New York – Halachic Analysis: Shavuos The Dairy Bread And The Korban Cheesecake

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    New York – The upcoming holiday of Shavuos, aside from its most common name, has several others: Chag HaKatzir (The Holiday of the Harvest), Atzeres (Assembly), Yom HaBikkurim (Day of the offering of the first fruits), and Zman Mattan Toraseinu (The Time of the Giving of the Torah). Yet, in Israel, it has gained a new moniker: Chag HaGvinah – The Holiday of the Cheese! Amazingly, and only in Israel, will you find a Jewish custom that has become so commercialized. Although no one really minds paying a lot less for all the various cheeses on sale during the weeks leading up to Shavuos, still, the idea that a “holiday” can be commercially sponsored (by the cheese companies, no less), should give us pause. Interestingly, having cheesecake on Shavuos is one minhag with which many non-practicing Jews are stringent! Have you ever met someone who turned down a piece of cheesecake? But where does this time-honored traditional custom of consuming cheesecake on Shavuos come from?

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    Korban Cheesecake?!

    It seems that one of the earliest mentions of such a minhag is by the great Rema, Rav Moshe Isserles, the authoritative decisor for all Ashkenazic Jewry, who cites the ‘prevailing custom’ of eating dairy items specifically on Shavuos (O.C. 494, 3). Although there are many rationales and reasons opined through the ages to explain this custom, the Rema himself provides an enigmatic one, to be a commemoration of the special Korban, the Shtei HaLechem (Two Loaves) offered exclusively on Shavuos during the times of the Beis Hamikdash.

    However, since the connection between dairy food and a bread offering seems tenuous, the Machatzis HaShekel (O.C. 494, 7, s.v. h”h) offers a remarkable glimpse as to the Rema’s intent. The halacha states (Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De’ah 89, 4 and relevant commentaries) that one may not use the same loaf of bread at both a dairy meal and a meat meal. The reason for this is that there may be some (possibly unnoticed) residue on the bread, and thus one might come to eat a forbidden mixture of milk and meat. Therefore, in order to properly commemorate this unique Korban which had two loaves of bread, one should have a separate dairy meal aside from the traditional meat meal one has on Yom Tov. This way, he will be mandated to have separate breads for each of these meals, as the challah meant for the dairy meal cannot be used for the meat meal and vice versa.

    It is well known that our tables are compared to the Mizbe’ach and our food to Korbanos. [See Gemara Brachos (55a), Beis Yosef (O.C. 167, quoting the Shibolei Leket 141), Rema (ibid), Mishna Berura (ad loc. 30) and Shla”h (Shaar HaOsiyos, Eimek Bracha 66).] Therefore, serving a food item at a meal is considered an appropriate commemoration for a Korban. Consequently, by having an additional dairy meal, the outcome is a suitable commemoration for this unique Korban, as now on Shavuos, two separate distinct breads are being served. The venerated Rav Moshe Feinstein (Shu”t Igros Moshe O.C. vol. 1, 160) cites this explanation as the proper one for maintaining two separate types of meals on Shavuos, one milky and one meaty.

    Terrific! So now we can appreciate that by eating cheesecake on Shavuos, we are actually commemorating a special Korban! But before we sink our teeth into a luscious calorie-laden (it can’t be sinful – it’s commemorating a Korban!) cheesecake, we should realize that, potentially, there might be another halachic issue involved: the prohibition against baking dairy bread.

    Dairy Dilemma

    Bread has been mankind’s basic staple since time immemorial. Therefore, Chazal worried that an unsuspecting person might mistake dairy bread for plain pareve bread and eat it together with meat. He would thus inadvertently violate the prohibition of eating a forbidden mixture of milk and meat. They thereby decreed (Gemara Pesachim 30a and 36a) that one may not bake dairy bread unless certain criteria are met: either changing the shape of the dough prior to baking, making it instantly recognizable to all as milky, or baking dairy bread exclusively in small quantities. The same prohibition and exclusions apply to meaty bread as well, due to bread’s propensity to be eaten with a dairy meal.

    The Oxe’s Eye

    The hetter is known as “k’eyn tura” (like the eye of an ox). Although this expression is debated by the Rishonim, with Rashi (ad loc. s.v. k’eyn tura) explaining that it means a small amount, while the Rif (Chullin 38a), Rashba (Toras Habayis Hakatzer Bayis 3, Sha’ar 4, 86a), and Rambam (Hilchos Ma’achlos Asuros Ch. 9, 22) maintain that it is referring to a changed shape that is obvious to all that it is dairy or meaty, nonetheless, the Shulchan Aruch (Y”D 97, 1) rules that both are acceptable ways to ensure that the dairy bread will not be mixed-up.

    Yet, even so, there is a practical difference between Sefardic and Ashkenazic psak. According to the Shulchan Aruch (Y”D 97, 1) the small amount of milchig bread that is permissible to make is only enough for one meal. This is how Sefardim rule [See also Ben Ish Chai (Year 2, Parshas Shelach 17), and Kaf Hachaim (Y”D 97, 7)]. The Rema (ad loc. & Toras Chatas 36, 9), however, is a bit more lenient, allowing an amount necessary for one day, a 24 hour period This is the custom that Ashkenazim follow. [See Pri Megadim (ad loc. S.D. 1, s.v. v’im), Chavas Daas (ad loc. Biurim 3), Yad Yehuda (ad loc. Piha”k 6), Aruch Hashulchan (ad loc. 4), Atzei HaOlah (Hilchos BB”C 12, 1) and Darchei Teshuva (ad loc. 17)].

    Let Them Eat (Cheese)Cake!

    Although several authorities extend this prohibition to include other baked goods, such as cookies and bourekas, which, if baked milky, might be mistakenly eaten with meat, nevertheless, the prevailing ruling is that the prohibition only applies to bread. Even so, aside from the signs in the bakeries proclaiming which items are dairy and which are pareve, it is nonetheless a widespread practice throughout Israel that bakeries form the dairy baked goods (cheese bourekas, anyone?) in a triangular shape and the pareve ones in a rectangular shape as an extra safeguard against mix-ups. Since at busy bakeries the potential for mistakes is quite high, this is done as an extra precaution, even though m’ikar hadin it is deemed unnecessary by most authorities.

    Does this ruling affect our beloved cheesecake in any way?

    Actually, not much. In a typical cheesecake, since the cheese aspect of it is quite conspicuous, it would be considered as if produced with a changed shape from standard dough. Additionally, cheesecake is universally recognized as… containing cheese (!), and thus known world-wide as being dairy. No one would make a mistake confusing cheesecake with pareve bread. Therefore, even according to the opinions of those who feel that the prohibition of dairy bread extends to cakes, even so, they all agree it would be permissible to make plenty of cheesecake for Shavuos, even in large quantities.

    Thankfully, when it comes time to indulge in a piece of traditional cheesecake on the holiday of Shavuos, we can “have our cake and eat it too”, both in the literal sense as well as in the spiritual sense; knowing we have fulfilled the halachic requirements and are even commemorating a unique Korban.

    Postscript: Another common question related to cheesecake is what the proper bracha to recite on it is. This topic is discussed at length in many recent sefarim including V’zos HaBracha, V’sein Bracha, and Rabbi Binyomin Forst’s Pischei Halacha – The Laws of Brachos. It seems that the consensus of contemporary authorities is that the bracha is subjective, depending on the makeup of each individual cheesecake and its crust, based on the laws of primary and secondary food (Ikar and Tafel). For more on this topic see Rav Nissan Kaplan’s Shalmei Nissan (Perek Keitzad Mevorchin Ch. 80 – 84), Rabbi Mordechai Zev Trenk’s Brachos Basics (Ch. 4), and Rabbi Avi Wiesenfeld’s discussion here: http://www.dinonline.org/2011/04/05/q-a-guide-to-the-halachos-of-brachos-ikar-tafel/#identifier_72_10407 – Par. Cheesecake.

    The author wishes to thank friend and colleague Rabbi Elie Schoemann, Rabbinic Coordinator of the London Beth Din Kashrus Division (KLBD), as his relevant article served as the impetus for my interest and research on this topic.

    L’zechus for Shira Yaffa bas Rochel Miriam v’chol chalatzeha for a yeshua teikif umiyad.

    For any questions, comments or for the full Mareh Mekomos / sources, please email the author: [email protected].

    Rabbi Yehuda Spitz serves as the Sho’el U’ Meishiv and Rosh Chabura of the Ohr Lagolah Halacha Kollel at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Yerushalayim.


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    16 Comments
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    Aryeh
    Aryeh
    10 years ago

    What a cheesy article

    10 years ago

    Given the obscene calories involved, perhaps a very small piece would be fine and you could be “yotzeh” a rather marginal and questonable minhag of eating milchigs on Shavuos. Without sounding like Nanny Bloomberg, it raises the bigger question as to why such a large percentage of minhagim among the heimeshe tzibur involve such unhealthy foods. I heard an inyan from my rav several years ago that to give “kavod” to shabbos, yom tov, etc. it became the minhag in the alte heim to eat food/drinks that were generally not available or accesible on a day to day basis to the typical yiddeshe family and thus earting foods available to wealthy and royalty (such as the most fatty meats and cheeses) became the way of honoring shabbos or yom tov. Well,barch hashem, we are no longer living in the alte heim, and will never again know from the hunger and deprivation associated with that life. Also, we know so much more today about the adverse health consequences of these foods and the environmental damage caused by raising beef and dairy products. Thus, maybe its time for a new minhag to eat only fresh fruits and vegetables, tofu and vegetable-based proteins, etc. to show kovod.

    yolish
    yolish
    10 years ago

    ‘it can’t be sinful – it’s commemorating a Korban!’
    Hilarious – and informative too!

    Shaul in Monsey
    Shaul in Monsey
    10 years ago

    Kolko pleads guilty, which proves how disgusting Lakewood is as a place to raise what they call korbonos, what normal humans call children.

    yosher
    yosher
    10 years ago

    How rude of the dairy companies to commercialize a Yom Tov….who do they think they are? Rabbonim?

    chaimmordche
    chaimmordche
    10 years ago

    Thnks for the excellent hesber of the issues involved. more cheesacke for me! to all you naysayers -you dont want eat – thats your problem enjoy your tofu. for me i’ll be yotzai rishonim and rema bhiddur rav!!

    DanielBarbaz
    DanielBarbaz
    10 years ago

    Very insensitive to those of us who are lactose intolerant.