SHAVUOT Sometime before Yom Tov, one takes a Challah or Matza and a cooked food (hard boiled egg, piece of gefilte fish, piece of chicken, etc.) which will be eaten on Shabbat (many eat the Eiruv up at Seuda Shlishit, but it only must last until Shabbat to be effective). With baked and cooked items in hand, one recites the
following bracha... Permission to cook is limited to the needs of the day
itself. One is not allowed to cook on Yom Tov for any other day. MACHLOKET. Dispute in the Gemara. If this were the end of the story, we’d be allowed to cook on Friday for Shabbat and there would not be such a thing as ET. But the Sages came along and expressed a fear that people would make a mistake and cook on Yom Tov for a regular weekday, if they had permission to cook on Yom Tov for Shabbat. And they banned the cooking on Yom Tov for the following day EVEN when it is Shabbat. If this were the end of the story, then there still would be no ET, and we would not be allowed to cook on Friday-Yom Tov for Shabbat (nor even light candles for Shabbat). Since the rabbinic ban on cooking on Friday-Yom Tov for Shabbat was meant to protect Yom Tov from misuse, it is ironic that the effect of the ban is to slight Shabbat by not allowing cooking for Shabbat except “way back” on Erev Yom Tov. And remember, the Torah (according to this opinion, permits the cooking for Shabbat on Yom Tov. So the Sages said the following: Since it is really permitted to cook on Friday-Yom Tov for Shabbat, we will relax our ban if one performs the Eiruv Tavshilin ceremony thereby officially beginning Shabbat cooking on Erev Yom Tov and “only” continuing it on Friday. The Eiruv (as the word means) merges the cooking of Erev Yom Tov with the cooking of Yom Tov in honor of the Shabbat. Remembering that this was allowed in the first place without an Eiruv, the Eiruv serves as a clear reminder that cooking on Yom Tov for the next day is permitted ONLY when that day is Shabbat. The Sages are no longer worried, so to speak, that people will make a mistake on a Yom Tov that is not on Friday, because the Eiruv distinguishes the Friday-Yom Tov from Yom Tov on other days of the week. All this is fine according to this first opinion in the Gemara that cooking from Yom Tov to Shabbat is really permitted. But there is another opinion. That opinion says that the Torah gave us permission to cook on Yom Tov for that day only. Period. (Or full stop if you are from you know where.) Even if the next day is Shabbat, with its higher K’dusha, cooking on Friday-Yom Tov is not permitted. According to this opinion, an Eiruv, which is a rabbinic mitzva/procedure would have no effect on a Torah prohibition. Rabbinic authority does not extend that far. So this opinion needs a different understanding of Eiruv. We first answer a related question before we get to Eiruv. You finished lunch on Friday-Yom Tov at 1:00pm. Can you cook food at 2:00pm for Shabbat? No. Answered that already. Can you cook food at 2:00pm for guests who unexpectedly knocked on your door and said they were very hungry? Yes, of course. It’s Yom Tov and cooking on Yom Tov is permitted for consumption on the day itself. May I cook on Yom Tov more food than I need for the day and eat the leftovers on the next day, Shabbat? Yes. (There are some limits to this, such as cooking all the food - for Yom Tov and leftovers - in the same pot. And more. But we’ll leave that discussion for another time.) Easy questions so far.Here’s the clincher. Can I cook at 2:00pm on Friday-Yom Tov for company that MIGHT unexpectedly drop by, or do I have to wait until they are in front of me? Well, the Torah would no longer forbid that cooking, because maybe hungry company will come on Yom Tov. But the Sages would still not allow that cooking... unless you made an ET on Erev Yom Tov. And there you have it. The ET according to the first opinion, allows cooking on Friday-Yom Tov for Shabbat (which is really allowed by the Torah in the first place). The ET according to the second opinion allows cooking on Yom Tov for company that may or may not drop by, and the left- overs (which is all the food, if no company actually showed up) are there for Shabbat. (This too is really permitted by the Torah.) According to both opinions, one may cook food on Friday-Yom Tov afternoon and that food may be eaten on Shabbat. So the ET works for both opinions. But there is a difference in practice between the two opinions. According to the first opinion, one is allowed to cook on Friday late afternoon, right up to candle lighting time. But according to the second opinion, there has to be enough time after the cooking for the potential unexpected company to eat the food. It is therefore a good practice not to go down to the wire with the cooking on Friday, but to finish with a solid hour (suggestion) before candle lighting. This will satisfy both opinions. And there is one more technical difference. According to the
first opinion, lighting Shabbat candles (which is essentially for Shabbat)
can be done, courtesy of an ET, with no problem (other than remembering not
to strike a match, not to extinguish the fire you use to light the candles).
According to the second opinion, the lighting should be for some use on Yom
Tov itself, since transferring of fire on Yom Tov is permitted only for the
benefit of the day itself, not the next day, even when it is Shabbat.
Reading by the light of the candles or examining something that needs the
extra light can satisfy the second opinion. Immediately prior to and during Matan Torah, people ANd their cattle and flocks were strictly forbidden to touch Har Sinai. The inclusion of animals in the ban indicates that Har Sinai was nicely adorned with vegetation, and the implication is that this was so in honor of its function as the venue for Matan Torah. Decorating with tree branches is a reminder that the world is judged by G-d on Shavuot concerning the fruit of the tree. It is appropriate to pray on Shavuot for bountiful yields of fruit. Moshe Rabeinu was born on 7 Adar and hidden for three months. He was placed in a waterproof basket, floated on the Nile, hidden among the reeds on the future Shavuot. Bikurim baskets were adorned and decorated in various ways.
Shavuot is Yom HaBikurim. (Note for veggies and others who prefer not eating meat: Meat as Simcha is subjective - if you don't like meat, then you need not have it on Yom Tov; if you enjoy eating meat dishes, THEN it is proper to honor and enjoy Yom Tov in that way. This is when we have no Beit HaMikdash. In the time of the Beit HaMikdash, Simcha is associated with the korban called Shalmei Simcha.) Additionally, we all know of the custom of eating dairy foods on Shavuot. Some people will have a dairy meal on Yom Tov night and a meat meal for lunch. This has a certain logic, since the nighttime is "more specifically Shavuot" and the day is "more generically Yom Tov". Other families will have meat at night and dairy during the day. Still others will make Kiddush and HaMotzi, have some dairy
dish (blintzes, perhaps), then bench. Following a short break and a change
in table covering, they will wash again, this time for a meat meal. There are many “reasons” for the custom of dairy dishes on Shavuot. Keep in mind that some of the reasons might have produced the custom, while others might be merely additional symbolisms after the fact. Furthermore, some reasons explain why we eat dairy, while others make sense only in the context of having BOTH dairy and meat dishes. The pasuk in Shir HaShirim (4:11) alludes to Torah as “honey and milk shall be under your tongue”. (Some mix honey and milk - yogurt or sour cream do well - to match the pasuk.) To commemorate the first Shavuot celebrated in the Midbar when our ancestors ate only dairy dishes. This is because eating kosher meat after receiving the Torah requires much preparation... Mount Sinai is also called Har Gavnunim (T'hilim 68:16) and
the word GAVNUNIM is similar to G'VINA (cheese). Having both dairy and meat dishes as mentioned above requires strict attention to the laws of separation of milk and meat. These laws, of course, are based on the Torah's prohibition of "meat in milk" as presented by the phrase "Do not cook a goat in its mother's milk". This phrase (twice) follows, in the same pasuk, the command to bring Bikurim to the Beit HaMikdash. Shavuot is Yom HaBikurim. Therefore, we eat both dairy and meat dishes, with proper attention to the strictures of halacha, specifically on Shavuot. Halachically (especially when handling food with our hands), it is improper to use the same loaf of bread for both meat and dairy meals because of the food residue that might adhere to the bread. Therefore, a dairy meal and a meat meal will require two loaves of bread, reminiscent of the Two Loaves offering of Shavuot. Some suggest that having a dairy dish and a meat dish is like the "two cooked foods" of the Pesach Seder. Shavuot is not only its own Holiday; it is also the culmination of Pesach - hence, "two foods" on Shavuot as well as Pesach. According to tradition, Moshe Rabeinu was born on the seventh of Adar and was successfully hidden by his parents for three months. It was on the future Shavuot that baby Moshe was placed in the basket on the river and found by the daughter of Par'o. We are taught that Moshe refused to nurse from an Egyptian wetnurse. This led to Miriam's suggestion that Yocheved, Moshe's mother, be asked to nurse him. He, who was to teach all of Israel the Torah, could not drink "mother's milk" from a non-Jew. We commemorate this with dairy dishes on the day of Matan Torah. It might also be suggested that the day of the receiving of the Torah is like the birth of the Nation of Israel, and we have milk to symbolize the spiritual infancy of the People of Israel. The Torah commands us to bring in the Beit HaMikdash a Mincha Chadasha LaShem B'Shavuoteichem. The initial letters of this phrase spell the word MICHALAV - "from milk". This, too, is considered one of the origins of the custom. How about this one? Sources tell us that Bnei Yisrael refused to drink milk or eat dairy at all, fearing that milk was EIVER MIN HACHAI, limb from a living animal (which is forbidden to all people). It was receiving the Torah and its explanations that clarified the issue and taught them that milk was permitted. We celebrate this discovery of our ancestors with dairy dishes on Shavuot. Whether it is cheese blintzes, ½% cottage, yogurt with
honey, cheesecake or lasagna, dairy dishes on Shavuot provide us with much
food for thought. Several varied reasons combine to make Ruth the perfect reading for Shavuot. The text itself tells us that its story takes place at the time of the "cutting of the wheat". Shavuot is CHAG HAKATZIR. One of the major purposes of the Book of Ruth is to show us of the lineage of David HaMelech and the Davidic line leading to Moshiach. Tradition tells us that David HaMelech died on Shavuot. Perhaps most significantly, the story of Ruth is the
inspiring story of Kabbalat HaTorah of an individual level, just as Shavuot
is the commemoration of Kabbalat HaTorah on a national level. All of Israel
were like converts at Sinai. Each line of Akdamut ends with the syllable TA, which is spelled TAV-ALEF, the last and first letters of the Alef-bet. Some see this as a reminder of the nature of the Torah itself - as soon as we complete reading or learning the Torah, we immediately begin it again. S'faradim do not read Akdamut, but they have the custom of
reading a poem called the KETUBA, celebrating the marriage, so to speak, of
G-d and Bnei Yisrael, or the Torah and Bnei Yisrael. They read the KETUBA
when the Ark is opened, before the Torahs are taken out. The KETUBA was
composed by Rabbi Yosef Najara. The reading begins with the famous pasuk: “In the third
month since the Exodus, on THIS day, they (Bnei Yisrael) came to Midbar
Sinai.” This is such an important concept that it bears constant repeating and constant attention and effort to actualize. Especially when there are so many detractors who proclaim the Torah and its Mitzvot as antiquated, out-dated, and irrelevant, we must be living examples to the opposite. EITZ CHAYIM HI... the Torah is the living, fresh, vibrant, and complete source of the way of life that allows us to live in this world and to invest everything we do and are with spirituality and value. The second pasuk is no less famous. VAYICHAN SHAM YISRAEL... Israel, as one being with one heart and a singular purpose, camped opposite the mountain. The unparalleled experience of Jewish Unity that gave standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai its everlasting significance becomes one of our special goals of Jewish Life. The ASERET HADIBROT are contained in the Shavuot morning Torah reading. The section of both Yitro and Va’et- chanan of the 10 Commandments each have two sets of Torah notes, known at TAAMEI HA’ELYON and TAAMEI HA- TACHTON, the upper and lower notes. The lower notes relate to the portion as a sequence of p’sukim among the many others of the Torah. Yitro’s ASERET HADIBROT are 13 of 5846 p’sukim in the Torah. None are more or less than any others; all are part of the Torah. The upper notes, on the other hand, treat the ASERET HADIBROT as the special statements that were heard at Har Sinai and were engraved on the LUCHOT. Most communities around the world and in Israel use TAAMEI HA’ELYON on all three occasions that we read the ASERET HADIBROT. Minhag Yerushalayim is to read then with the lower notes in the cycle of Parshat HaShavua, and to highlight them on Shavuot, when we relive the Sinai Experience. Maftir is the Musaf of Shavuot from Parshat Pinchas (Bamidbar
28:26-31). When Shavuot falls on Friday, in Chutz LaAretz, the second day is Shabbat. We in Israel read Parshat HaShavua (Naso) and go one week ahead of Chu"L. They combine Chukat & Balak to catch up. For 6 Shabbatot we're off each other In addition to the various names and nicknames of Shavuot,
it is significant to point out that in the main presentation of the cycle of
holy days of the year, Vayikra 23, Shavuot has no name of its own, but is
presented as the culmination of Pesach-Omer period. [The
Shavuot/Naso Homepage]
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