The minhag of eating dairy on Shavuot is a very popular one. It’s hard to imagine this holiday without variations of appetizing cheesecake. Usually we eat meat on the festivals as a manifestation of our joy for the holiday, but Shavuot seems to be an exception. Is this truly the case? Why do we eat dairy specifically on Shavuot? In the following essay, we will explore a few reasons behind this minhag as well as its different permutations. 

Perhaps the most well-known reason for eating dairy on Shavuot is cited by the Mishnah Brurah in his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 494:3:12). The Mishnah Brurah explains that when the Jewish people received the Torah at Har Sinai (the event we commemorate on Shavuot), they received all the laws of kashrut, including those of basar b’chalav, meat and milk. Since the laws of slaughtering and kashering meat are very complex, when the Jews went back to their homes after ma’amad Har Sinai, they were not sufficiently prepared to prepare and eat kosher meat, and they therefore opted to eat only dairy at that time. We therefore have the custom to act as Bnei Yisrael did when they received the Torah and eat dairy in commemoration of that moment in our history. 

The Mishnah Brurah also mentions the practice of eating milk and honey on Shavuot (ibid. 13). Originally cited by the Kol Bo, this minhag centers on the pasuk in Shir HaShirim  

נֹפֶת תִּטֹּפְנָה שִׂפְתוֹתַיִךְ, כַּלָּה; דְּבַשׁ וְחָלָב תַּחַת לְשׁוֹנֵךְ, וְרֵיחַ שַׂלְמֹתַיִךְ כְּרֵיחַ לְבָנוֹן.

שיר השירים ד:יא 

Thy lips, O my bride, drop honey — honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

Shir HaShirim 4:11 

This verse is traditionally understood to be likening the Torah to milk and honey. Many people thus eat both milk and honey on this holiday of celebrating our receiving the Torah. 

While these two explanations account for why we eat dairy (and honey) on Shavuot, they also pose a problem: According to many poskim,1 we are obligated to eat meat on the festivals in order to fulfill the commandment of “v’samachta b’chagecha,” rejoicing on holidays. How, then, could we ignore this command and instead eat dairy on this holiday? 

A look into the Shulchan Aruch reveals that it may not be the case that we avoid meat in favor of dairy. While R. Yosef Karo does not mention the minhag of eating dairy on Shavuot, the Rama, R. Moshe Isserlis, does in his glosses on the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 494:3). He explains that the minhag allows us to commemorate the korban of the Shtei Halechem, the bread offering given on Shavuot. How so? There is a halacha that when eating a dairy meal with bread, the bread used at that meal cannot subsequently be eaten with meat, and vice versa.2 Thus, the Rama notes the practice of beginning a meal with dairy foods, eaten with one loaf of bread, followed by meat foods, which requires a second loaf of bread. In this way we ensure that there are two loaves of bread eaten at the Shavuot meal, reminiscent of the Shtei Halechem brought to the Beit Hamikdash. 

The Beit HaLevi, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, writes of another reason for eating dairy on Shavuot in his commentary on Parashat Yitro (Shemot 19). This reason, like the Rama’s, involves eating both dairy and meat, rather than dairy alone. He cites a well-known Midrash in which the angels ask God why they were not the recipients of the holy Torah, and why it was given to Bnei Yisrael over them. God gives many responses; among them He praises Bnei Yisrael for their conduct in keeping the laws of meat and milk. God says, “You, angels, ate meat and milk together when you visited Avraham in his tent after his Brit Milah. But even the small children of Bnei Yisrael know not to eat meat and milk together. They separate milk and meat by eating bread in between and washing out their mouths.” God uses this as an example to prove to the angels why Bnei Yisrael are deserving of the Torah. In this vein we eat milk followed by meat on Shavuot to indicate our meticulousness in our observance of mitzvot via our eagerness to keep the laws of kashrut, an act unique to the Jewish people and not to the angels.

Based on these various motives for eating dairy on Shavuot, our practice will differ. In line with the Mishnah Brurah, eating dairy alone would be appropriate on this holiday, while according to the Rama and Beit HaLevi the minhag requires of us that we eat dairy followed by meat. The Darkei Teshuva, R. Tzvi Hirsch Shapira, maintains that the ideal practice is to eat a dairy kiddush or a small meal, followed by a large meat meal an hour or so later (Yoreh Deah 89:19). Whatever one’s practice in one’s own home, the underlying inspiration is apparent: On this seminal holiday of recalling matan Torah, we demonstrate through this minhag, as well as through others, our readiness to accept the Torah and our meticulousness in keeping all of its mitzvot.3 

Notes

1. Rambam, among others. See http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/711105 for a lengthier discussion on the topic of simchat Yom Tov. 

2.  Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 89:4. The reason for this is lest remnants of dairy/meat remain on the bread and be eaten with the other.

3.  Thanks to Halachapedia for direction to many sources.