is like stripping the stuff off of a butterfly’s wings. I’d hate to mess with such beauty,” he continued.