Shavuos – Dairy!? [#2905]

June 6, 2019

Question:

What is the connection between dairy treats and Shavuos, and how can a person make this a more spiritual experience?

Answer:

Many reasons have already been explained [about why dairy products are eaten on Shavuos]. There is now a sefer which gives 70 reasons of why dairy is eaten on Shavuos. With siyata d’shmaya, here is an additional reason.

An infant’s only food is its mother’s milk. This is due to the very sensitive and refined nature of the infant. At the time of the giving of the Torah, when Hashem descended upon Har Sinai, and His Infinite Light was revealed to the people, all creations were on a level of little children, against the backdrop of the endlessness and unlimited light of Hashem which was revealed then. At the time of the giving of the Torah, all of the people reflected the verse, “Like a child on its mother’s lap”, an infant nursing from its mother. It was a state of deep temimus (childlike innocence). On Shavuos, we return to this temimus. From this temimus we become attached with Hashem, as in the verse, “You shall be wholesome with Hashem your G-d”, meaning that when you are a tamim [pure and trusting, like a child], you are then “with” Hashem. This is how we become attached with the Torah, on the level of Toras Hashem Temimah, “the Torah of Hashem is perfect”.