ONLY TRUE JEWS EAT CHULENT

The following is a translation of a story that appeared in a chareidi newspaper in Israel. This translation appeared on the Failedmessiah blog. Granted, that blog has a huge axe to grind, but the story stands on its own:

In a baal teshuva yeshiva there was a student who has been learning there for the past 2 years, who came from a country with a mass aliya. This student has “strengthened himself” [i.e. become religious] and has been keeping all of the mitzvos. Over a recent shabbos he was a guest at the home of one of the married kollel students.

The avreich realized the student despised the chulent and could not even taste a little bit of it. He remembered the words of the Rishonim, that someone who does not eat hot food on shabbos [day] needs to be investigated to see whether he might be a heretic (source: the Baal HaMaor).
In addition, he realized that the student did not shuckle/sway when he prayed, and this too is brought down (in the Zohar) as being a custom of Jews.

Since he realized that this student came from a neglected country {i.e. ostensibly Eastern European, but it does not specify] , he connected the dots and decided that according to halacha this student was likely not a Jew.
Attempts to investigate the background of the student revealed nothing conclusive, so the avreich, at the behest of the student, approached Rav Elyashiv with the situation and asked what to do.

Rav Elyashiv answered that the student must go through a conversion as a stringency [because of the chance he might not be jewish]. However any wine he might have handled is not to be considered “yayin nesech” [wine handled by a non Jew which may not be imbibed by a Jew], as the student behaved like a Jew and considered himself a Jew the whole time, and it is only a “safek” that he might not be a Jew [so the issue of yayin nesech does not apply].
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Yayin Nesech? Since when does yayin nesech still exist? Stam Yaynim- yes. Yayin nesech- no. Second, since when did chulent and shukeling become signs of authentic Yiddishkeit?

One almost has to cry and laugh at the same time! The reference to text is a valid one, but the text in question deals with recognizing a Karaite!! As the young fellow had come from Eastern Europe (in all probability), the likelihood of his being a Karaite is less than none (so to speak).

So: first it was forbidding hearing the voice of high tenor voiced men. Now it is questioning the Jewishness of a person who does not eat chulent or shukel when he davens. Hmm, we once were in a Yekkishe (German rite) shul in Amsterdam. At one point as we were davening silently, we happened to shukel as we prayed. The shamash of the shul came over and loudly informed us, “Mir tur nisht (we do not do that!)” Gosh, had we but known, we would have run out of that suspected den of Karaite evilness!!

We have a family member who totally, absolutely no two ways about it refuses to eat chulent. Thank goodness he loves schwarma and smoked white fish (even though he eats it on a bagel without cream cheese!!) and schnitzel. Whew! Without that stuff, who knows, the Rabbi might declare him a doubtful Jew, too!!