Dairy On Shavuot

Q: We feast on blintzes and milk items on Shavuot.  Where does the custom of eating dairy originate?

A:  Traditionally, we refrain from eating meat on the holy day of Shavuot and partake of eating dairy foods.  While attempts are made to link milchig (dairy) products with entering the land of Israel (i.e., the “land flowing with mild and honey”) the custom is actually tied to the historic roots of Shavuot.

As some 600,00 people stood attentively around the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses and the Israelites watched and waited.  In the thickening air, thunder punctuated the long second.  The earth shook convulsively as the Torah was unfolded before the nation.  The word of the Omnipotent was handed to humanity.

In that moment, a group of ignorant slaves whose only common bond was that they had served the same taskmasters, became a people and a nation. As the Israelites remained absorbed in the revelry the very fiber was being altered. The nation was born at that moment that would outlast every subsequent civilization for the next four thousand years.  A sophisticated code of law was given and enacted which would reverberate throughout the eons that would follow.

Doubtless, the entire hubbub absorbed all of the energy of the people. The witnessing multitudes had no time to care for their own physical needs. So, as God’s word concluded this transformed people sat and ate a simple meal that required little or no preparation. They were simply too awestruck to invest any effort into anything but an easy dairy meal. Thus we partake of  milchigfoods on the festival of Shavuot mindful of our ancestors on that day long ago.