The Cheesiest Holiday

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.

A slab of cheese. Wikimedia Commons.

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.  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 sharon@sharonudasin.com.