"Jungle Boy," commenter on Haaretz.com
When the Israelites were all gathered around the mountain, Moses arranged for a photographer to take a revolving film of the large population, and when it was time to begin shooting the film, what did he call out? --"Cheese."
Some of The "Popular" Reasons
The Two Loaves
(ג) אסור להתענות במוצאי חג השבועות: הגה ואין אומרים תחנון מתחילת ראש חודש סיון עד ח' בו דהיינו אחר אסרו חג (הגהות מיימוני הלכות ברכות ומנהגים) ונוהגין לשטוח עשבים בשבועות בבית הכנסת והבתים זכר לשמחת מתן תורה ונוהגין בכל מקום לאכול מאכלי חלב ביום ראשון של שבועות ונראה לי הטעם שהוא כמו השני תבשילין שלוקחין בליל פסח זכר לפסח וזכר לחגיגה כן אוכלים מאכל חלב ואח"כ מאכל בשר וצריכין להביא עמהם ב' לחם על השלחן שהוא במקום המזבח ויש בזה זכרון לשני הלחם שהיו מקריבין ביום הבכורים:
(3) Rema:We have the custom to spread out plants on Shavuot in the synagogue and in houses, as a memory for the happiness of the receiving of the Torah. We have a custom everywhere to eat dairy food on the first day of Shavuot. And it seems to me that the reason is: It is like the two foods that are taken on the evening of Pesach, a reminder of the Passover Offering (Korban Pesach) and a reminder of the Festival Offering (Korban Chagiga), so too we eat a dairy food followed by a meat food, and we bring with them two loaves on the table in place of the altar, and thus there will be a reminder of the two loaves that were brought on "The day of the First Fruits (Yom HaBikkurim)."
On the holiday of Shavuot, a two-loaf bread offering was brought in the Temple. Like on Pesach, we want to do something to remember the offering. In order to remember the offering, we create a scenario in which we will have to use two different breads (it is true that the custom is to always have two loaves for Shabbos or Yom Tov meals; however, one would not have to use both loaves, in the Shavuot scenario, one needs to use both loaves, as we will explain) thereby recalling the two bread offering. We accomplish this by having a dairy meal followed by a meat meal, which will require different loaves of bread.
(יד) {יד} כמו השני תבשילין וכו' כן אוכלים וכו' - ר"ל כשם שבפסח עושין זכר לקרבן כן אנו צריכין לעשות בשבועות זכר לשתי הלחם שהיו מביאין וע"כ אוכלים מאכלי חלב ואח"כ מאכל בשר וצריכין להביא עמהם שתי לחמים דאסור לאכול בשר וחלב מלחם אחד ויש בזה זכרון לשתי הלחם:
(14) ...Like the two that we cook... What this means to say is that on Passover we make a remembrance of the Passover Offering (Korban Pesach) passover (on our seder plate with the bone) thus we do on Shavout by remember the "Two Loaves" (Shtei HaLechem) that was brought, and therefore we eat a dairy meal and afterwards we eat a meat meal and we need to bring with the meal 2 different breads because it is forbidden to eat Milk and Meat from the same bread and this serves as our remembrance (having 2 breads we force ourselves to have by having a dairy meal then followed by a meat meal) of "Shtei ha lechem
In a Rush...Again
(יב) {יב} מאכלי חלב - עיין מ"א ואני שמעתי עוד בשם גדול אחד שאמר טעם נכון לזה כי בעת שעמדו על הר סיני וקבלו התורה [כי בעשרת הדברות נתגלה להם עי"ז כל חלקי התורה כמו שכתב רב סעדיה גאון שבעשרת הדברות כלולה כל התורה] וירדו מן ההר לביתם לא מצאו מה לאכול תיכף כ"א מאכלי חלב כי לבשר צריך הכנה רבה לשחוט בסכין בדוק כאשר צוה יקוק ולנקר חוטי החלב והדם ולהדיח ולמלוח ולבשל בכלים חדשים כי הכלים שהיו להם מקודם שבישלו בהם באותו מעל"ע נאסרו להם ע"כ בחרו להם לפי שעה מאכלי חלב ואנו עושין זכר לזה:
(12) Dairy foods - See the Magen Avraham, and I also heard in the name of a big scholar who said the correct reason for this: that when Bnei Yisrael stood at Mt. Sinai and accepted the Torah (when the 10 commandments were revealed to them, and through this all the parts of the Torah were also revealed to them, like that which Rav Sadya Gaon writes, that the 10 commandments include the whole Torah), and when they went down from the mountain to their homes, they found nothing to eat immediately except for dairy foods because for meat they would need much preparation to slaughter with a kosher knife like God commanded...and to clean out the strings of forbidden fats and blood, and to rinse and salt the meat. Also to cook in new vessels because their previous vessels had been used to cook meat (that they now discovered was not kosher) had been used in the last 24 hours, so their old vessels were forbidden to them. Therefore they choose on account of the time to eat dairy foods and we do this as a commemoration of this.
A Mountain of Cheese
(16) A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; A mountain of many peaks (gavnunim) is the mountain of Bashan.
גבינה = 3 + 2 + 10 +50 + 5 "gevina"
Milk & Honey
(11) Sweetness drops From your lips, O bride; Honey and milk Are under your tongue; And the scent of your robes Is like the scent of Lebanon.
(2) Drops from your lips. [With] explanations/tastes of Torah.
What do you think Solomon means when he compares Torah to milk?
Maybe it’s because it’s sweet, resembling the milk and honey of the Promised Land. (Early cheesecake recipes, in fact, were made with milk and honey, in Greece, and fed to the Olympian athletes.)
Rabbi Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
Just as Passover evokes the future universal redemption, so Shavuot evokes the future universal covenant. The prophet predicts that even carnivorous animals will turn vegetarian [...] hence follows the anticipatory dairy meal of Shavuot.
Beyond Sweetness - Torah as Milk
(כו) וּבְי֣וֹם הַבִּכּוּרִ֗ים בְּהַקְרִ֨יבְכֶ֜ם מִנְחָ֤ה חֲדָשָׁה֙ לַֽיקוק בְּשָׁבֻעֹ֖תֵיכֶ֑ם מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כָּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֥א תַעֲשֽׂוּ׃
(26) On the day of the first fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain to the LORD (mincha chadash La'adonai b'shavuoteichem), you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations.
Why is this curious mnemonic all about? How does this exegetical choice relate substantively to the custom of eating milk?
חלב = 8 +30 +2
Chalav=40
days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving instruction in the entire Torah.
days on Sinai, praying for forgiveness following the Golden Calf,
days before returning with a new set of stone tablets
generations from Moses who recorded the Written Torah, till the generation of Ravina and Rav Ashi who wrote the final version of the Oral Torah, the Talmud.
...ויעלת חן שמעלת חן על לומדיה דדיה ירווך בכל עת למה נמשלו דברי תורה כדד מה דד זה כל זמן שהתינוק ממשמש בו מוצא בו חלב אף דברי תורה כל זמן שאדם הוגה בהן מוצא בהן טעם באהבתה תשגה תמיד
...That the Torah bestows grace upon those who study it. “Let her breasts satisfy you at all times”; why were matters of Torah compared to a breast? Just as with a breast, whenever a baby searches it for milk to suckle, he finds milk in it, so too, with matters of Torah. Whenever a person meditates upon them, he finds new meaning in them.
since the taste of a woman’s milk is affected by what she eats, every time a baby drinks the milk the baby experiences a slightly different taste. So too the Torah can always be explored for new tastes and new explanations. (Dena Weiss)
(ואמר) רבי חנינא בר אידי למה נמשלו דברי תורה למים דכתיב הוי כל צמא לכו למים לומר לך מה מים מניחין מקום גבוה והולכין למקום נמוך אף דברי תורה אין מתקיימין אלא במי שדעתו שפלה ואמר רבי אושעיא למה נמשלו דברי תורה לשלשה משקין הללו במים וביין ובחלב דכתיב הוי כל צמא לכו למים וכתיב (ישעיהו נה, א) לכו שברו ואכלו ולכו שברו בלא כסף ובלא מחיר יין וחלב לומר לך מה שלשה משקין הללו אין מתקיימין אלא בפחות שבכלים אף דברי תורה אין מתקיימין אלא במי שדעתו שפלה
And Rabbi Ḥanina bar Idi said: Why are matters of Torah likened to water, as it is written: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come for water” (Isaiah 55:1)? This verse comes to tell you: Just as water leaves a high place and flows to a low place, so too, Torah matters are retained only by one whose spirit is lowly, i.e., a humble person. And Rabbi Oshaya said: Why are matters of Torah likened to these three liquids: To water, wine and milk? As it is written with regard to water: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come for water,” and it is written in the same verse: “Come, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” This verse comes to tell you: Just as these three liquids can be retained only in the least of vessels, e.g., clay pots, but not vessels of silver and gold, as they will spoil, so too, matters of Torah are retained only by one whose spirit is lowly.
(ד) כַּךְ הִיא דַּרְכָּהּ שֶׁל תּוֹרָה, פַּת בְּמֶלַח תֹּאכַל, וּמַיִם בִּמְשׂוּרָה תִשְׁתֶּה, וְעַל הָאָרֶץ תִּישַׁן, וְחַיֵּי צַעַר תִּחְיֶה, וּבַתּוֹרָה אַתָּה עָמֵל, אִם אַתָּה עֹשֶׂה כֵן, (תהלים קכח) אַשְׁרֶיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ. אַשְׁרֶיךָ בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְטוֹב לָךְ לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא:
(4) This is the way [to toil in] Torah: eat bread with salt and drink a small amount of water and sleep on the ground and live a life [whose conditions will cause you] pain and in Torah you toil; if you do so (Psalms 128: 2) "happy shall you be, and it shall be well with you" - happy shall you be in this world, and it shall be well with you in the world to come.
Milk as a Soporific
(19) He said to her, “Please let me have some water; I am thirsty.” She opened a skin of milk and gave him some to drink; and she covered him again. (20) He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent. If anybody comes and asks you if there is anybody here, say ‘No.’” (21) Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent pin and grasped the mallet. When he was fast asleep from exhaustion, she approached him stealthily and drove the pin through his temple till it went down to the ground. Thus he died.
עוללות אפרים, חלק ב עמוד ב
לפי שדרכי התורה לאחוז במדת ההסתפקות ושלא יבקש וידאג על המותרות ועל דרך שנאמר ״מתוקה שנת העובד״ היינו עובד אלקים לפי שאינו מקפיד על אכילתו ואינו דואג אם יאכל מעט או הרבה, אמנם השבע לעשיר איננו מניח לו לישון כי הדאגות מנדדים שינה מעיניו, לכך אמרו במדת ההסתפקות ועל הארץ תישן, רצו בזה שאם תאחז במדת ההסתפקות, אז אפילו אם תשכב על הארץ תישן, משא״כ בדואג שאפילו אם ישכב על מטות מרוקמות וערשו רעננה לא ינום ולא יישן ולא ינוח לעולם.
Olelot Ephraim, Part 2 Section 20
Since the ways of Torah is to embrace the attitude of self-sufficiency and that one not request or worry about extraneous things and this is like the verse that says, "A worker's sleep is sweet," (Ecclesiastes 5:11) which is to say, one who worships God, since one is not concerned about food or worried "whether he has much or little to eat" (ibid.). However, "the rich one's abundance doesn't let him sleep" (ibid.) because their worries drive their slumber away from their eyes. This is what they referred to as the the attitude of self-sufficiency and "on the ground you will sleep." This means that if one embraces the attitude of self-sufficiency, then even if they lie down on the ground, they will sleep, which is not the case with one who worries, that even if they sleep on a bed with nice sheets, "they will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalms 121:4) forever.
When the Olelot Ephraim says that the Torah puts you to sleep, he does not mean that the Torah is boring, and that a sermon is the right time for a nap. What he means is that the Torah should release you from anxiety and should bring you peace
Often we are stressed about things that don’t really matter. If we are being honest with ourselves, we know that the level of anxiety we have about things is often way out of proportion to the amount they deserve. Studying Torah should redirect our focus to what is important, thereby diverting our attention and energy from the pointless and unnecessary to the teleological and meaningful. Not only does Torah direct you to what is important and steer you away from distractions, but it is there to help you make your way through what is difficult and confounding. The Torah should guide you to do the right thing. Rely on its wisdom, and it will free you from obsessing over whether or not you did make or are about to make the right decisions. Although the Torah does not always provide clear and succinct instructions, studying Torah trains you in how to think through the important problems and to weigh complex issues with clarity. It also demonstrates how important it is to discuss what matters with wise mentors and sensitive, insightful peers.
It is the relentless pursuit of money and power on the part of those who are already wealthy that makes them unable to be content. The poor who have their milk and do not expect more than that are able to rest peacefully even though they sleep on the floor. (Dena Weiss)
(12) Did I conceive all this people, did I bear them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries an infant,’ to the land that You have promised on oath to their fathers? (13) Where am I to get meat to give to all this people, when they whine before me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ (14) I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much for me. (15) If You would deal thus with me, kill me rather, I beg You, and let me see no more of my wretchedness!”
For Moshe to have milk would be for him to have the ability to provide the children of Israel with nourishment and nutrients, and to be able to hold them; to provide them with the sense that everything is going to be fine, and to comfort them; to nurse them successfully and have them be satisfied and to quietly fall asleep. What Moshe doesn’t know, and Moshe needs to be taught - and what we all need to be taught - is that he is, in fact, full of milk. Full of the Torah that he needs to guide and support the people, as the midrash on Shir HaShirim teaches about Moshe and Aharon: (Dena Weiss)
(א) שְׁנֵי שָׁדַיִךְ, אֵלּוּ משֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן...מָה הַשָּׁדַיִם הַלָּלוּ מְלֵאִים חָלָב, כָּךְ משֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן מְמַלְּאִים יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן הַתּוֹרָה.
EAT SWEETS AS CHILDREN. BE LIKE CHILDREN AGAIN We often think that it is children who don’t know how to prioritize, who don’t understand what is really important, and are concerned with frivolous things. But it is we who are concerned with frivolous things. The younger you are, the closer you are to milk, the more you understand its taste and its texture. When you are young, you know that you should be focused on the future, not feeling anxious about the past. When you are young, you are resilient, and you tend to sleep well. You are trusting. You can understand that the Torah isn’t there to make you feel inadequate, but it is there to teach you and to help you grow. (Dena Weiss)
The rabbis who developed them lead us to ask questions about the meaning of Shavuot for ourselves. As we experience the festival, are we like the lovers of the Song of Songs endlessly seeking to connect with God? Do we experience awe as the Israelites did when they witnessed the thunder and lightning at Sinai? Do we feel the sense of gratitude like those who ascended to the Mishkan to offer thanks for a good harvest and the blessings of the first fruits? How do we make Torah a source of sweetness in our lives?