We’ve put our town’s historic ice cream stand, Uhlman’s, on notice… large numbers will be descending on their corner of town toward the end of Shavuot day for our congregation’s first Shavuot Ice Cream Flash Mob. Its a favorite place for locals to go, and its going to be a lot of fun for our families to get our community together over one of the lighter (but not in the calories sense of the word) aspects of this harvest holiday. But why ice cream? What’s this dairy eating on Shavuot all about anyway?
I often tell people that whenever you ask a question about a Jewish practice and you are given several answers, it means that no one really knows what the original answer was. I’m only half-joking, because in each answer that we get we learn something about the concerns of the Jewish leadership at a certain point in time, and each teaching can offer something meaningful. In the case of eating dairy on Shavuot, among some of the more ‘traditional’ answers we sometimes hear that it has something to do with observing Kashrut – a precaution against breaking the covenant the very moment we received it, but that is clearly a later lesson expressing concern that we uphold the laws that provide the infrastructure which shapes Jewish living in response to Revelation.
I prefer a more allegorical set of meanings. Torah is likened to milk – something that provides life to newborns, nourishing and sustaining them in their infancy. Likewise, the Hebrews standing at Sinai were in their infancy as a people and were to build a society upon the bedrock of ethical and ritual practices that would enable them to endure and mature. Mystics also point out that the Hebrew for milk, chalav = 40 (chet -8, lamed -30, bet -2) – the number of days that Moses stayed on Mount Sinai.
But I am also drawn to a deeper mystical teaching. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810) gave one of his most significant lessons one erev Shavuot, dressed in white, in which he described how we can effect a tikkun haklali – a complete healing – of the fractured kabbalistic Tree of Life. Just as when our thought, speech and deed are in alignment and we are in spiritual alignment, so we can bring the sephirot of the Tree of Life into alignment in the spiritual realm, and the Zohar describes the flow of Divine Presence throughout the worlds as being like a lactating mother. While the specifics of the Zohar, and Rabbi Nachman’s explanation are complex and multi-layered, at its essence is the idea that Torah provides a guide to spiritual daily practice in all we think, say and do, and each one of us can bring a piece of healing and wholeness to our world through mindful living. I’ll raise an ice cream cone to that!
A couple of years ago, when I first published this answer to the question of dairy on Shavuot in the Connecticut Jewish newspaper, the Ledger, my father responded with his own attempt to answer the mystery of dairy on Shavuot… it’s a lot more amusing than my version above – you can enjoy reading it here.
See you at Uhlman’s for the CBS Shavuot Ice Cream Flash Mob, May 15, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.!
We are four weeks into the Counting of the Omer, the period of seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. Once a time of waiting as grain grew in fields, ready for harvesting at Shavuot, this period of time later became interpreted as a time of personal growth. We move not only from the experience but also the mindset of slavery, to the moment of Revelation at Mount Sinai, understood as a God-encounter where we can be at our most spiritually expansive; exhibited through a refinement of character traits and behaviors that see our actions most aligned with our values and beliefs.
The tradition of Counting the Omer is a practice of counting each day as we reach sundown. But while each day brings us closer to the festival, the ritual asks that we count up and not count down. Perhaps this is purely pragmatic. Shavuot is the only biblically-ordained festival that is not provided with a specific date on a specific month but, rather, is described as seven weeks after Passover. So we count up until we hit seven. Perhaps the counting is also symbolic – the sense of moving upward as in a spiritual ascent, just as Moses ascended Mt. Sinai for the Revelation encounter. But perhaps, also, the upward counting is a way of reminding us to keep moving forward. Sometimes our life experiences see us looking back, trying to hold on to something that is gone. We experience the pain of loss, as we should when we lose something, but sometimes the pain stays with us so much longer because of our inability to notice what is right in front of us today. When we count the Omer, before reciting the formula for announcing this day, we number the previous day. So, when announcing the arrival of the third day, we would say aloud ‘yesterday was the second day’ and then, after the blessing for counting the Omer, we announce ‘today is the third day of the Omer’. We recognize that we are formed by our past experiences, but then we affirm the newness of this day – we will not be defined or limited by our past. We face today as a new opportunity, with new potential for growth and spiritual expression.
This year, as I count the Omer, I am aware of my own journeying, and the tendencies to look back or look forward, but sometimes forgetting to treasure this very day. Not long after Shavuot I will be journeying, from Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport CT to Congregation B’nai Shalom in Westborough, MA. It is a bitter-sweet time. Looking back, I find myself trying not to count or notice that there is one day less left at B’nai Israel. It has been such a wonderful spiritual home these past six years, and it is not easy to leave. And yet, I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to serve Congregation B’nai Shalom, and each time I return for another visit and meet more people, my enthusiasm grows. I begin to imagine the work we will do there together.
Looking back… and looking forward… and sometimes forgetting to notice this moment and this day. Hayom shloshim yom, sh’hem arba’ah shavuot u-shnei yamim la’omer. Today is the thirtieth day, making four weeks and two days of the Omer.
As my erev Shavuot posting, I wanted to share with you something deep and meaningful, about the essence of our holy festival … Cheesecake! (or, if you prefer, blintzes). Last week I was invited to offer my thoughts on any number of Shavuot-related questions for the Connecticut Jewish Ledger, and I chose to address the ‘Why do we eat dairy?’ question. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to add my own spin on this question, partly because I’ve never been satisfied with any of the more ‘traditional’ answers and, partly, because I believe its possible to make something meaningful out of each and every moment and, therefore, each and every Jewish food, cheesecake being no exception.
So, what does a more traditional take on this question look like? Check out the short video answer provided by the United Synagogue of Great Britain (Orthodox):
To read my take on the background to eating dairy on Shavuot, the Ledger link is here (Scroll down for my answer on eating dairy).
But the best answer I’ve read this year was the one I received from my father. Encouraged by what is clearly the Jewish tradition of having an endless number of answers to this vital question of Jewish practice, he decided to add a few more of his own. Enjoy!
Qu: Why do we eat cheesecake on Shavuot?
A: There are many answers, most , if not all, of them wrong. Perhaps the most credible answer, in the traditional Yiddish style, is “Why not?’ Always answer a question with a question. This sharpens the mind and frays the nerves.
Another answer is that one day it was Shavuot and Rev Nachman was standing before his students wearing a white robe. With his pale skin he was barely identifiable against a pale background. One of his students was heard to remark: “Doesn’t he look just like a bit of cheesecake” and this memory has been preserved ever since.
There is a lot more to Rev Nachman than a chair.
Another answer is that in olden times the harvest at Shavuot was celebrated by eating doughnuts. These doughnuts were the original kind, with a ring of dough sprinkled with sugar and a hole in the middle.Our sages and thymes tells us in an unconvincing, yet mystical, way that the ring represents all the Jews in the world and the hole ( which is not only in the middle but also occupies the surrounding space) is where God lives.
So no matter where you are, if you look, you will find God.
One day, around 1400 CE, a woman was buying doughnuts for Shavuot and said in a feigned middle-Eastern voice: “Ach, these fried doughnuts gives me heartburn; same with KFC. Haven’t you anything else”
“How about a bit of cheesecake?” replied the baker. “Ok, I’ll try a piece” said the lady.
And she never had heartburn again, dying peacefully the following day.
“A miracle” exclaimed the baker and Jews have been eating cheesecake on Shavuot ever since in the hope that they, too, might be delivered from heartburn.
Although this rarely happens, they have not stopped trying. Simon Gurevitz (Not a Rabbi)
