Imagine yourself back in the desert, camped out by Mount Sinai. You’ve just experienced the awe of receiving the Torah, and you’re about to celebrate with a beautiful feast, only to realize that now you keep kosher but your meat (and cookware) is NOT...or at least not yet. What to do?! What to eat?! And thus, the first dairy holiday was born: Shavuot, the festival commemorating the giving of the Torah, which has become synonymous with blintzes and cheesecake. Now, this is a holiday I can dig.
While the tradition to eat dairy on the holiday of Shavuot may be rooted in logistical necessity, there are deeper hints to this custom which suggest a theme of chesed (loving-kindness) running as an undercurrent throughout the festival.
Got Milk?
The Torah is compared to milk in King Solomon’s allegorical Song of Songs as it writes, "Honey and Milk beneath your tongue." When a child is born, its sole source of nourishment is milk. There is no greater example of loving, nurturing generosity than a mother nursing her baby. Just as a human being cannot physically survive without food, likewise the soul of every person needs to be continually nourished - not with material entities, but with the spiritual sustenance found in Torah. Torah is spiritual food for the Jewish soul, a loving handbook gifted to the Jewish nation in order to help each one of us become our best selves.
Crazy Kindness
Besides our obsession with all things dairy on the holiday of Shavuot, there is also a long-standing tradition to read and study the Book of Ruth. The story takes place during the period of Judges in ancient Israel, and the heroine is a Moabite princess named Ruth whose Jewish husband’s untimely death, as well as the death of her father-in-law, has left her and her mother-in-law poor widows. How many daughters-in-law would elect to leave their home and live with their mother-in-law penniless in a foreign land?! An incomparable story of devotion and kind-heartedness, the book is read to underscore the virtue of doing chesed, stepping up with acts of kindness – indeed, these are the foundations of the Torah’s commandments.
A pair of cheese blintzes, side by side, has the charming imagery of the Torah scroll. Sweet fillings hidden inside, I like to remind myself that each year there is something new and enticing waiting for me to uncover in the Torah. Through these holiday traditions, we get subtle reminders to appreciate the generous gift that we were given all those generations ago.
Planning a dairy meal on Shavuot? Try this super-cheesy uber-rich recipe for Khachapuri (Georgian Cheese bread) from my new cookbook, The Giving Table.
