The Festival of Shavuos is shockingly anticlimactic.  We count Sefiras Haomer, with much excitement and enthusiasm, leading up to the celebration of Kabalas Hatorah.  But the anticipation is met with a celebration well below expectations.  In contrast to Pesach and Sukkos, Shavuos is a mere 24-hour celebration.  In addition to its brevity, we perhaps would have expected the Torah to obligate the performance of mitzvos in order to enhance the commemoration of this epic event, Kabalas Hatorah –yet here too, Shavuos is lacking.

There is an intriguing comment by chazal that may hold the key to understanding the anomaly of Shavuos.  Based on a pasuk in Sefer Yeshaya (54:1), the Talmud (Taanis 7a) compares the Torah to three liquids: milk, water, and wine.  This analogy needs clarification.  Why do Chazal feel compelled to compare the Torah to liquids? And when doing so, why specifically these three?

Perhaps these three liquids symbolize the development and maturity of the human intellect, which is, of course, an integral part of Torah study.  Milk, which is the life source of the new born baby, represents the first stage of life.  Water, which is the essential drink for all ages, signifies the middle stage of life.  And wine, which is reserved for the mature and sophisticated, symbolizes the latter years of life.  This progression can now be applied to Torah study.  Milk represents the Written Law, the fundamentals of Torah; water signifies the Oral Law; and wine symbolizes the hidden dimension of the Torah. 

These three liquids, these three levels of Torah study, correlate to the three regalim.  Shavuos, when we customarily enjoy dairy foods, represents the Written Law.  Sukkos, which embraces the theme of water[1], signifies the Oral Law, and Pesach (perhaps coupled with Purim), when we drink four cups of wine, symbolizes the hidden dimension of Torah.

This notion that Shavuos represents the Written Law, the fundamentals of Torah, justifies its brevity as well as its lack of an attached ritual.  Shavuos is limited to one day, a simple day, an uneventful day to highlight its very essence:  celebrating the receiving of the Torah, the beginning of the Torah, the basics of the Torah. 

However, this interesting approach to the relationship between the three regalim leaves us in a quandary. Why do we count up, from Pesach to Shavuos, when it appears we’re moving backwards?  Keeping everything simple still doesn’t make for an exciting climax.  It seems backward to count from Pesach to Shavuos, regressing from the sophisticated to the primitive!

The Written Torah, although basic and fundamental, is unlike the ABC’s of preschool.  A preschool graduate never returns, but one who studies the Written Law must.  He must return and review, revisit and reexamine.  In fact, it is through the other areas of Torah, both the Oral Law and the hidden element, that one can reenter the world of the Written Law.  It is only through these lenses that one appreciates new understandings of the Written Law.  It is now clear why we count from Pesach to Shavuos – it is simplicity that is the greatest climax.  Throughout the year we sustain ourselves on water, we dine with aged wine, but it is the milk we thirst.  We strive to peer into the Torah, in its simplicity, yet see myriads of concepts and ideas.

[1] On Sukkos we are judged on rain (Rosh Hashannah 16a), we begin reciting “mashiv haruach” (Taanis 2a), and we have a special water libation accompanying the korban tamid (Taanis 2b)