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Granny's Cheesecake
The only time my bubbeh ever took a break from preparing heavy fleishig
(meat) holiday food was on Shavuot. Admittedly, some Jews (mainly Sephardim) do
eat meat that day, as they would on any other holiday, since dairy is not
considered very festive. Others, to satisfy all opinions, eat a dairy dish,
followed by a meat dish, as a reminder of the two sacrifices offered on Shavuot.
But my bubbeh and other Ashkenazi purists eat only dairy foods on Shavuot. Maybe
it's because this harvest holiday reminds us that Israel is a land flowing with
milk and honey, or that the Song of Songs (4:11) implies that the words of the
Torah shall be as sweet to the heart as milk and honey.
Some commentators point out (perhaps with a bit of a smile) that, with the
giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, the dietary laws were established. Thus, when
the people came home from receiving revelation, preparation of meat dishes would
have taken too long, and they certainly didn't yet have fleishig dishes and
silverware.
Maybe the custom of eating dairy is as simple as gematriah. The Hebrew word for
milk, halav, has the numerical value of 40, the number of days Moses was on Mt.
Sinai. You can click on
www.inner.org/gematria/gemchart.htm and do the math yourself. The site
provides a Hebrew letter chart that helps you find numerical values for het,
lamed and bet.
I spent my childhood dreading Shavuot. I am a meat and potatoes guy who always
hated anything white and creamy. In my older years, though, I have resolved to
keep an open mind. And cheesecake has come a long way since my youth -
especially since it has come into contact with flavors like margarita.
Those who wish to make cheesecake from scratch (or cook or bake anything, for
that matter) should look at
www.epicurious.com as a first step. For low-fat cheesecake recipes, try
http://www.kashrut.com/recipes/noregretscheesecake.
I may just take the plunge and try cheesecake this year. After all, Bubbeh
taught me that it is important to eat dairy on Shavuot.
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