ירק
Greenery and flowers
Synagogues and homes are adorned with branches, greenery and flowers — recalling that Mount Sinai blossomed, and Shavuot as a harvest festival.
Milk and honey
The sweetness of the Torah on the table
On Shavuot it is customary to eat dairy — cheese, cream, blintzes, cheesecake. The Torah is likened to milk and honey: “honey and milk are under your tongue” — so sweet is its taste.
There is also a simple reason: having received the laws of kashrut at Sinai, the people had no time to prepare meat by the new rules — and that day they ate dairy. So the custom reached our tables.
Customs
Greenery, fruit and two loaves
Shavuot is a harvest festival. Home and synagogue are adorned with greenery, and in earlier days the first fruits of the land were brought to the table.
ביכורים
First fruits
Bikkurim: in Temple times, on Shavuot the first fruits of the seven species of the Land of Israel were brought — in thanks for the harvest.
שתי הלחם
Two loaves
Shtei HaLechem: in the Temple a special offering was brought on this day — two leavened loaves from the new wheat harvest.
Honey and milk are under your tongue — so sweet is the taste of the Torah, set upon the table.