Still basking in the aftermath of Shavuot

I'm still basking in the aftermath of Shavuot at Kol Haneshamah-- the first time since Israel I've been somewhere where a minyan stayed up all night (thanks to David & lucy's generous hosting), and a great Shavuot day picnic with only mild injuries (Thanks to Bruce and Miriam for organizing). I'm now here at the RA, and David Heller inspired me to FINALLY start a blog. Will anybody read? Will anybody care?

WHERE'S THE CHEESE

Many people over Shavuot asked me the origin of the custom to eat dairy. It turns out that this is a widespread and popular custom, the origins of which are not at all clear.

A number of reasons have been adduced for the custom, including:
-the gematriya of milk (halav) is 40, the same as the time Moses was on mt. Sinai
-Sinai is also called Mt Givnonim, similar to the Hebrew for cheese.

According to Rabbi Abraham Gombiner (17 c Poland), the custom was not about refraining from eating meat, but rather eating meat and milk as close together as possible within the boundaries of halacha. This, he writes that we serve 2 separate loaves of bread (1 with the milk meal and 1 with the meat meal), and that we must be sure to ‘clean our mouths' well (kinuah, done by eating a piece of bread) after the milk and before the emat. He suggests that it may symbolize the 2 loaves of bread sacrificed on Shavuot in the temple. He also suggests that it may be a remnant of a pagan custom of boiling a kid in its mother's milk on the ‘festival of first fruits.'

Interestingly, Joseph Caro, the 16th century posek, mentions no such custom--apparently, it was an ashkenazic thing. The Chofetz Chayyim (19th-20th century) states that the jews had received the laws of kashrut but were unprepared to shecht and cook meat (they had no fleishig pans); this explanation seems dubious to me for a number of reasons. First of all, they could not have had cheese either, as that requires you to have kosher meat (rennet for hard kosher cheese needs to come from a kosher animal). Also, the original custom (at least back in the 16th century) is to eat both meat and milk.

One explanation which I find rather persuasive is that the mitzvah to bring first-fruit offerings is immediately followed by the injunction not to boil a kid in its mother's milk (Ex 34:25). This explains why the original custom was actually to eat both. (Sefer Matamim) All of these explanations have the feel of post-facto explanations of a popular custom whose origins were obscure. It goes to show that popular customs really have lives of their own. Or maybe it just shows how much folks like cheesecake.

Thanks to Ben Stein for this great opportunity to learn!

L'shalom,
Rabbi Siff