We just had a Shabbos guest who told us about her trip to Eretz Yisrael a few years ago. Security personnel at Ben Gurion Airport began questioning why she was visiting, trying to determine if she was really Jewish. So they asked, “What was the most recent Yom Tov?” “Shavuot,” she replied. “What do people do on Shavuot?” inquired the guard. “I eat cheesecake,” she replied. The guard waved her right through. Had she talked about learning Torah, there might have been more questions. But citing cheesecake…she was clearly no imposter!
Shavuot and cheesecake are bound together from the minhag to eat dairy on Shavuot. Personally, I like meat and potatoes. But my daughters all look forward to having a dairy Yom Tov meal. There are multiple reasons offered about the custom of eating dairy. I would like to suggest a new reason.
The Gemara brings a dispute about the proper focus of each Yom Tov. One opinion is that the entire day of each Yom Tov should be spent in prayer and Torah study. The other opinion is that one should spend the day eating and drinking, celebrating with his family. However, the Gemara says that for Shavuot in particular, everyone agrees one needs to spend time eating and enjoying a festive meal. I believe this could be one of the reasons to have dairy, since not everyone enjoys eating meat.
Being excited and happy is essential to the Yom Tov of Shavuot. The Mishna lists Shavuot as a day of judgment for the fruits of the tree. Adam HaRishon, when he committed his primal sin in Gan Eden, lost the right to have his food provided to him, such as bread growing like fruit from a tree. Instead, he had to grow and harvest wheat each year and make the wheat into bread. The judgment on Shavuot is whether man has rectified his primal sin through study and enjoyment of the Torah.
But why is there no mention in the Torah itself about judgment on Shavuot? The same question could be asked about Rosh Hashanah, as the Torah does not mention judgment regarding that day!
Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that the Torah does not explicitly mention judgment on these days as Hashem didn’t want us to be frightened about judgment. Hashem wants us to focus on the mitzvos of the day of Yom Tov and the service in the Beis HaMikdash for that day. By performing these mitzvos properly, we will merit a good verdict, as the judgment is based on the service of that day. However, the chachamim (sages) saw that people were not connecting properly to the awe of Rosh Hashanah. So that the day would be taken more seriously, the chachamim had to put an emphasis on a person’s judgment and a trial taking place, in order for us to realize that our lives are being judged on Rosh Hashanah.
So why no emphasis or focus on judgment in the prayers of Shavuot? Rav Matisyahu Salomon says the real judgment of Shavuot is on how happy we are to have received the gift of the Torah. The judgment is based on that alone.
On Rosh Hashanah, we can easily relate to the day if we focus on the judgment illustrated in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah. On Shavuot, our focus is on being truly happy in receiving the Torah. That is the source of our meritorious judgment—appreciating this most precious gift Hashem gave us.
This explains why a person must have enjoyable food on Shavuot, and it sheds insight into the custom to stay up all night learning Torah. The Sfas Emes points out that it would be much more productive to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and wake up early for davening, and then to spend 4-5 hours immersed in Torah study. Our minds would be so much clearer! But Shavuot is not about the amount of Torah learned. It’s about our excitement, energy and happiness that we feel for having been gifted the Torah. That’s why we push ourselves to stay up, as one would do in studying something we are excited and passionate about.
Express your joy: make Shavuot special, be it with cheesecake, fettuccine alfredo—or spareribs, if you like. The delicious food is there to celebrate our joy in receiving the Torah, which elevates and develops us into better people.
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the associate Rosh Yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. He can be reached at [email protected].
