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Cheesecake, blintzes and flowers
By Rabbi Berel Wein
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
THOUGH the holiday of
Shavuos has great historical significance, being the anniversary of the
revelation at Sinai and of the gift of Torah to Israel, it nevertheless was
left bereft of special biblical ritual to celebrate the event. In fact, in
the Bible we find the holiday of Shavuos as being the holiday of bikurim ---
the bringing of the first fruits of the year's crop to the Temple in
Jerusalem. After the destruction of the Temple and the entry into our long
exile, the Jewish people refused to leave the holiday of Shavuos unadorned
of distinctiveness. The holiday of Shavuos was therefore invested by the
Jewish people with customs and rituals that have preserved the beauty and
uniqueness of the holiday to our day.
One of those customs is the eating of
dairy food at the holiday meal. This is an exception to the general rule of
the Sages that "holiday joy requires meat and wine." Shavuos cheesecake and
cheese blintzes have become beloved and fattening staples in Jewish homes
for centuries. The origins of this custom are grounded in the commemoration
of the receiving of the Torah on this day. The Torah itself is compared to
milk -- "Honey and milk under your tongue" -- and thus dairy products are
symbolic of that great day of Sinai.
The Jewish people after receiving the
Torah could not eat meat products immediately, since the meat that they had
was not prepared in accordance with the newly-given laws of the ritual of
animal slaughter and the dietary laws. Hence they ate only dairy products on
the Day of Revelation, the holiday of Shavuos. a further source of the
custom of dairy foods on Shavuos lay in the description in the Torah, given
to Israel on Shavuos, of the Land of Israel as being "a land that flows with
milk and honey." Thus, the dairy foods came not only to remind the Jewish
people of the Torah given at Sinai, but also of their beloved homeland, the
Land of Israel.
Another Shavuos custom arose, that
of decorating one's home, the synagogue and even the sefer Torah itself with
greens and flowers in honor of the holiday of Shavuos. This custom of
flowers and greens was based upon a statement in Midrash that the foot of
Mount Sinai where the Jews stood in awe awaiting the granting of the Torah
was carpeted with greens and sweet smelling flowers. Even in Eastern Europe,
where Jews in the main lived in squalor and poverty, flowers in the
synagogue on Shavuos was a widely practiced societal custom.
The decorating of the synagogue and the home with
flowers on Shavuos remains a strong custom among Jews until today. In fact,
the supplying of the flowers and green decorations for the synagogue was
deemed an honor that people vied for. One therefore paid not only for the
flowers and greens themselves but also paid the synagogue for the honor of
paying for those flowers and geens. Honor is an addictive elixir!
So, my friends, enjoy the
flowers and the cheesecake and revel in the fact that the Lord has given us
the Torah and through it, the task of creating a better world for us and all
JWR contributor Rabbi Berel Wein is one of Jewry's foremost historians and
founder of the Destiny Foundation. He resides in Jerusalem. You may contact Rabbi
Wein by clicking here or calling 1-800-499-WEIN (9346).
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