Food for Torah thought on Shavuot

Food plays a significant role in Jewish practice. There is good reason for the fact that study of kashrut laws is an intrinsic part of the course undertaken by potential rabbis preparing for smichah examinations.

And we all know that food shops, cafes and restaurants are second only to shules in making obvious to all Jewish suburban locations in major cities.
It is often quipped that Judaism can be summed up in just nine words: “They tried to destroy us. We won. Let’s eat.” But even beyond those occasions when we commemorate such elements of our history, food provides a key to the atmosphere of an occasion.

The key to Pesach is matzah and the industry that has grown up around restrictions applicable to food on that festival. Of course on Pesach what we must or may not eat is the subject of strict Torah law.

On Succot, specific foods are not prescribed, but its key aspect prescribed by Torah law is where we must eat – in the succah rather than the house.

Torah laws aside, honey-based items are eaten on Rosh Hashanah; oil-based foods such as latkes and doughnuts on Chanukah; while even Purim has its three-cornered hamantashen and kreplach. And on Yom Kippur it is abstinence from food that gives the day its character though again tradition – albeit characterised by origin related differences – determines at least some of what is eaten prior to and following the fast
The festival of Shavuot is, in many ways, the calm, quiet relation of the Torah prescribed festivals.