If you’re like me, and grew up attending a central New Jersey Reform Hebrew school, you probably never heard more than two sentences about Shavuot during your 10 years of sounding out the Aleph-Bet, memorizing Torah portions and crafting various art projects.
It was the forgotten holiday — the holiday that occurred after Hebrew school classes were already over and paled in comparison to festivals like Pesach, Rosh HaShanah and dare I say it: Chanukah. Even I, the quintessential high school geek and model Hebrew school student, could not tell you that Shavuot was a commemoration of the day God gave the Ten Commandments to the Jews on Mount Sinai, until I began my reporting position at The Jewish Week.
While I credit my Hebrew school for giving me my fundamental interest in Judaism, I hope that their curriculum has been updated since my years there. And though I personally don’t like cheesecake, I now understand why our traditions encourage us to eat dairy on this day — because God had not yet delivered the laws of kashrut, of properly slaughtering and consuming meat.
For all of you New Yorkers reading this, the 92nd Street Y in Tribeca is hosting an interesting event tomorrow geared toward young people, reminding us why we celebrate this holiday in quite the fun, creative evening. Â From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the Y is inviting young people to do a bit of Torah study and exploration, followed by the opportunity to partake in improvisational reenactments of the Shavuot stories and then concluding with a tremendous wine and cheesecake pairing. And the whole night only costs $15.
According to the event website, the menu will include:
Lemoncello paired with Caramel Cheesecake
Coffee Liqueur paired with Chocolate Cheesecake
Beer paired with Nutmeg infused Cheesecake
Matcha tea paired with Lime
…Too bad I don’t like cheesecake…Am I the only one???
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Sharon Udasin is a staff writer at The Jewish Week. Follow her on Twitter or e-mail her at [email protected].
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i love cheesecake
i love shavuot
next year may we all be zocheh to celebrate in jerusalem
You’re not the only one, Sharon. One of my brothers despises cheesecake while the other one, if he ever were to become a dictator, would make it a breakfast staple. 🙂