Largest Kosher Dinner Ever Served in Boulder County
Largest Kosher Dinner Ever Served in Boulder County
See photos below -
(Boulder, CO)
WHAT: On Friday, February 1, University Memorial Center Food Service in conjunction with CU’s Hillel and the Chabad House prepared a kosher Shabbat meal for 500 people. In order to prepare the meal, the UMC kitchen went through an extensive kashering process to ensure the meal was in accordance with the dietary specifications defined in the Torah. Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm of the Chabad House and Rabbi Adam Naftalin-Kelman of Hillel supervised the process which entailed utilizing blow torches on the metal surfaces, dipping all metal used in cooking and serving in giant vats of boiling water and leaving the oven on for two hours at five hundred degrees. The section of the UMC kitchen used to prepare the meal was completely kashered prior to cooking. In addition, the UMC Events Planning and Catering managers have been fully trained in kosher service and are able to provide this service for other kosher events.
“The kashering process involves going beyond what is normally done. Some things like wood cutting boards cannot be koshered; other utensils made of materials like metal can be placed in boiling water to cleanse them,” explained Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm.
Next came hours of careful food preparation ranging from hand peeling and grating carrots, cucumbers and potatoes (it is impossible to kasher some electronic kitchen tools) to rolling hundreds of matzoh balls. The meal included fresh salad, challah rolls, chicken, roasted red potatoes, vegetable kugel and fresh roasted zucchini and other vegetables. As if cooking for five hundred people in five hours wasn’t impressive enough, the Shabbat 500 was the largest kosher event to ever take place in Boulder County!
“Every Friday night we have a Shabbat dinner at Chabad so we decided to combine with Hillel and have the largest kosher event in Boulder County,” said Rabbi Wilhelm.
WHEN/WHERE: The Shabbat 500 event took place in the Glenn Miller Ballroom at the University Memorial Center on February 1, 2008, at 6:30pm. It was completely free and open to the public.
WHO: The event was sponsored by the Chabad House, a center that prides itself on acceptance of every Jew, regardless of their level of religious commitment or practice, and Hillel, the center of Jewish life on the CU campus. In addition, local rabbis and community members contributed to the event’s success.
As the heart of campus, the UMC provides an atmosphere of inclusiveness that allows for free and open exchange of ideas, as well as the development of significant relationships and understanding between all cultures in the university and the community at large.
The UMC creates and maintains an atmosphere where diversity is valued among us by maximizing the interaction of the diverse peoples in the University community. Through our experiences, programs, and events such as this one, the UMC continues its mission of out-of-the-classroom education and exposing the campus to new ideas.
For further information contact: Robin A. Margolin, 303-492-8452
|
