The Mitzvah of V’Samachta B’Chagecha requires one to celebrate Chag with his family. As such, one should not overly prolong the time he spends at any communal Kiddush.
It is customary to eat dairy on Shavuot day. By the same token, Chag must be celebrated with meat.
One of the reasons for eating dairy on Shavuot, is that a two-loaf bread offering was brought in the Beit Hamikdash. To commemorate this, we eat two meals on Shavuot—first a dairy meal, and then, after a short break, we eat the traditional meat meal for Chag.
There are many other reasons, but just to add another one here, is to emphasize that Jews – unlike the angels who visited Avraham Avinu – are careful to separate between milk and meat. As such, special care must be taken to adhere to all the Halachot of Kashrut. These include:
- Some hold to wait an hour and some a half hour, or six hours after eating cheeses cured for more than six months. [It may not be practical to consume aged cheeses on Shavuot, as one must also eat meat.]
- One is supposed to wash their mouth out between milk and meat.
- Making a Brachah Acharonah between dairy and meat.
- Not using the same tablecloths and loaves for dairy and meat.
- Not eating dairy together with a Challah baked in a Basari oven or vice versa. [There is grounds to be lenient if the Challot weren’t physically touching any part of the oven, and the oven was absolutely clean and devoid of steam whilst the Challot were baking.]
- Not baking a dairy or meat loaf of bread lest people mistakenly think it is Parve. If already baked, it may not be eaten. Exceptions: The loaf has a distinctive shape, or it is visibly and obviously noticeable as dairy or meat, or it is small enough to be consumed within one day.
- Using separate knives (or a Parve knife) to cut vegetables used with dairy and meat. This is especially true when cutting sharp vegetables, since they assume the status of the knife even if it was completely clean and recently unused.
Needless to say, some people are careful to eat only Chalav Yisrael. Accordingly, one should not eat even Parve or Chalav-Yisrael foods if they came into contact with non-Chalav-Yisrael utensils whilst hot.
Shavuot is the Yahrtzeit of the Baal Shem Tov, and is therefore an opportune time to mention a teaching and story of the Baal Shem Tov. Shavuot is also associated with Moshe Rabbeinu (who received the Torah) and David Hamelech (who compiled Tehillim). Therefore, Shavuot is an opportune time to enhance one’s commitment to learning Torah and saying Tehillim.
There is an old Jerusalem custom to go visit the grave of David Hamelech on Har Tzion.
If Shavuot is on a bright day it is a good sign for the whole year.
