Shavuot – it’s all about the dairy
It is customary to eat dairy foods on the first day of Shavuot with menus that range from traditional cheese blintzes and cakes to quiches, casseroles and more.
There are a number of reasons for this custom. Here are a few:
- On the holiday of Shavuot, a two-loaf bread offering was brought in the Temple. To commemorate this, we eat two meals on Shavuot—first a dairy meal, and then, after a short break, we eat the traditional holiday meat meal.
- With the giving of the Torah, the Jews became obligated to observe the kosher laws. As the Torah was given on Shabbat, no cattle could be slaughtered nor could utensils be koshered, and thus on that day they ate dairy.
- The Torah is likened to nourishing milk. Also, the Hebrew word for milk is chalav, and when the numerical values of each of the letters in the word chalav are added together—8 + 30 + 2—the total is forty. Forty is the number of days Moses spent on Mount Sinai when receiving the Torah.
- When Moses ascended Mount Sinai, the angels urged G‑d to reconsider His decision to give His most precious Torah to earthly beings. “Bestow Your majesty upon the heavens… What is man that You should remember him, and the son of man that You should be mindful of him?” (Psalms 8:5-7). One of the reasons why the angels’ request went unheeded is because of the Jews’ meticulous adherence to the laws of the Torah—including the kosher laws. Not so the angels, who when visiting Abraham consumed butter and milk together with meat (Genesis 18:8). On Shavuot, we, therefore, eat dairy products and then take a break before eating meat—in order to demonstrate our commitment to this mitzvah (good deed).
Ref www.chabad.org
Click for our featured Shavuot dairy recipes:
- Spicy carrot, chickpea and griddled halloumi
- Goats cheese, spinach, pea and courgette frittata
- Summer fruit cheesecake