Chassidim say that the reason 15 Elul is considered the day of the founding of Tomchei T’mimim, even though the learning began on the 18th of Elul, is because the kitchen of the yeshiva opened on the 15th. * Shneur Chaviv spoke with his father-in-law, R’ Yehuda Koskas, kitchen manager for Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Elad; with R’ Yossi Wolf, the Menahel Gashmi of Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Kiryat Gat; and with R’ Yehuda Disraeli, kitchen manager of the Chabad yeshiva in Tzfas. * In recent years, nutritional changes have been made in yeshiva kitchens and the bachurim of today get healthier food that helps them be alert and concentrate as they learn.
Lunchtime in the Chabad yeshiva in Elad: The tables are set and on the tables are various salads, raw and cooked. The bachurim pass a large window that connects the lunchroom and the kitchen where they are given the main course. On the tables are healthy side dishes along with fruit and cold water.
At the entrance to the kitchen stands R’ Yehuda Koskas, in a disposable apron, his long, white beard curling up a bit, greeting the bachurim with a big smile. After the meal, they go over and thank him. “Thanks Yehuda, it was delicious.” During the meal he circulates and asks whether they are enjoying the food, whether anyone needs anything, even though there is plenty of food.
R’ Yehuda asks how one is, asks another how shiur was, to a third he hands a special meal prepared according to the boy’s health requirements. A bachur tells him he did well on a test. R’ Yehuda’s face lights up at the report. “Boruch Hashem, I knew you would do well! You see, if you put in the effort, you succeed.”
That’s him; the father, and maybe the mother, of the bachurim. In his office he has lots of presents, framed pictures, dedications and moving letters from yeshiva graduates. In recent years, he has also received wedding invitations from the first graduates of the yeshiva.
R’ Yehuda has decades of experience with food. This began when he was asked by Rabbi Mordechai Belinov and Rabbi Nissan Nemanov to cook for the yeshiva in Brunoy, which was then in debt. Then he ran a restaurant that he owned in Paris for decades. During the last 15 years, he worked in yeshivos and ran food projects. In the past decade he has been managing the kitchen in the yeshiva in Elad.
Confession time: R’ Yehuda is my father-in-law and I sat and talked with him on 15 Elul to hear what the secret of the kitchen in Elad is all about. It wasn’t new for me because I know my father-in-law’s views, but it was still an opportunity to hear it again.
Many Chassidishe inyanim are associated with the food of Tomchei T’mimim, the most famous being the Chassidic aphorism that whoever eats the kasha of Tomchei T’mimim won’t die without doing t’shuva.
That being the case, we took a tour of the “engine room” of a number of yeshivas and spoke to three key players in the field. After seeing firsthand and talking with the three men mentioned above, we were left surprised and encouraged. In the past, the yeshiva kitchens were symbols of detachment from materialism and training talmidim to iskafia, along with high fat and high calorie foods, but in recent years major changes have taken place. Young, ambitious managers, graduates of the yeshivos, have taken kitchen management positions in yeshivos and have revolutionized the field, in terms of both the kitchen-bachur relationship and the health-nutrition factor.
SO THE BACHURIM
FEEL AT HOME
What is the secret to the magic of your kitchen?
In my experience, what a bachur needs in a kitchen is first, the human touch. A bachur needs to feel like a mentch, that he is being treated as an individual and not like part of the crowd.
One of the first things I did for the bachurim was to leave the door to the kitchen open and to direct the workers to listen to the bachurim and give them what they need; of course, when possible.
I have heard of kitchen managers who lock the kitchen door. What’s that about?! Even if you brought everything out and even if you are not going to bring out anything else, explain, talk to the bachurim, tell them it’s finished, that today you can’t bring out anything else, that you got orders to limit things, but show some humanity. These are bachurim, not a herd of animals.
A bachur should be immersed in learning. Personal attention should be received in zal from the maggid shiur or mashgiach, not the kitchen. A bachur should eat what’s served and that’s that. Since when have we seen food being made into a big deal in Lubavitch?
First of all, the food of Tomchei T’mimim is something spiritual. We all know the line that whoever eats from the kasha of Tomchei T’mimim won’t die without t’shuva. Why didn’t they say whoever learns a daf Gemara in Tomchei T’mimim or one who learns a maamer Chassidus or davened, or even one who attended a farbrengen in Tomchei T’mimim, won’t die without t’shuva?
The Rebbe Rashab called the talmidim of Tomchei T’mimim “soldiers of the house of Dovid” and said “all those who go forth in the wars of the house of Dovid gives a divorce document to his wife.” In no yeshiva did they demand iskafia as they did in Tomchei T’mimim. I remember R’ Nissan in the yeshiva in Brunoy and how it was hard for him to see the bachurim spreading butter on a baguette. He said there was no need to spread the butter on the bread and that it was possible to eat the butter and bread separately. And yet, in Tomchei T’mimim, the yeshiva that so demanded disengaging from gashmius, they said that whoever ate the food, wouldn’t die without t’shuva.
The point is that food is the only thing that, whether you want it or not, gets inside of you. It becomes, as it says in Tanya, your flesh and blood. This is the only way that something in Tomchei T’mimim will permeate you, become a part of you. If you learn a daf Gemara or a maamer or attend a farbrengen, you need to work to make it a part of you. Effort is necessary to make the learning, davening or farbrengen get inside of you. When a bachur eats kasha, salad or a roll, however, there is something from the yeshiva that becomes part of him.
Aside from the spiritual aspect, there is also something physical here. The bachurim in yeshivos are at the peak of their physical development. I see the bachurim grow; how they come to Shiur Alef and how they finish it, how they enter yeshiva and leave it. Sometimes, you cannot recognize the bachur who came in as a little, thin boy and left as a young man with a beard.
Food at this age is very important. It must be healthy, nourishing and abundant. This is the age when the body develops and they need to eat well. Often, a bachur is hungry in the middle of the day and this doesn’t let him concentrate. He can’t learn. Bachurim come to me in the middle of the day and say, “Yehuda, I’m hungry. I can’t concentrate.”
There is also a psychological aspect. Generally speaking, the learning in yeshiva is very demanding. The staff expects a bachur to sit and learn most of the day, and rightly so. This is what a bachur needs to do. But sometimes, a bachur needs space to unwind, where he can release some tension. Sometimes, bachurim come into my kitchen and ask what’s happening, what’s for lunch or supper, drink a cup of water and leave. I know that they didn’t come up to the lunchroom because they really needed to know what’s on the menu before they could continue learning; it’s a way of taking a break. Bachurim sometimes need this.
So your door is always open?
No, not all day, but it is open a lot, and it gives the bachurim a good feeling. It happens that a bachur is hungry in the middle of the day. Maybe he missed a meal for some reason. For example, today, a bachur from Shiur Alef came to me. He’s new in the yeshiva and I saw him shyly wandering around the lunchroom. I went out and asked him if he needs something. I suddenly noticed that he had tears in his eyes. “I’m hungry,” he said. “I didn’t eat anything this morning.”
He had come from home and apparently hadn’t eaten before he left. This was half an hour before the meal and I could have told him, listen, now we’re closed, come in half an hour. But I saw a young bachur in this state and I took out something small and he broke his fast. Just seeing his smile and the gratitude in his eyes was worth the two minutes it took to give him something.
I think that this is important for bachurim. Sometimes, a bachur is hungry in the middle of the day. Some have money and can buy something from the machine or pop into a nearby store, and some don’t. I once had a skinny bachur who did not eat a lot and he got hungry very quickly. He came to me a few times a day and said he was starving. I would prepare him a sandwich or something small and it was enough for him. I make sure to always have something small to give, a piece of cake, leftovers from the previous meal, something to give someone who is hungry.
The open-door policy does not disturb you in your work? Doesn’t it get out of hand?
The moment I see it’s starting to get out of hand I know how to set limits. I will ask them to leave and will close the door. Sometimes, I have no choice and I tell the bachurim, “I’m sorry, not now.” But they are usually not spoiled. When bachurim are used to having the door open, it also gives them peace of mind. When they get positive treatment they reciprocate. When they see that I am under pressure or there is a lot of work, they don’t ask and sometimes they even offer to help me. The talmidim are like my children.
The Rebbe says that a bachur should not have material worries. It’s not just that a bachur shouldn’t worry about parnasa; even if a bachur worries about what he will eat that night, because he doesn’t like the yeshiva food or there isn’t enough or for whatever reason he cannot eat when they serve, that’s a material concern. It can bother him all day and make learning difficult.
We are always teaching the bachurim that Tomchei T’mimim is their home and that needs to be felt in the kitchen too. When a bachur at home is hungry, he opens the refrigerator and takes out something to eat. If he wants something in particular, it’s made for him. It should be that way in yeshiva too. This enables the bachur to have positive associations with the yeshiva and remember it fondly, so Tomchei T’mimim enters his blood.
Are you ruining the work of the mashpiim who demand that the bachurim not be immersed in gashmius?
First of all, we are not living in a generation that can deal with self-mortification. A bachur needs to eat well and be healthy in order to learn, go on mivtzaim and do what he needs to do. But the truth is that when I see bachurim eating, it gives me spiritual nachas too. The T’mimim are not immersed in gashmius; I know what it means to be immersed in gashmius. The bachurim here eat because one needs to eat, they appreciate a good, tasty meal, and that’s all. They don’t make a big deal out of it.
NUTRITIONAL REVOLUTION
R’ Yossi Wolf, the menahel gashmi of the yeshiva in Kiryat Gat, told us of the nutritional revolution happening in recent years in the yeshiva. Obviously, this is along with the warm relationship and the careful thought for every bachur in the yeshiva.
“Rabbi Elishevitz, one of the mashpiim in the yeshiva, is an expert in nutrition. He guides us and we operate according to his instructions. We eliminated all sorts of foods that are loaded with sugar and fat. We eliminated margarine, mass produced bourekas, phyllo dough and things like that from the yeshiva’s menu. We replaced it with bourekas and baked goods that cost us five times the price of the unhealthy bourekas. But there is no price on the health of the bachurim as far as we’re concerned, to the extent of our capabilities.”
If we would have thought the young bachurim would be disappointed by the absence of the foods that are rich in fat and sugar, well, it turns out they love the idea.
Take whole wheat, for example. We started with five loaves of whole wheat bread and now we get almost 15 that we serve every morning to the bachurim and the demand only continues to grow.
In addition, we put out techina and olive oil every morning. Every morning we use two liters of olive oil. It costs the yeshiva a fortune, but we do it for the health of the bachurim.
We have five meals a day. A morning snack, breakfast, lunch, supper and another night meal, something light and healthy for those who are hungry after s’darim and want to eat something. Gone are the days when a bachur had to go out at night to buy something to eat.
At every meal we serve a wide array of salads and are particular about balancing raw, colorful vegetables, with carbohydrates and proteins, and of course fruit. We stick to the instructions of R’ Elishevitz and whatever is in the realm of the possible, we do.
We make sure there are always unlimited fruits available. A bachur can take some fruits with him after a meal. If he’s hungry during the day, he can always eat a sweet, juicy fruit that will satisfy him.
SHLICHUS IN THE KITCHEN
In Tzfas too, we heard similar things from R’ Yehuda Disraeli, kitchen manager for over a decade. He considers managing the kitchen a shlichus.
“After learning in kollel, we planned on going on shlichus and we had a very good offer. At the same time, we got an offer from the yeshiva for me to run the kitchen. Of course, we leaned toward going on shlichus but we wrote to the Rebbe about both offers. The Rebbe’s answer was about the z’chus to feed bachurim. I realized this is my shlichus.
“We are particular about having a healthy, balanced menu that the bachurim will like. We stopped frying almost completely, and whatever can be transferred to baking or cooking, we switch.”
The kitchen in Tzfas produces over 500 meals a day.
“We put a lot into the health aspect. For every product we bring in, we check out the nutritional values, to see if it suits us. Each meal includes a lot of salads, some raw. We try to make things both healthy and tasty.”
It’s to be expected that out of hundreds of bachurim there will be bachurim who can’t eat the food. The kitchen staff looks out for them too.
“There are bachurim who are sensitive to gluten, for example. We prepare food especially for them. There was a bachur who was extremely sensitive and needed to cook in special utensils. He would come into the kitchen, take the products he needed, and cook for himself in his own pots. For us in the kitchen, it makes our work very difficult, especially when we are used to working with large quantities. But we do all we can so the bachurim feel good and eat well and healthily.”