And so, we arrive once again at Sinai.  Where to find a reference to food in the thunder and fire that surround the giving of the Torah, the revelation of God’s word to human beings?

For this, we need to turn a little later in the tradition.  While in the Torah the land of Israel is compared to milk and honey, we find that later commentators compare the Torah itself to food and drink.  Rashi, in interpreting various verses in Deuteronomy which refer to the Torah being given ‘today’ understands that this means the words of Torah will be like new for us – hadashim – every day.  That word hadashim can be understood as being the initial letters of the Hebrew words for milk, honey, oil, wine and water – and it is intriguing to compare each of these to the five books of the Torah.  Which, we might ask, goes with what?

It’s milk and honey which win the day, with the verse from the Song of Songs, ‘Milk and honey are under your tongue’ cited in various sources as an image for Torah.  From the milk and honey it’s only a short leap to the cheesecake in which we indulge on Shavuot, the festival in which we remember our first encounter with Torah.

Why milk, and why honey?  Various suggestions are made.  Milk spoils quickly and must be eaten immediately, while honey can keep virtually forever, suggesting that Torah is meaningful both in the short and the long term.  Milk comes from an animal that is not kosher until it is slaughtered, and honey from an insect that is not kosher at all – yet both milk and honey are kosher, suggesting the power of the Torah to transmute what is impure to what is pure.  Milk is the first food of an infant, and honey is a similar kind of complete nourishment.

Yet I am struck by the imagery of a verse in Psalm 34 that Rabbi Miriam Glazer taught so eloquently when she was here in the community a few weeks ago – ‘Taste, and see that the Lord is good,’ (Psalm 34:8).  In education theory we are taught about visual learners and aural learners and kinesthetic learners, but how are we supposed to learn Torah, or experience God, through our sense of taste?

One example the ceremony we created for our K-1 class this year – ‘Torah Cookies’.  About 40 of our youngest members paraded with the Torah, read the first verse of the book of Leviticus together, sang songs, and each received a specially baked ‘Torah Cookie.’  The ceremony has a long history – there are illustrations of it in medieval manuscripts.  By creating an analogy between Torah and sweetness, we hoped to create a genuine appetite for learning in the years to come. 

Our challenge now is to create similar experiences for all of us.  And with this in mind, may I suggest a rather appealing modern invention – that the first Saturday in February is the day on which ice cream is eaten…for breakfast!

I wonder what other innovations we could make that link food directly to Torah?

Follow the link below to learn more – and Shabbat Shalom!http://www.itzahckret.com/icecreamforbreakfast.html

Rabbinic Intern Deborah Silver

Shomrei Torah Synagogue