Why We Eat Milchigs on Shavous?
There are many reasons to eat dairy on Shavous. One it is similar to the two foods we eat on Pesach. The Pesach and the Chagigah. Therefore we eat Milchigs and then Fleishigs. Also a Zecher to the שתי הלחם and therefore we eat one bread with dairy and one with meat cause there is a halacha that says you cant eat the bread that was eaten with meat so you have two breads. Another reason is it is a Zecher to מתן תורה Where after there was no way to eat meat because at Har Sinai they got the whole torah and they had no way to prepare the knife for Shechitah, or to Remove the Gid and to salt and to toivel and Kasher the pots so the were forced to live on Milchigs. A Third reason give is from the posuk in Shir Hashirim דבש וחלב תחת לשונך .Another reason given is from the Magen Avrham and it is brought down in the Zohar that the 7 weeks the Jews waited for The Torah are comparedto the 7 days of a woman waiting to be Tohar this is also brought down in the gemara where it states that שדם נעכר ונעשה חלב more so in Parshas Metzorah where it talks about Tumah from יג ־טו the 33 word is מוֹעֵד symbolizing לג בעומר .Another reason is the Posuk talking about Bikurim מנחה חדשה לה׳ בשבועתיכם which is חלב .There is also a Gematria that is תרי”ג is equivalent to דבש חלב קמחא דסמידא missing one. Another reason is when Moshe went up to Shmayim the Malachim did not want him to take the torah they wanted it for themselves so Moshe told them You cant do the mitzvah of the body and even when you got one you ate milk and meat by Abraham, so because of this we eat milk to illustrate the mitzvah we are able to keep. We eat first Milchigs and Then Fleishigs to illustrate this very point that we are keeping the mitzvahs given to us. Another reason is that חלב is Gematria 40 to symbolize the 40 days that we got the torah in. It is also brought down that חלבis good for זרע(יומא) therefore we eat it cause the Jews had to separate from their wives before getting the torah and then they were give the mitzvah to procreate so they ate it to help with the mitzvah, so we eat Milchigs in memory of their Zrizus. Another reason is that Shavous is known as Chag Habikrim
And Bikurim andחלב ראשית בכורי אדמתך תביא בית ה׳ אלהיך, לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו .Milk has a special quality in that it is similar to torah milk can only be held in earthenware and not in expensive utensils like gold and silver this is symbolic of the Talmud Chacham who must be humble to become a keli to accept torah. Another reason is before matan Torah Milchigs was Assur because of the issur “aiver min hachai” (a limb from a live animal). After we received the Torah, Milchigs was made mutar because of the posuk “eretz zavas chalav u’devash.” So on Shavous we celebrate the fact that now we are allowed to eat Milchigs. Another is there are 365 mitzvos lo tasei’s so we see that there’s one for every day of the year. If you work it out you will discover that the mitzvas lo tasei that falls out on shavuos is the lo tasei of bassar bichalav.Another symbolic one is seven liquids, it becomes tamei more readily. each of the liquids to one of the holidays:Rosh Hashanh –honey,Yom Kippur – blood,Succot/Shmini Atzeret – dew,Chanukah – oil,Purim – water (torah = water, we renewed our commitment on Purim),Pesach – wine,Shavuot – milk
making a beautiful point about liquids, change, and the message of the yamim tovim.Yet another reason is Pharaoh’s daughter drew Moshe out of the water on the 6th of Sivan, and he was willing to be nursed only by a Jewish woman. Therefore we recall Moshe’s merit on Shavous by eating milk foods. Another reason that we have the custom of eating dairy is because we became “like a newborn” nation. Just like a newborn only eats dairy, we also eat dairy.GUT YOM TOV
Previous Article
By The Light of The Moon
Next Article
